• Match!!@pawb.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    93
    ·
    9 months ago

    A trolley is heading towards 4 people. If you pull the switch, it will be diverted towards 1 person. Also, if you slip the switch by pulling it after the front wheels have passed but before back wheels do, it will probably come to a complete halt before hitting anyone, but there is a 20% chance that you’ll fuck up and kill all 5 people. There are exits to the east, north, west, and south.

    What will you do? _

      • Match!!@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        74
        ·
        9 months ago

        To the north, you see a quaint downtown district that shows signs of recent renovation, and even more recent sudden collapse. A gastro-brewpub advertises trivia on Tuesdays. There are two bearded men sitting at an outdoor table with their beers, watching in rapt horror as the trolley speeds towards the people bound to the tracks.

        You hear an emergency whistle from the trolley.

        What do you do? _

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        9 months ago

        This. On average it’s the same number of deaths, but there’s also the 80% chance to avoid the guilt of killing anyone. The guilt of killing 5 people is presumably not 5 times worse than the guilt of killing 1 person.

    • AnyOldName3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      9 months ago

      Look at the wheels to check for bogies. A train or tram without bogies will come to a stop. One with bogies will multi-track drift until the tracks get too far apart.

      • Match!!@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        9 months ago

        The tram is a low-floor streetcar and you cannot see the wheels from where you are. You identify it as a Flexity from some time after 2021.

        You hear an emergency alarm from the Flexity streetcar.

        What do you do? _

          • Match!!@pawb.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            22
            ·
            9 months ago

            To the west you see a Flexity streetcar coming down the tracks. It will pass by on your left side in a few seconds. The driver is a middle-aged black woman who, under other circumstances, might remind you of a television chef; at the moment, she looks dour and resigned, like a television chef whose frittata burned.

            At the end of the street, there is a grand opening sign for a new fast-casual dim sum restaurant named Dim Sum Kitsch. The sign advertises $5 soup dumplings. There is a faint smell of frying oil coming from that direction.

            The emergency alarm is blaring.

              • Match!!@pawb.social
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                19
                ·
                edit-2
                9 months ago

                You walk west to the end of the street. There is a fast-casual dim sum restaurant here, which smells lovely. On the other side of the intersection is a flower shop, but it appears to be closed today. Across the street are trolley tracks, and past that is a dog park. You can go north, south, east, west, or into the restaurant.

                The sound of the tram is behind you now.

                What do you do? _

                  • Match!!@pawb.social
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    10
                    ·
                    9 months ago

                    You enter the restaurant and, without even looking at the menu, begin ordering at the counter. The cashier, who you imagine is the owner’s daughter, is baffled by your perfect Cantonese pronunciation. She responds in English with the price and tells you it will be 12-15 minutes.

                    Fifteen minutes later, you are sitting at a table holding chopsticks and staring down three steamer baskets of dumplings. The street outside is clogged with ambulances, police, and screaming mourners, but that just means you have the restaurant all to yourself. The owner’s daughter replaces your teapot with a fresh pot of oolong.

                    GAME OVER

                    DUMPLING ENDING (2/?)

                    Final score 160/150

                  • Match!!@pawb.social
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    10
                    ·
                    9 months ago

                    You enter the restaurant and, without even looking at the menu, begin ordering at the counter. The cashier, who you imagine is the owner’s daughter, is baffled by your perfect Cantonese pronunciation. She responds in English with the price and tells you it will be 12-15 minutes.

                    Fifteen minutes later, you are sitting at a table holding chopsticks and staring down three steamer baskets of dumplings. The street outside is clogged with ambulances, police, and screaming mourners, but that just means you have the restaurant all to yourself. The owner’s daughter replaces your teapot with a fresh pot of oolong.

                    GAME OVER

                    DUMPLING ENDING (2/?)

                    Final score 160/150

      • Match!!@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        9 months ago

        You see a hand-operated railroad switch consisting of a lever, a brightly painted switch signal, and a switch stand. It is connected to a pull rod on the tracks. There is also a remotely controlled switch machine nearby; it appears this manual switch was left in for redundancy. A black and white sign nearby says DO NOT TOUCH.

        The train is close enough that you could reach out and touch it, but that would be dangerous.

        What do you do? _

          • Match!!@pawb.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            17
            ·
            9 months ago

            You reach out totl touch the train. The metal siding of the train is cold and smooth, and the bright, saturated reds and blues painted along it remind you of a cartoon. There is an advertisement for a local law firm speeding past you too quickly to read.

            A fifth of a second later, your ring fingertip is caught on the edge of a metal panel and sheared off.

            Your finger is bleeding. What do you do? _

      • Match!!@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        9 months ago

        You activate your dark heart, moving so fast that you perceive the train coming to a crawl, then a stop. The sky itself looks dark, the physics of relativity cracking under the strain of your newfound power. Gliding on ink-black wings erupting from each limb, you approach, meet the gaze, then execute each of the track-bound mortals, only processing what your body is doing after you pull your claw out of the chest of your fifth and final victim. By the time the train arrives – seconds later by the timelines of the weak – you have already left this town for gorier pastures.

        GAME OVER DEMON ENDING (1/?) Final score: 14/150

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      9 months ago

      Ok so lets think about this.

      We have 1 person, and 4 persons, since there are five total. But since there is only a 20% chance, we can consider 20% of 5 people, to be the statistical average of one persons. Meaning that statistically, on average, this should do, absolutely nothing.