You are exploring the woods on a sunny morning when you stumble upon a set of train tracks. You walk along side it, hearing a low rumbling sound and hoping to see the train. You meet a couple of workers who are replacing a bent rail. After a friendly hello, you continue on your way till you reach a rail splitter. The other track appears to have another worker on it, fixing a smaller piece of rail. Beside the split is a lever connected to the rail, assumedly to switch the track direction. You now see the train, and it’s speeding along rather quickly for one that’s approaching broken tracks. You wait, staring at it hurtling down the track toward the split, on course to hit the workers down the line. Then the thought occurs to you. The switch. If you pull the switch, you could save the workers. But what about the other workers? The train is less than thirty seconds away, and you need to make a choice.
Today’s hypothetical revolves around the trolley problem. It’s a classic ethical question that is used often in many psychology classes. Here are the basics (for the original problem specifically). There are five people stuck on a track as a trolley is hurtling toward them. The only way to save the five people is to divert the trolley onto a second track; however, someone else is stuck on that track. Do you pull the lever, saving the five but killing the one, or do you leave the lever, letting the five die?
First off, let’s look for all the loopholes in this sort of scenario (mainly focusing on the intro).
- Warn the people on the track.
- Run back and help the people on the track get off.
- Hit switch and run down and help the person on the track.
- Find a large object to stick on the track and hope for the best.
The first should be obvious. If they don’t realize what’s coming, best let them know so they have the chance to save themselves. If they are trapped, then you’d need to move on to the other options. Not all trains move and bullet speeds, and if the train isn’t moving too quickly, you can race back and help them get unstuck (go play the hero). If you think it safer, you can hit the switch and run for the one person. This train could be moving to quickly, and if there is nothing around that can feasibly derail the train early, the switch is the only option that will make a difference.
Before I get into the rationale behind the two options, I want to briefly go over why discussing this question defeats the purpose of the question. Like stated in the intro, you have about thirty seconds to make your choice, if not far less. If you were dropped into the situation, you would not have enough time to think the problem through with any sense of rational. It would primarily be instinct and quick judgement and intuition. No time to look up an answer either. No time to look over the countless arguments for why you should or shouldn’t pull the lever. I’d hazard a guess that most people in that situation would suffer from analysis paralysis. (This is when you over analyze a situation to the point of delaying or missing crucial moments.)
You pull the lever… This choice is the utilitarian option. Five lives are worth more than one. In this viewpoint, sacrificing one for five is the better option, though it technically implicates you in the death of the poor soul on the other track.
You don’t pull the lever… Some say that you have no obligation to pull the lever, as you won’t be implicated in the deaths of the five workers. Legally, this is true, but in all technicality, choosing not to act is still making a choice. The only exception to that rule is analysis paralysis. The main rationale is to abstain from the situation entirely, leaving the responsibility out of your hands and being “faultless”.
What would I do? I suppose I haven’t said yet. For a simple reason too. I don’t know. I may run this game, but that doesn’t mean I know the best answer. Like I said before, there are many variables not accounted for in the initial scenario, and often there are solutions that can save everyone if you can find them. There’s only one thing I’m certain I would do. Pray to God for an answer. I have a Christian worldview, and I believe that if for some reason I was stuck in that situation, He would give me an answer. Beyond that, in real life or hypothetical, unless I experienced the situation in such a way that I was timed, I couldn’t tell you what course of action I would take. As much as I discuss and mess around with a topic like this, any situation that results in the deaths of human beings is a dark subject, one that I don’t take lightly, and neither should you.
What would you choose and why? If you think long and hard, this is a situation none of us truly want to be in. I never said this game would be easy.
Something lighthearted for Saturday, I promise. Thanks for playing.
The Hypothetical Game 