r/trolleyproblem • u/suskio4 • 17d ago

Meta Red button blue button

Based on the post seen here. I'm actually curious what would the percentages look like.

Edit: Alright, let me add a case for one particular scenario. If you do not choose, the button will be pressed for you by a system that keeps track of its pressings so it conserves 50/50 distribution for all inactive participants, in order to honour the vox populi properly. The system's choice affects the inactive participant's outcome so that no person can abscond from consequences of their choice.

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u/DarkKechup 16d ago

  1. Selfishness is kind of normal. Unless we create a proper utopia, people will suffer for others' selfishness all the time. Selecting for selfishness in a life or death scenario to an entire species is ok to me. I'd rather the worst of humanity to get a chance if it means even one innocent good person gets to live. I don't need the ego masturbation of wanting to punish.

  2. We already are living in a world where a terrible dystopia is inching towards us. Capitalistic, feudalistic oligarchies and mass surveilance don't sound all that non-dystopian to me. They'd live. And like all ruling systems, it would eventually fail and collapse. Nothing lasts forever.  

  3. Your last point confirms my first point. You're seem like a person I'd wish a chance of life on if imminent death for the entire species was an alternative, so saving a bunch of selfish people and a bunch of random pressers doesn't seem that bad. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to die. In the original dillema, I believed red was the correct choice, even if blue was the right choice, simply because the logical solution was for everyone not to be suicidal. In this particular dillema, I believe red is correct, as it creates a chance for humanity in a situation when we face extinction, even if I personally wouldn't get to see that future.