Post #4584315 · Elektrine

2026-08-30 14:44 UTC

There is a correct solution to the trolley problem. It is this: you design the system with positive train control. You make it so the trolley cannot enter a section where there are people, and you make it so the trolley can be stopped quickly if something goes wrong. I've been told that this is cheating, a cop-out, or avoiding the "interesting" aspects of the question. I don't think it is. Framing the world as a series of individual can't-win situations and lose-lose decisions _is_ the problem. Don't do that.

Replies (2)

@pettter@social.accum.se 2026-08-31 10:25

@mattdm@hachyderm.io Incidentally, this is also the correct answer to Omelas: It is stated in the story many times that the child is not actually necessary for the society, but only for its "realism" to _us the readers_, and this is not hidden away, it is stated explicitly. > "Now do you believe them? Are they not more credible?"

Open ##4584314
@aharper@mstdn.social 2026-08-30 14:53

@mattdm@hachyderm.io Yeah, if you are solving the trolley problem in real life, someone has already made several fundamental mistakes. As an example: if a car is barreling towards a group of children and the driver can hit the children and save the occupants of the vehicle or can swerve off a cliff, killing the occupants to save the children, the original mistake was traveling at an unsafe velocity in a place where this scenario could occur.

Open ##4586494