• Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    This is only superficially a prisoner’s dilemma. In a true one, you cannot get a better result for yourself no matter what the other person does, but here if you assume the other person pulled the lever, there is no reason to pull the lever yourself.

    To fix this, you can have 4 relatives on the trolley, and 5 of the opposite faction way back on the middle track. Both do nothing, 1 relative of each is killed. One guy switches the lever, their relatives are all fine, other guy loses 5. Both switch, crash with all 8 relatives on the trolley dead.

    • TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      I see what you’re trying to do and you’re not necessarily wrong, but you’re kinda perpetuating the attitude that inspired someone to make this meme in the first place

        • TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Touche. But no, my point was more of a haphazard reflection on how both the Trolley Problem and Prisoner’s Dilemma are (by design) built on the idea of reducing human life and/or morality and empathy down to a math problem. It is a method of thought that has its purposes, sure, but I think too many people make that their default setting, which makes dehumanization more commonsublllif subconsciously. Idk man, I’m going through some stuff

          • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            Given that this problem is given during corporate interviews … it probably screens for the requisite level of sociopathy.

  • Peck@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Well obviously you should pull the lever once the front wheels past the split but before the rear wheels cross it, so that trolley gets off the rails. This way everybody has the chance to survive and you have defensible position during inevitable court hearing.

    • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Are the 5 people on the opposong trolley worthy of death? Will killing them outweigh losing my loved ones?

      Or is the one loved one ill save my really hot 1st cousin?

      Because with the rest of the family dead, we can live happily ever after without any annoying incest complaints.

  • somewhathinged@lemm.ee
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    9 hours ago

    If you think about this for any length of time and actually imagine this scenario, you realise you don’t pull the lever and it’s not even close.

    • socsa@piefed.social
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      8 hours ago

      Wrong. You pick the obviously wrong moral stance and then aggressively yell about it on the internet. The more obvious it becomes that you are wrong, the louder you yell. This protects your ego from introspection.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      that right, I’d masturbate on the tracks and on the people tied to the tracks so they are slipery and can slide or bounce to safety. And before you judge me, its the only thing I’m really good at and we should make the most of what we have in life.

      Failing that for whatever reason (or maybe in addition to that), I’d asses which of the prospects are lefties and make sure those people in particular live. Sorry centrists and republicans, but we need the votes and some people have to die, but I’m focussed on doing the least harm here.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      You realize this is your family watching you make the decision to have their vehicle run over a loved one? There’s a possibility they all live if you pull it.

      • Famko@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Or if you pull it, then they see you make the decision to risk their lives to kill three other people.

        What is better, three lives lost or one life lost?

  • kreskin@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    you find some third way thats not the bad outcomes that are suggested. Theres always possibilities in life and people who say there are not are generally trying to coerce you.

  • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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    12 hours ago

    I think these scenarios might be easier to analyze if we made them a bit more realistic.

    This an analogy for military intervention. If we empower our military to be proactive, we can save one "good guy"TM by killing 3 bystanders. But if NATO’s adversaries are participating too we lose 3 of our "good guy"TM

    • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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      10 hours ago

      I think the abstract nature is one of the strengths. If you ask someone a question about military intervention, their pre-existing views towards military intervention will heavily bias their answer.

      • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        Yeah that’s a good point. Maybe I should amend my statement to say something like:

        If this seems like an absurd hypothetical, consider reframing it. Multiply all the numbers by a factor of between 1,000 to 1,000,000 and make them “our soldiers”, “bystanders” and “enemy soldiers” respectively.