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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Three Mental Puzzlers: Question #2

This isn't meant to be a trick question. Given the following dilemma, please explain your choice of one of the two possible outcomes.

Scenario :
You are standing on a walking bridge over a single set of train tracks. Far to your right, on one end of the track, you see 15 people performing maintenance on it. Far to your left, on the other end of the track, you see a train rapidly approaching. Standing next to you on the bridge is a pedestrian. You are too far to visually or audibly notify any of the 15 individuals working on the track.

Question:
Knowing that the train will eventually hit and kill all of the 15 individuals on the track, do you push the pedestrian off of the bridge and onto the track, knowing that the train will hit and kill this person and stop prior to hitting the other 15 people, or do you allow the train to continue and kill all 15 laborers?

posted by Christopher C. Weis at 9:23 AM

6 Comments:

  • Am I retarded or is this the same question?

    By Anonymous Bridgett, at 6:31 PM  

  • Again, I'd let the train continue on its way and not interfere. Shoving the person off the bridge would be murder no matter how many lives I saved by doing so.

    By Blogger Lacie, at 11:01 PM  

  • I bitch and complain about how trains don't save lives because of all the train associated deaths (particularly on this blog). I propose amendments to the constitution and I implore members of congress to get tough on train laws. Where is the public outrage!

    If I really knew the train would stop if someone was placed in front of it, then I suppose I would jump in front of it, as me throwing the other person over is murder, and me doing nothing about the death of 15 others that I could have prevented, while not murder, certainly makes me morally culpable.

    By Blogger Zach Malmgren, at 12:48 PM  

  • So pushing the other person over would be murder. BUT, the other 15 people would not see you do it and the train would take care of any evidence of the push. So is it really murder if no one sees it and there is no evidence? I would push the person. But knowing my luck, I would try to push the other person, turn into a struggle match and I myself would be the one to go over.

    Can you throw stones at the people instead?

    By Blogger G13, at 3:35 PM  

  • I think Gina and Zach have it right. We need to look at why the tracks are in such sorry states of disrepair, and why the hell we're using deaf laborers to fix the tracks that a blind Casey Jones will ultimately drive down (probably high on cocaine). Even a chubby Jerry O'Connell was able to outrun the train in Stand By Me (btw, 'Did Lardass have to pay to be in the contest' is still the best follow up question to any boring story someone tells you).

    Actively engaging in murder is wrong, so clearly you can't push the one guy off the edge. Actively letting other people die is wrong, so clearly you can't let the train go along its merry way.

    So do we push the 1 (soldier) into the way of the train (terrorists) to save the many (me, you, etc..), or close our eyes and hope the train somehow decides to stop on its own (even though we know it won't, it will just ease our guilt). Hard decisions to make, but since I'll no doubt need to be around to save another group of deaf railroad maintenance people from yet another blind conductor, I'll push the one over.

    One question, though...did that one have to pay to be in this contest?

    By Blogger TennesseeJed, at 2:37 PM  

  • I guess I'd jump, but I still say, "How the F*ck can u not hear a train?!?!?"

    By Blogger Oreo, at 12:16 PM  

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