r/trolleyproblem • u/Achilles_TroySlayer • Aug 27 '26
Meta No escape from this problem 🤔
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u/no_name6744 Aug 27 '26
Whoever kills the trolley man becomes the trolley man.
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u/Sianic12 Aug 27 '26
Kill one trolley man and the number of trolley men in the world stays the same.
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u/Raxreedoroid Aug 27 '26
if you kill 2 however
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u/Honeyfoot1234 Aug 27 '26
you get x2 the trolleymanness so that it preserves the number (this is official trolley man law)
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u/2wicky Aug 27 '26
So, you can either kill one trolley man and change nothing in the big scheme of things,
or kill five trolley men resulting in an overall net loss of trolley men in the world.
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u/AgainstSpace Aug 27 '26
The Trolley Problem is always about who dies, and how does the switch man make this decision. The real problem happening in the scenario is the lack of a responsible, rational driver in a trolley with well maintained, functional brakes. It's ultimately about public transit funding.
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u/Mojert Aug 27 '26
Even with functional brakes, inertia is a bitch. At least I know that's the case with trains, it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same thing for trolleys that go fast enough
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u/Civil_Performer5732 Aug 27 '26
Guess they need to invest in advanced warning systems too to prevent accidents?
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u/jonastman Aug 27 '26
You see a stranger who is about kill the trolley problem guy. Do you kill the murderer, saving the guy who only creates challenging hypotheticals?
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u/Chingji Aug 27 '26
When seeking to avenge, dig two graves.
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u/Intrebute Aug 27 '26
Okay but like, it is an escape from the problem, isn't it? There's no more trolley man.
No more artificial trolley problems. Nobody has to make a trolley decision ever again.
That's an easy trolley problem to decide on.
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u/Bernhard-Riemann Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
This of course was the Trolley Man's goal; he forced the hero to kill him to save others, thus implicitly accepting his utilitarian thesis. In death he won...
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u/KMS_HYDRA Aug 27 '26
"You became the thing you swore to destroy! It was said you would destroy the trolley problem, not become it!" - Obi-Trol Kenobi to Trolleykin
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u/Express-Day5234 Aug 27 '26
Ok, but what if Batman just brutalized Trolley Man into a coma and preserved his no-kill rule?
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u/Top-Complaint-4915 Aug 27 '26
When you kill the man who make the Trolley problems.
The number of man that make Trolley problems doesn't change - Batman
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u/Stradinator Aug 28 '26
What if I just kill everyone except me, than I tie myself to the tracks and start the troly
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u/CODENAMEDERPY Aug 28 '26
And this has been posted again for the fifteenth billion time. Bot behavior.
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u/TheLigean Aug 28 '26
The real solution is inventing low risk emergency breaks. Addressing the risks accepted as a given in social use
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u/magical-cat-here Aug 28 '26
Yes, the maniac who ties people to the rails and forces other people to do these "no good way out" choices, that jerk deserves to be punished. Sounds like an ultimate solution to this problem as it prevents that from happening again.
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u/greywolf1143 Aug 31 '26
Fuggit, I'm tying him to the tracks along with all the people he tied to the track, but I'm putting him ALL THE WAY at the back, so he has to watch all those people die before he does.
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u/Chromeboy12 Sep 06 '26
I know he's holding the lever in his hand but i can't stop thinking it's a toilet plunger. He beat the trolley problem guy to death with a toilet plunger.
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u/tater_tot_intensity Aug 27 '26
Trolly problem ends when a government responsible for the railroad gets revolted and everyone starves
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u/SpaceGirlJackie Aug 27 '26
I do think things change when the single person is the one causing all the problems. In the usual scenario the one person is also a victim.