The Trolley Problem

There is a trolley (train) that is moving fast and out of control. Ahead on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks and avoid the five people. However, you notice that there is one worker on the second track. He can’t hear you or see the trolley coming, so he won’t be able to move out of the way. You have two options:

Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.

Pull the lever, sending the trolley onto the second track where it will kill one person.

OK, what if the one person on the second track is someone you know and love? Does that change your decision?

Yes

OK, what if as before, a trolley is racing down a track towards the five people. This time, however, you are on a bridge over the track. The trolley will pass under the bridge, and you can stop the trolley by putting something very heavy in front of it. You see a very, very large man next to you on the bridge over the track. Your only way to stop the trolley is to push the very large man over the bridge and onto the track. The trolley will stop when it hits him. If you push him off the bridge in front of the trolley, you will kill him, but the other five people will live. Should you do it?

Yes

OK, what if the very, very large man is a very, very evil person. Perhaps he is a murderer or some other kind of serious criminal. Does that change your decision?

Yes

How are hypothetical scenarios like this useful in real situations that involve robots or technology like automatic self-driving cars?

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