Atton Rand & miscellaneous names (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
suitably_heroic) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2023-10-24 07:02 am
suitably_heroic) wrote in fandomhigh2023-10-24 07:02 am
Entry tags:
Philosophies of Good and Evil, Tuesday
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."
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."
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