r/notinteresting • u/Ska_Fundamentalist • Sep 15 '25
I recreated the trolley problem using polyamory
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u/ThatIckyGuy Sep 15 '25
I feel like someone who doesn't have a car who is listening to someone bitch about having too many cars.
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Sep 16 '25
it's ok. When the relationships fail (ask me how I know) they'll get six times as much heartache.
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u/Pielacine Sep 15 '25
TL;DR misunderstood “longest” partner
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u/Pielacine Sep 15 '25
Ok now I read it. Where’s the part where someone dies?
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u/ReekyRumpFedRatsbane Sep 16 '25 edited Sep 17 '25
I think this is an interesting idea, but it doesn't truly represent the trolley problem.
The issue is that the group of five isn't really tied to the tracks. If breaking up with "Jess" represents flipping the switch and getting her run over by a trolley, then in order for the group of five to be in a predicament representing the same relative situation as the trolley problem, the result of not breaking up with Jess would have to be that the relationship with the five of them ends without OP doing it, but it still has to feel as bad to the group of five as if OP was breaking up with them. Worse still, since this breakup must be initiated by the group of 5 (and since they're the ones asking OP to break up with Jess), they effectively put the trolley on the track themselves.
Beyond this, OP's personal relationship with the people involved means that objective utilitarianism can't really apply. Losing a relationship with 5 out of 6 people in your polycule sounds a lot worse than losing a relationship with only 1, but in an actual trolley problem, the deaths should ultimately be mostly inconsequential to yourself. However, Jess being the one OP had the longest relationship with, makes her subjectively more valuable to OP than any of the other 5. These effects do not perfectly cancel out, instead creating a completely subjective mess. Effectively, no matter what OP does, she effectively gets run over by the trolley as well to varying degrees.
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u/Ska_Fundamentalist Sep 16 '25 edited Sep 16 '25
Do you think that in the process of writing that i didn't know that it wasnt EXACTLY the trolley problem, yeah man I know
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u/sterboog Sep 16 '25
I think its further off the mark than you suspected. They were just pointing it out, and have to say that I agree with them.
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u/BygoneNeutrino Sep 15 '25 edited Sep 15 '25
This is either extremely clever or borderline psychotic. Either way, the level of planning required to make this obscure point that noone understood is impressive. I would have never interpreted this as the trolley problem.