Philosophies of Good and Evil, Tuesday

[suitably_heroic]

The first person to enter the Danger Shop today would find themselves escorted to the wall, which they’d be facing for at least a few minutes. The next one after that would be directed to sit on the floor on one side, while the next few students had to sit on the other.

And then the program flipped on, surrounding them in what looked like an old cartoon. Green hills as far as the eye could see, a comically blue sky, and– train tracks. One on one side, one on the other. By the wall sat a switch.

A train honked loudly in the distance.

“The trolley problem is probably the most famous and most chewed-out moral problem in the multiverse,” Atton said brightly. “It poses a very utilitarian question: if a train is going to hit three people, and you have the power to throw the switch and send it in the other direction so it hits one person instead, should you throw the switch?”

Lana beamed at the person facing the wall. "You can choose to flip the switch or not. You can't do anything else. Now, if you do flip the switch, you've actively chosen to kill someone. If you don't, perhaps you'll have the moral superiority of not choosing to kill someone, but you've also passively chosen to allow three others to die.

"So, is active intent versus passive important?" she asked. "Is it purely a numbers game, whether you kill or save more people? Does it matter which people are on which side? You don't have much time to decide."

Comments

Sign In!

[suitably_heroic]

First one to ping stands by the wall, the second on the right, the rest of you on the left.

Re: Sign In!

[sith_happened]

Anakin Skywalker

Re: Sign In!

[napking]

Gray

Re: Sign In!

[stykera]

Stark

Re: Sign In!

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Illyana Rasputin

Listen to the Lecture

[suitably_heroic]

Well, at least they're probably not actually going to let a train hit you.

What Should You Choose?

[suitably_heroic]

Class discussion time, while the person by the switch thinks about it! Should they throw the switch, and if so, why?

Re: What Should You Choose?

[sith_happened]

"Did any of them dye my hair blue?" Anakin asked dryly.

Re: What Should You Choose?

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't know," Atton said, just as dryly. "Seems like a kind of limited ethical dichotomy to me, but hey, if that's what your moral worldview is all about."

Re: What Should You Choose?

[sith_happened]

"Well, it's hypothetical anyway," Anakin said. "I can be capricious."

Re: What Should You Choose?

[suitably_heroic]

"Sounds like the kind of logic you would've given someone in your Ethics class crap for back in the day," Atton pointed out mildly.

Re: What Should You Choose?

[napking]

"Oh, you should run over me," Gray told Anakin helpfully. "I'm mostly immortal."

Re: What Should You Choose?

[suitably_heroic]

Atton had wound up behind his desk by now, so he just called out a lazy, "No powers lawyering the moral dilemma!"

Re: What Should You Choose?

[sith_happened]

"That works too," Anakin said with a grin.

Re: What Should You Choose?

[stykera]

"But why can't I stop it or take the one person off the track or stop whoever put them there in the first place? This problem doesn't make sense."

Re: What Should You Choose?

[suitably_heroic]

"Because it's a train, and it's moving very fast, and you don't have time," Atton said, rolling his eyes. "This isn't a 'look for a loophole' kind of situation. You can't reach anyone in time because it's too fast, you can't stop it because it's a damn train, and if you run away to go get the guy who put them there, his buddy will show up with a knife and everybody's dead."

No, that last part wasn't actually part of the dilemma, but Atton could be spiteful.

Re: What Should You Choose?

[stykera]

"Why isn't there a brake if there are switches?"

This scenario was absurd!

Re: What Should You Choose?

[suitably_heroic]

Atton stared at him. "One, you're not the person driving the train, so it doesn't matter if there are brakes, because two, the train is going too fast for you to get to it or do anything with it, but three, feel free to assume malice on the part of the person driving it if it'll help you think about the actual question," he said. "Because four, this is a moral thought exercise about what you should do in a situation where you can't save everyone, and so far all you're telling me is that you can't cope with the idea of a situation where you can't somehow save the day, like you're an 8-year-old or something."

He'd gotten the impression before that Stark was a lot younger than he looked, but he hadn't realized it was this bad.

Re: What Should You Choose?

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Kill me, and release me from this capitalist hellscape," Illyana said dryly. "Please."

At least until the next Marvel event where she got resurrected.

Re: What Should You Choose?

[unusual_sith]

Lana smirked. "Sorry, only if Anakin decides it."

Throw or Don't Throw?

[suitably_heroic]

Motivate your decision, oh switch-thrower.

Talk to the Teachers

[suitably_heroic]

Someone came back from the trip in a mood.

Re: Talk to the Teachers

[suitably_heroic]

Well, kind of a mood. Atton still wasn't happy about the whole bed situation, but the weekend had mellowed him some.

Not enough not to program the Danger Shop, but hey, he could've made it much worse.

Re: Talk to the Teachers

[unusual_sith]

Lana was in a fine mood, but then, she’d gotten to sleep in a bed all week.

OOC

[suitably_heroic]

flops All the chickens are debroodying and now the rooster's all restless in the middle of the night.