That’s because it’s an abstract thought experiment. Here in concrete reality, Democratic politicians are willingly selling weapons to a genocidal apartheid regime, and refuse to stop. They could untie the guy any time they want, but are super worried that the guys who tied everyone else to the other set of tracks might not like them if they do.
Doesn’t matter. All YOU can do is pull the lever, or not. You can’t change who’s on the track. You can’t remove the trolley. You can’t untie the people or lift up the tracks. In this sense, the trolley problem is almost a 1-for-1 representation of voting (in a swing state, at least). You can pull the lever, or not. Those are your options.
That’s because it’s an abstract thought experiment. Here in concrete reality, Democratic politicians are willingly selling weapons to a genocidal apartheid regime, and refuse to stop. They could untie the guy any time they want, but are super worried that the guys who tied everyone else to the other set of tracks might not like them if they do.
Doesn’t matter. All YOU can do is pull the lever, or not. You can’t change who’s on the track. You can’t remove the trolley. You can’t untie the people or lift up the tracks. In this sense, the trolley problem is almost a 1-for-1 representation of voting (in a swing state, at least). You can pull the lever, or not. Those are your options.
To people who get what they want no matter the state of the lever.
I voted for Harris. I’m not going to proclaim that your genocide is the moral genocide just because you demand that I do.
So you pulled the lever. End of thought experiment.
Yay! You made it!