Would you kill 1 innocent to save 10?

Question

Take this situation:

A train is comng down the track to a turnout.

On one track are 10 people, on the other is 1 person.
All are innocent
The train is heading for the 10 people

Would you flick the switch and kill the one person to minimise the death, or would you let nature take its course.

What ever your answer, would changing the numbers make a difference - what if it was 2 people, 5, 100 ???

Also, would the type of person make you change your mind. If there were 10 kids on the track, and one homeless drunk, would you flick the switch ????

No "cheating answers" please - things like "i'd run across and flick the switch and push the one person out of the way"....

tiffaknee has the spirit of the question.

Those that are ignoring the dialemma need not answer, you are missing the point.

Answer 1

I would do whatever i could to save the most ppl....
if i were the one person i would want the same thing..

Answer 2

Good question. The obvious answer is flick the switch to kill the single person, but if it was a single child and ten OAPs (old age pensioner) on the other track however it would be a lot harder to make that decision because the OAPs have already successfully lived out their lives up to this point and maybe able to face death with less terror than the child. There are many variables that you would have to think about in the space of approximately 2 seconds.

Fortunately I will never have to face this choice.

Answer 3

Multiple answers possible depends upon exact situation:

Answer 1:
'Dig the well before you are thirsty'. You should make clear that people would not come on the track or atleast there is some mechanism that you could stop that train immediately.

Answer 2:
1 man can be worth of 100 men if he is somewhat special.let's say that man is nobel prize winner scientist who can serve his country more than 10 other men . In that case I would save that 1 man.

Answer 3.
If there were kids then i would save kid than drunk man because kids have so much life to explore than him ...who knows some of that kids would be future presidents or great scientists or businessmans...Drunk man has wasted his life in nonsense things, he has not much hope for future than kids have.

And if no data about people is available it would be better to save 10 people rather than one.

Doing nothing is not a good option because in that case you are trying to avoind your responsibility and that would harm you more psychologically in future.

[ Main Idea in answering this question is to find greater good for everybody and not thinking of individuals and taking decision with remembering God and what is 'right' at that time.]

Answer 4

assuming there was time etc I would flick the switch to direct train at fewer people, especially to avoid young kids. However, if it was elderly versus teenagers might head for the latter as they would have faster reactions ( and I might think they were playing chicken with the train ) They would be my inclinations, but really I don't know whether I could think that rationally in an emergency and would probably just stand there looking gormless.

Answer 5

i'd run across and flick the switch and push the one person out of the way. thats the best thing to do. you never said the tracks where "so and so" distance away from each other or where the switch was.

Answer 6

My head says yes but my heart says no. I'm 50 50 at this point. With the exception of children. I would not turn the train to kill a child even if it would save 1,000,000 adults.

Answer 7

It all depends on the people on the track. I would save 10 kids and kill one homeless drunk but i would kill 10 Taliban members and save one person. Tricky situation really?!

Answer 8

I would head for the one, it is best to save as many people as you possibly can. Letting the tracks stay there course and pretending its out of your hands is wrong also you still made a conscious decision to do nothing let the train go either way the blood is on your hands.

Answer 9

it all depends who the one person was, if it was one child and 10 adults, then I'd save the child. Its a very difficult question, and thinking of an answer on the spur of the moment, I think I would let nature take its course.

Answer 10

Let me ask *you* a question|

What is your purpose in setting up these no-win situations?

Reality does not work that way| No matter what the dilemma, there is *always* an escape route|

Your hypothetical question does not correspond to the nature of reality as God has constructed it|




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