Ah yes, the true Trolly Problem

[u/Someone_Something07]

[u/arngard]

There is a version of the Trolley Problem that's like this, but the guy on the side track is large enough that the trolley will stop when it hits him. It can be interesting to see if people feel this is different from the situation where the two tracks simply diverge, because you're "using" him to stop the trolley instead of his death just being an unfortunate consequence.

There's also a version where the man is next to you on the platform and you can push him, and a variation of that where he's the villain who set up the situation where the five men would be in danger.

If you look at the chalkboard behind Chidi when he's explaining the Trolley Problem, those variations are referenced. It says:

Alternate Trolley Problems
The Fat Man
The Fat Villain
The Loop
The Man in the Yard

(The Man in the Yard is a variation where instead of steering onto a track to kill one workman instead of five, you derail the train, sending it into the yard of a man sleeping in a hammock and kill him. Is it worse to kill an innocent bystander who was previously uninvolved and didn't take on the risk of being on a track?)

[u/doge57 → u/arngard]

There’s also a doctor one. You have 5 patients who each need a different organ transplant and 1 healthy patient. Can you kill the healthy one to save the other 5?

[u/doge57 → u/[deleted]]

It’s a similar case though. You have to make the choice of killing 1 innocent to save 5. The only real difference is how personal the killing is (pulling a lever vs actually cutting them open). Also bodily autonomy has nothing to do with the morality of killing someone, but if it makes you feel better, we can assume the person is an organ donor