A form of trolley problem you may always face in your life or some interview!
Do read the whole thing…lemme know what you would do …
The classic trolley problem is also frequently asked question in brain teasers and psychological assessments!
Most of the times the choice is pretty straightforward but then comes the complications!
Robert Sapolsky discusses the “train track question,” formally known as the trolley problem, in his book Behave to illustrate the complex interplay of neuroscience, emotion, and utilitarian reasoning in human morality!
The problem is usually asked in many variations!
The classic “trolley problem” presents two main scenarios:
The Switch Case: A runaway trolley is headed toward five people tied to the track. You are standing next to a lever. If you pull the lever, the trolley will divert onto a side track, where it will kill one person.
Most people (around 70%) say they would pull the lever, sacrificing one person to save five, which is a utilitarian decision (the ends justify the means).
The Footbridge Case (or “Fat Man” Case): The trolley is still headed for five people. This time, you are on a footbridge above the tracks, next to a large man.
The only way to stop the trolley is to push this man onto the tracks, killing him, but saving the five people. Far fewer people (around 25%) say they would do this!
Another variation is that the Fat Man is actually the person who is responsible for the tying the people on the track and is actually evil! Then almost 100 percent would tell that they would push him!
The distinction in people’s responses highlights a tension between immediate, emotional aversion to personally causing harm (pushing the man) and abstract, cognitive calculations of the greater good (pulling the lever).
Sapolsky notes that individuals with damage to the prefrontal cortex, a brain region critical for emotional regulation and decision-making, are more likely to make the purely utilitarian choice to push the man in the footbridge scenario.
Your choice would also be influenced if you know the person or persons involved! If you are too anxious you may not even make a choice and simply close your eyes to the whole problem!
A recent modification of the same problem is like this:
There are two tracks; one is broken and the other is good but there are a group of children playing on the good track while there is a handicapped kid playing on the damaged track.
You cannot call out to them so what would you do!?
Do not worry! The correct answer is not to divert the train on to the one handicapped child on the broken track! This is wrong since you would then be putting the whole group of people in the train at risk!
The child who was playing in the damaged track was not doing anything wrong! He never expected a train to come there! So he does not deserve any punishment!
The kids playing in the normal track should not have been playing there! In any case they can easily see the train coming and move away!
The correct answer here is that you do not have to do anything!
Rest assured life is not a simple train trolley problem! Our decisions are complex and unpredictable and well, Human! Just that it must also be Humane is the only hope!
An absolutely amazing human also is Krishnamachari “Kris” Srikkanth!
Now don’t worry too much about the track!
Shubh ratri!
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