9 out of 10 people would murder a stranger by pulling a lever. Do y'all know this famous thought exp
9 out of 10 people would murder a stranger by pulling a lever. Do y'all know this famous thought experiment? Here’s the scenario: . Imagine you’re watching a train speed down the track from a bridge above it. Up ahead are five unsuspecting innocent people that will be run over. But in front of you is a lever. If you pull it, it’ll switch the track to a different one.. where only one unsuspecting innocent person is standing. Would you pull the lever, effectively killing the one guy to save the five, or do nothing at all? 9 out of 10 people would pull it. . What gets interesting is a slight change in the setup. Same scenario, but this time there’s no track switch. Instead, you’re standing on the bridge over the tracks next to a stranger. Down the way, the five people are doomed. If you push the stranger, he’d land on the tracks and stop the train. Saving five lives. Would you push him? 9 out of 10 people say no. Hell no. . But what’s the difference? Same math. Same loss of life. The only difference is the lever. . Psychologists have observed that humans are deeply averse to violence when it’s face to face. We have a deep instinct against it. But, one step removed, and that instinct is almost completely diminished. (I heard all this on @radiolab’s episode Morality… it’s a must listen) . To me, this explains why bullying thrives on the internet. Why road-rage exists more than sidewalk-rage. Why drone strikes are ethically toxic. Why government wastes money that isn’t theirs. Why suffering in Syria feels less real. Our animal brains have no software for a connected world, a world of buttons and levers and screens to hide behind. . Trust your physical world more than the others. Trust the kindness of strangers on the sidewalk. You were designed for it. . (Post-script: maybe those with more compassion for the distant and different are more evolved? Hmm) -- source link