Taking Trolley Problem Memes Seriously (Again)

1. 

   @CosmicSkeptic

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   Go to https://piavpn.com/alex to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free

2. 

   @kaelanstaples

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   3:50 do I get to keep it if I run over the people?

3. 

   @kaelanstaples

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   2:30 you can divert your internet data but it hits Alex

4. 

   @Leopold-stuff

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   5:22 yesssss. Will look ugly but it'll at least solve housing

5. 

   @lysseax

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   Hot take, I’d save the Louvre/British Museum over a person, probably even a family member. It’s super hard, but I think the potential harm that could be done by losing access to one-of-a-kind historical artifacts to billions of possible people in the future studying our time is much worse than my selfish need for someone.

6. 

   @YuneLied

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   6:13 I don't find this to be a difficult choice to make. I think that innocent life is definitely more valuable than material objects. I mean, art can be recreated, or created to be better, but it's impossible to recreate the exact human life.

7. 

   @fadew55

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   I'd send it to the box. Theres a 99% chance noone dies. Vs a 100 percent chance 1 person dies. Vs a 1% chance 100 die.
   Couldn't go with the 100% chance.

8. 

   @fadew55

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   For the mona Lisa one. I'd destroy the Mona Lisa, but when. It came to all the art in the world I'd say the amount of joy and wonder and emotions people get out of art far outweighs the amount of joy and wonder and emotions those 5 people could get throughout their entire lives. And their entire bloodline.

9. 

   @Gabb737

   January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

   i’d like to debate this with someone, i was thinking that in most of the cases you should pull the lever no matter the context, as, if you end up in that situation, where you have the opportunity to pull the lever, you should, as you are doing what’s meant to be, or you wouldn’t be there at all. i’m not great at expressing my thoughts in english as it isn’t my mother language, but i can explain further if asked questions.

10. 

    @ShuaHaus

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    Groundhog day hypothetical… all the sudden the day keeps resetting, so everytime u wake up the previous day didnt really happen and u get a do-over. What are the ethics behind doing anything you want, if it gets erased after the day.

11. 

    @nicolepanacho7128

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    if you gradually include more art pieces in the trolly's destruction, its a lot easier to sacrifice them in favour of perserving the pieces accidentally left out

    if you include the entire formats of art, it becomes impossible to justify because it will just kill creativity with a boring hammer of "subjective thus deleted"

12. 

    @AnonymousInsignificantPerson

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    1:08 Yes, I would pull the lever because the world is better without the clone and not to punish the German dictator.

13. 

    @northuniverse

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    Every material object can be recreated.

14. 

    @OxidiseGD

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    I think I’d kill 5 innocent people only as long as the stucture that I was destroying would take many more lifetimes of those people longer than the time it takes to re build whatever was destroyed

15. 

    @mattkutschera4514

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    The 5 vs 5 version doesn't necessarily mean that a utilitarian should pull the lever necessarily. One needs to also look at the unintended effects that are not readily obvious. A couple of potential negative outcomes that could reasonably follow the decision:

    – Having crossed that line, the lever puller may have less resistance to taking lives in the future. Without going full slippery slope and turning him into a serial killer, it's not out of the range of possibility that he may choose to pull the lever next time, in a situation that he otherwise would not have
    – In many people, there is demonstrable psychological harm caused by taking a person's life. I would even go so far as to posit that most people would fall under this category, and the ones who don't would be more likely to fall under the first point

    Of course, there are many other arguments against pulling the lever in that situation but most of the ones I can think of all fall under critiques of utilitarianism/consequentialism

    As for expected value, there are many easy refutations of that principal when the number of iterations stays small. It does dominate once you factor in the law of large numbers, but for a single choice it's far less weighty, even before we consider diminishing returns.

16. 

    @cursedcat6467

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    7:00 Im a utilitarian and I think he shouldnt pull it because if he does indeed like the feeling of killing a person that could lead to more deaths than just 5

17. 

    @icarusgaming6269

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    The point the dial has to reach to give me pause is a Tom Scott Earworm type of scenario where all our digital backups of art are destroyed globally. The function of historical art, which is to inspire future art and anthropological discussions, is very well preserved by now (except not video games). Threatening the preservation of art is highly alarming to me

18. 

    @ОлежаПринц-д4к

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    Вопрос с Мона Лизой это как кого ты выберешь одного человека или одну рыбу.
    А после одного человека или всех рыбы.
    Значит где-то есть число тех самых рыб которые стоят жизни человека

19. 

    @85CrowsHeads

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    I was always taught in school that being an (inactive) spectator is almost (if not just as bad) as being a bully in a situation. So why should not touching the lever be any better than touching the lever, my view on it is that as soon as you see the situation you have entered it and weather you pull the lever or not you have still made a choice.

20. 

    @AbbasAli-ci9vc

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    With regard to the expected value problem, I think a big part of why one would pull the lever is that we put more emotional and moral weight on the intention to improve the situation, and arguably less on the consequences. Even if the consequences were terrible, we can tell ourselves we tried to make things better, and that is all.

21. 

    @Alexmaple-g9g

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    He just avoided answering the first one why😭😭

22. 

    @სოსკა

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    6:12 I'm sure as hell saving Mona Lisa, art is far more important than human lives are

23. 

    @lazrohvarger4250

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    My answer to the first one is yes I will pull the lever, because of have someone who believes they are are a serial killer and they believe they enjoy it they will kill more people.

24. 

    @Kartinkata5

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    Ngl man gotta give you credit for that advertisement plug. It was pretty smooth!

25. 

    @dude1234-w6g

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    6:22 Buildings can be rebuilt, more art comes with time, however humans are necessary to create that said art so I'd save the people.

26. 

    @yeetwoodmac6920

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    I feel like people who think not pulling the lever keeps them from getting involved are weird. They must feel weird and disconnected from life

27. 

    @mandyjansen2179

    January 15, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    idea: a trolley problem where Bill Gates is bound to the tracks and pulling the lever makes the train run on windows 95

Comments are closed.