That's assuming the one man is excellent.

The one man outside the trolly has just as much chance at being excellent as any one of the 6 in the trolly. 1 man = .05 = 5%. 6 men = ( .05 x 6 ) = .3 = 30%.

Unless I missed a joke here. >_>

i personally don't care about the "six" involved even if they had higher "IQ" than my "one" friend, The fact that this particular individual is important to me is because iv shared part of my life with him which makes him more valuable to me personally and more attached. So honestly, despite the ethic "code" or any other reason. Screw the rest. Sounds selfish yes, but hey.. that's a basic pattern in satanism anyway.

That was never stated in the scenario. All seven subjects in the scenario are equally nameless and faceless. Ascription of additional details are at the reader, not the writer.

What I ment by the statistics is simple math. But, as reprobate mentioned, there's enough moral difference between switching the lever and pushing a man, so that approach is invalid.

yeah i get your point, i got carried away a bit with the former response and added some of my own thoughts on the dish.

I haven't read the whole thread as it is too convuluted and I have better things to do with my time.

But, just for fun - here's my take on it (apologies if this solution has been discussed before).

Assuming I know none of the people in both cases - in the first scenario I would probably SHOUT at the idiots on the trolley to JUMP OFF and take their chances, because they are more likely to survive jumping off a speeding trolley than going over a cliff (assuming it is a deep cliff that is)...

It seems to me all people involved seem pretty stupid - the 6 idiots on the trolley for not doing something pro-active, and guy number 1 for walking on the fucking tracks in the first place! But just in case I missed some feature of the track that prevents people jumping off, sorry 'trackwalker' but you are mincemeat for being so dumb as to walk on the tracks in the first place (unless you were hoping a trolley would run you down, in which case I have done you a favour)...

In the case of the second scenario, I wouldn't push fatty onto the tracks because he isn't doing something stupid or irresponsible - he is just watching it unfold like I am! So the people in the trolley are on their own in case 2 - though I would, as a responsible citizen, call the authorities, try to help in the aftermath, etc...

Actually, in hindsight - I'd probably do the same thing with regards to scenario one and leave the 6 to their fate - because healthy self interest would make me hesitant to intervene. After all, I might get charged with manslaughter for killing the guy on the tracks, or at least sued by his family! Hehe.

HS!