@sidereal is it a safe halt to any people who might be inside the trolley too?

@sidereal I think the discussion how one comes up with a 'dilemma' like this has more philosophical relevance than the (forced upon) choice. Or: why do people play by the rules of this dilemma? Why comply and what does it mean if you don't?

@sidereal FFS, just stop tying people to railtracks!

@sidereal you weren't on duty at the Connington South signalbox on the night of 05 March 1967 were you

@sidereal Ever wondered why they only show you part of the picture?

@sidereal that's true, but I think the whole point of this dilemma is that there are only two options you can choose from, and flipping the switch is a metaphor for interference.

@sidereal @bynkii

All the passengers inside the trolly perish.

@sidereal
A trolley was the wrong vehicle to use. They all got various "deadman" switches to stop if it isn't actively controlled.
And it's powered by a sprung pole going to an overhead wire. Pull the rope on the back to de-wire it, and the motors naturally become dynamic brakes.
And "Trolley" means shopping cart in Britain. There should be a version with a shopping cart for them.

lmao this is easily the most popular thing I have ever posted on here. Amazing

@sidereal I'm a fan of lateral thinking 👏

@sidereal To the folks saying this kills the operator:

@sidereal I adore this, thanks for taking the time

@sidereal awww yeeeeeah.

@sidereal The problem was designed to illustrate an ethical dilemma, not a physical one. While the solution you propose would save the people on the track, we don’t know how many people are on the trolley, nor how they would be affected by a derailment.

@sidereal Nice job Kirk! The old Kobayashi Maru.

@sidereal i think this is what some people call "multi track drifting"

@sidereal this is what we've been saying for years lol

@sidereal So really the trolley problem isn't about intractable ethical dilemmas, it's about the better world we can have if we frickin listen to and learn from each other

@sidereal Omgosh thank You!!!

@sidereal
Excellent one!

@sidereal this is #MultiTrackDrifting my friend, but you are correct in it being the best solution. 😜

@sidereal@kolektiva.social glad to see that I am not the only one who came up with the idea of triggering a derailment

@sidereal Wouldn't "safe halt" be very much dependent on the speed of the trolley? I'm thinking of the cause of the train crash in Germany in the 90s in Eschede where a bullet train accident caused some of the carriages to be switched over at speed onto another track before carnage ensued. If this trolley went at high enough speed the conundrum still prevails but it has one more possible solution, which *may* kill no one but that's hard to tell. (I'm saying add a speed indicator to the meme😉)

@sidereal @RuthMalan You just Kobayashi Maru’d the trolley problem

@sidereal I was always asking myself: who the heck is driving the trolley???

@sidereal Thank you! I have been saying this for years too

@sidereal completely unironically this is usually the solution to the trolley problem

@sidereal

"AI" wouldn't come up with that solution

...but I'll reiterate I think the trolley problem is a smokescreen and assumes the sensors would detect, parse, & recognize the situation correctly in the first place. Kind of conveniently glosses over the hardest part of the problem imho

Self driving cars will never work.

@sidereal Given the distances and vectors, it looks like there's a good chance the trolley would flip on its side and roll over everyone on both sets of tracks.

@sidereal Amazing! Thanks for sharing!

@sidereal learned this as a kid with a model railway. Although, if the tracks are close enough and remain parallel you can get a double bogey carriage to ride along both :)

@sidereal What's the mass of the trolley, the speed, and distance to either choice a of living humans?

And am I in any way related to the anyone in this scenario?

@sidereal surely that would most likely cause an uncontrolled derailment

@sidereal
me: trying this
the trolley:

@sidereal congratulations

@sidereal

@sidereal
Or just put rocks in front to derail it.