Would You Pull The Switch? Moral Dillema..

[Bunjiweb]

This is copied from another forum so I take no credit for it.

This is a moral dilema I remember from when I was in school:
Its not very cheery, but its an ethical question that is sure to perplex some of us, while for others the decision is easy.

You are the gate keeper at a level crossing where the train tracks spilt in two just after the gate. There is a traffic jam and cars have blocked both tracks after they diverge and you can hear a train coming quickly in your direction.

The train is due to continue straight through the first level crossing, but this crossing is blocked by a mini bus with 10 people in it. The second crossing after the track splits is also blocked with a car with only one person in it. You have only 5 or 6 seconds to make a decision, you can either let the train pass on its route and hit the mini bus with ten people in it or you can flick the switch and divert the train onto the other track which has the car with only one person in it.

What do you do? Do you let fate decide and let the train pass on its destined route, killing all in the mini bus or do you take responsibility and switch the track killing the person in the car?
You dont have time to warn the occupants in the cars that a train is approaching around the bend.

Would you feel it was the right thing to do, sentencing the innocent person in the car to death when they are not in danger, or let fate take its course and not intervene yourself?

What would you do....

My view is that i'd pull the switch if it meant saving 10 and killing 1 rather than killing 10 and saving 1.

You've got to realise, it is the fault of both the minibus driver and the car driver for sitting on the track in the first time. AT NO TIME should anyone attempt to do this as it is highly dangerous and also illegal.

I would not be concerned about getting blamed for it as it would not be my fault they were there in the first place.

Sorry this is a very pessamistic view but I would rather save 10 than 1, whoever they are.

Ben

[daniel_owen_uk]

I would pretend I never saw the train coming

But seriously I don't know I think I would pull the switch but I dont know if I only had 5 seconds to decide.

[Raz316]

Honestly don't know.

If I managed to think rationally about it in the 5 seconds I had, I'd divert it to the car. But I have never been in that situation, I have no idea how I would react.

[GreenPiggy]

Having watched way too much of '24' i would say i would pull the switch but then, as you say you wouldn't know.

[Skii]

T NO TIME should anyone attempt to do this as it is highly dangerous and also illegal.

Damn I had it all set up as well


Anyway - yep , I think I'd pull it. 10 lives > 1 life.

Could you live with yourself with the fact that had you not intervened 10 people would be dead ?

Lesser of 2 evils.

[Knoxville]

I think i'd pull it as i don't believe in fate, whichever happens though its likely that the train will de-rail and kill more than the 10 or 1

[Blub2k]

It would be wrong in my opinion not to intervene and attempt to save as many lives as possible, also the bus is heavier and may cause a derailment killing all the train passengers whereas a lighter car may not derail the train.

[Rythmic]

Not only would you be killing an extra 9 people by not switching - you're also making the train more likely to derail.

[Barakka]

I would not throw the switch.

If the train was meant to go that way then it would be for very good reason and if it was forced the other way could go head on into another train coming the other way.



*Just to point out - this could never actually happen, the barriers come down at the crossing when the train leaves the station before it - to give plenty of time to get cars off the track. Or opportunity to stop the train if neccessary.

[Byatt]

I'd try to pull the switch, be unsure if I had pulled it successfully or not and be in the process of reswitching it when the train goes through the points, derailing the train, whose carriages split and manage to roll over both the car and minibus.

[Skii]

I think some of you guys are reading into it too much. I don't believe you are meant to consider outside factors that aren't mentioned like derailment and trains coming the other way.

The issue is a simple case of 'do I allow 10 to die or intervene and directly cause the death of another.' No other factors.

[Blub2k]

Well derailment is not an outside factor, the thing is that the train passengers would have to figure in the eventual decision, it does not say it is a freight train. My decision would remain the same anyway 1 vs 10, basic maths is that 10 wins
.

[Byatt]

I think some of you guys are reading into it too much. I don't believe you are meant to consider outside factors that aren't mentioned like derailment and trains coming the other way.

The issue is a simple case of 'do I allow 10 to die or intervene and directly cause the death of another.' No other factors.

or maybe we're making a reference to the point that life is very rarely this simple.

[Skii]

or maybe we're making a reference to the point that life is very rarely this simple.

Possibly.

I think however the contest of this dilemma is meant to stay simple. If we want to consider outside possible factors then the list could be endless

The train could be derailed depending on the angle it hits the vehicle, what kind of car is it ? it could be a Bentley in which case it probably weighs more than the minibus, what other trains are in the vicinity, what kind of train is it? If its a freight train it has a crew of 2 at the most, whereas if it is a passenger train the risk of injuries to the train occupants is much greater, etc etc

[G4Z]

well, like spock said, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

and tbh, the passengers had no control over being on the tracks, the car driver did so in my mind the car gets it.

[Auran]

I wouldn't pull the switch for the following reasons;

1. The number of people involved is irrelevant as you cannot say for sure whether more people will die if it hits the bus or the car. Probability would suggest the bus but so many other factors are involved you cannot be sure.

2. That train is travelling on that track for a reason of scheduling. It will be a lot easier to sort out the aftermath if everything is as it should be apart from the train having hit a vehicle. i.e. it is not on the right track.

3. And as has been suggested who is to say that there would not be another train coming the other way which could not be stopped in time. However, there will not be any trains near on the same track.