You didn't kill that person, the person who invented the problem did.
Philosophy is easy.
this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2025
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As long as everyone doubles there will be no deaths.
Why do I get the feeling this kind of logic is used by modern day economists to justify inflation?
But I don't know if I trust literally infinite people. It might be better to kill one. Because unless you believe all humans are 100% willing to never kill someone then you're risking a number of deaths larger than 1. (Potentially much larger.)
No need to trust infinite people. You just need to get past 33 forks before you run out of people to operate the switch or to be tied to the tracks.
It's a thought experiment though, in the magical world where we could have all of humanity tied to rail road tracks by an omnipotent being, I don't assume there to be a finite number of people.
Would they not simply be trapped tied to the tracks until a nonexistent remaining person makes a choice? Also you're trusting that 32nd person not to kill just under 5 billion people.
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When we are all strapped to the tracks, who will decide?
After person 33 there won't be any more humans to tie to the rails
Edit: which was pointed more subtly by OP in the title
So if you the 32, you choice is to kill hall of the humanity, or be killed by the next person Why does it feel like this is his is the choice we all have ?
no, this means you already saved half. unless someone was untying the people from previous track then re-tie them again to be killed?
Maybe it's a loop?
Easy, kill the first person.
Honestly I would. Like I wouldn't hesitate to kill patient zero of a world ending disease.
But then it isn't a world ending desease, you just killed somebody
The use of a time machine is implied in these situations
Kill the person who invented the trolley problem. It's the only way to be sure
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2^32^ is roughly four billion. We'll need one or two more doublings to get every last person alive on the tracks.
This introduces a new wrinkle in the experiment: all the switch operators are also tied to the track. Somewhere.
Just a little more and every single particle in the universe will be on the tracks, and what the fuck would happen if every particle in the universe was split in twain? Let's assume it radiated outward from the center of the universe at the speed of light...
Paging Mr. Munroe...
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How fast is the train going can I make it to the person who's tied down and lay with them
Do you know any of the people involved?
at the 33rd round you do
If you are number 32 the chance is 50/50
How do you know blahblahblah only knows one person? Are you that one person?
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Sounds like what we have been doing with the environment.
I'd get it done and over with. I would resent myself forever, and accept any punishment for it, but it's better than waiting to see if someone wants to decide to kill off half the world later on. Would be even easier if I could take the first persons spot on the tracks so there only has to be one messed up person rather than two.
In recognition of your heroic sacrifice, I volunteer to pull the switch to send the train to run over you.
Maybe there is nobody tied up after the third split, nobody explicitly stated it continues!
Schrödingers murder: You are both a murder and not a murder. You are not a murderer as you did not choose to kill a person, but as this can not continue forever you are also a murderer since it is quite certain that eventually someone will choose murder.
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You'll eventually have to include alien life. What a great way to see if aliens exist!
This is also Thanos wet dream come true. Keep racking up the "pass"!
Everyone just doubles it and we're good
That's kind of how it feels like living in the modern age to be honest. We're just doubling it until somebody decides to pull the lever.
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The optimal solution to the trolley problem is always the one that makes the least sense because the more chaos injected into any system the less predictable the results will be.
So I pull it, kill the other person at the second lever, and drag throw the person from the first set of tracks to the place where the train switches tracks. wrench the lever free from the top part and place it on the tracks where the train would switch too.
Fucked if I know what the outcome is.
You try to save them all by tackling the guy on the second track. The train is 400m from the wye in the track but 375m from the point the second person can decide to flip the switch. You are 270m from the second person. The train travels at a steady 15m/s. You start running at an acceleration of 0.5m/s/s. Can you tackle the second person to prevent them from flipping the switch? Assume flipping the switch means killing the poor tied up folks.
I dunno. I just made up numbers though.
I assume if they DON'T flip it, it gets passed yo the next guy with 4 people tied to the track.
33junctions down the road, and it's the population of the earth tied down.
Yes but that is literally the opposite of the premise I presented. That's how it's normally seen, but this is just fun and dumb high school physics question. K thx bai
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Is this some kind of IPv6 joke that's gone over my head?
"double it and give it to the next person" was sort of a trend with street interview type content. Like "Do you want a cookie or double it and give it to the next person." Then the second would be "Do you want two cookies or double it and give it to the next person?" Eventually someone takes the cookies. It wasn't cookies necessarily, sometimes money, sometimes other trinkets, whatever.
Endless regress here we go
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