Programmer Humor

I'd pull the lever to kill one person immediately. Assuming the decision maker at each stage is a different person with different opinions on moral, ethical, religious, and logical questions, then it's a near certainty that someone is going to pull the lever to kill the people at their stage. If you're lucky, it's the very next guy. If you're not, it's the guy killing a million people a couple of iterations later. If I'm the first guy, I'll take the moral hit to save the larger number of people.

If we all collectively agree to just pass it on, then either:

• It's infinite, and it just passes on forever, or...

• It's not infinite and somebody at the end has no choice, in which case nobody in charge of a lever has killed anyone

So yeah, I say pass it on.

Someone needs to stop tying people to those train tracks or this trolley problem will never go away.

Step in front of the train: Tell your manager this whole project is dumb, provide a list of reasons why it's a bad idea and explain you are prepared to resign rather than enable its further development.

MULTI-TRACK DRIFTING!! Which also kills the other lever guy, bonus!

Double it and I'll do it myself

Just keep doubling forever until the number is more than everyone alive, free s-risk emergency button.

Napkin math, from the last time I saw this:

I’ve been thinking about this. I estimate a few people per 1000 would do an atrocity for no reason if they were guaranteed no consequences, and the deaths if the switch is pulled are 2^(n-1) for the nth switch. The expected deaths will cross 1 somewhere in the high single-digits, then (since it’s outcome*chance), so the death minimising strategy is actually to pull yours if the chain is at least that long.

Edit: This assumes the length of the chain is variable but finite, and the trolley stops afterwards. If it's infinite obviously you pull the switch.

Half-pull the lever so that the points get stuck midway between the two tracks. That should derail the trolley. Someone could conceivably still get hurt, but it improves everyone's chances.

(What? You mean it isn't a literal trolley that has to obey the laws of physics? Damn.)

There is one person in danger.

Now I pull the lever.

Now there are two _______

Modern financial system in one picture.

If we keep doubling, will I eventually be a person on the tracks? There are a finite number of people, so eventually I would be, right? So, passing the buck would be equivalent to handing my fate to a stranger.

OTOH, if there are an infinite number of people, then this thought experiment is creating people out of thin air. Do these imaginary people's rhetorical lives even matter?

Either way, it seems better to kill 1 person at the start.

Just walk away and assume the original engineer put safety measures in place.

Damn. That’s the politician way of thinking!!!

This is a screenshot from here https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/

What is the base case for this?

Choosing the second option will trap an infinite people for eternity in this problem, because it would never stop

„I pull this lever and suddenly it’s not my problem anymore“

Depends on how much I'm getting paid..