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/lit/ - Literature

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5539817 No.5539817 [Reply] [Original]

To those of you who would not pull the lever

Imagine the following scenario: You are, by chance, being filmed by the news. They are not in position to help any of the people or do anything, but they film you not pulling the lever. Afterwards, they interview you. Your words will be known to everyone you know, and everyone you ever will know. How could you possibly justify your actions in such a way that you will not be despised by your fellow man for the rest of your existence?

>> No.5539828

I don't pull the lever, because everyone dies eventually anyway.

>> No.5539837 [DELETED] 

>implying that I wouldn't jump on the tracks and derail the trolley with my soon-to-be mutilated body

>> No.5539852

I couldn't touch the lever. The thought of having to touch a long stick triggers me after I was forced by a teacher to give him a handjob when I was 6.

>> No.5539868

I'd shout: "Fuck the media," and than brutally strangle the last survivor.

>> No.5539885
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5539885

>>5539868

>> No.5539909

Don't pull the lever then when they interview me I tell them I was praying for their lives the entire time and that a mere lowly human like me does not have the right to interefere in the works of God.

>> No.5539918

>>5539837

Are you Jesus?

>> No.5539930 [DELETED] 

>>5539868
Kekked

>>5539918
I'm Muhammad.

>> No.5539946

I wouldn't pull the lever despite the fact it's the right option. To prove it is, just look at this scenario.

You are standing in front of a switch. If you pull this switch then 1.5 billion people will die, if you don't pull the switch then the other 6 billion people in the world die.

Do you pull the switch?

>> No.5540125

>>5539817

are we supposed to take into account that I am nearer to the single roped person, and the single roped person could possibly speak to me? that would make it even harder

>> No.5540138

>>5539817
Write 'Hi Mom' with the lever.

>> No.5540150

>>5539946
>Do you pull the switch?

sure, why not?

>> No.5540163

>>5539946
You are arguing for principle, but if it were 1 person on one track and the rest of the world on the other principle suddenly holds a lot less sway, ie principle is not heavily weighed at all extremes.

>> No.5540171

tell the single dude that he should give himself up to save the other 5

if he agrees, cheer him on and give him moral support as you pull the switch to kill him

if he doesn't, tell him you're sorry but you will tell everybody that he's a hero who gave his life for the greater good

>> No.5540224

Assuming there isn't a driver in that train, why can't I just force my way in and then hit the brakes while the train is still heading towards the group of 5? At least 2 or 3 will die but there will be more survivors as a whole.

>> No.5540268

>>5540163
>>5539817

Let's argue about the principle then. I know that I wouldn't pull the lever in the situation in the pic, however if it was pulling the lever and killing one man versus shit-storm genocide apocalypse that kills everyone in existence... then?

holy fuck i'm pulling and not letting it go until the man is dead

>> No.5541621

>>5539817
If I pull the lever, I made a choice. I made a value judgement based on nothing but numbers.

People can't be measured like that. To put it in terms Joe Schmoe could get, the five people that died could have been convicted pedophiles and the one guy a rich humanitarian.

Even then I would argue I can't make a value judgement and that I have no right to say who lives or dies, but the bigger lesson here is I didn't know enough information.

>> No.5542138

Typical problem with utilitarians: no detail. The answer will vary greatly, which is why consequentialists, virtue ethicists, etc exist.

So: 5 convicted murderers on one track. A newborn babe on the other. Gee, I'm such scum for leaving the train to hit the five.

Real life isnt so abstract, and ethical decisions are only relevant to the extent they affect the real, therefore it's a misguided question.

I could watch the trailer to "American Sniper" and get a better trolley problem than the ones utilitarians deliver.

>> No.5542241

>>5539868
>on /lit/
>doesn't know the difference between then and than

>> No.5542252

Who am I to interfere with Solo Bill's life? He wasn't going to get run over by the train. I have no right to hurt him.

>> No.5542303

There is no good or bad decision. What matters is that you understand you are (wether you pull the lever or not) fully responsible.

The fact the world is watching you is irrelevant; the only judgement you will have to face is yours anyway.

Also, to all of you going by the number-utilitarian way, would you still be able to pull the lever if the single person is your mom/lover/sibling ?

>> No.5542331

>>5539817
>How could you possibly justify your actions in such a way that you will not be despised by your fellow man for the rest of your existence?
"There wasn't enough time to think about it. It just happened."

Problem solved. That's how it would go down, anyway.

>> No.5542334

"When I made eye contact with Solo Bill, and he didn't want to die - he knew what was going on but he didn't want to die - and I couldn't see the others' eyes and I knew I'd feel the same way as Solo Bill. And I'd take that look, that face, that I blasted from the world, and it'd trouble my conscience forever. And so I went with my conscience; I let die what I couldn't see, to save what I could. I don't believe in utilitarianism... I don't want to make an arithmetic of it..." then I'd cry. I don't need to be persuasive; just sympathetic.

>> No.5542348

>>5542303
I wouldn't but I would if the single person was my mom and the five were my lover, sibling, and rest of family