what would you do in this situation?

Question

you are a bystander. you watch a train, headed straight for a crowd of 20 people. You hold a button. If you do not push the button, the train will hit and kill all 20 innocent bystanders. If you push the button the train will change tracks, in which case it will only hit a single person and kill them. You only have these two options.
1) what do you do?
2) what if the single person was a known mass murderer? would this change your decision?
3) what if the single person was your mother?

Answer 1

Bystander hmmm.
If the life of 21 other humans rests in my hands, I would use the best tools granted to me and to all of the 21 people. Viz reason, mobility, communication, also their sense of vision. I would get rid of the button, so I would be a bystander and then I would call their attention to the danger.
After that, I would not be required to do anything. My duty as a good moral human being would have been met. It then would be up to each one of those 21 individuals to react and do the morally right thing, which is to protect their own lives.

PS
After everyone gets out of the train tracks we would find out who released the mass murderer. And then we could all agree to ostracize three people from our society, the mass murderer, the person who released him or her, and you too for putting 21 people an danger. specially my mother.
PPS
you are so lucky we are not part of a violent society.

Answer 2

Trying to decide how some people are more or less worthy of living is a tough call, and no one person should really have that power. Generally the whole thing would be a big shade of grey.... BUT in some situations the decision's easier, a little more black and white. One person against many people, I would call that 'less of a tough call'.
1) I would definitely push the button.
2) Push the button. If anything this would make the decision easier.
3) Push the button. Those 20 people have people who love them and will miss them just as much.

Answer 3

There is really only one decision you can make. No matter who the single person is or what they have done, you must push that button. Within that crowd of 20 there could be the one person that could make the world a better place for all. Isn't it better to look to the future than rely on a past you cannot change?

Answer 4

1) Hit the button.
2) No.
3) No.

Answer 5

Well, the mass murderer definietly ain't gonna make it...

If the single person was my mother or anyone I knew it would be different. Especially because I'd be wondering why these 20 morons were standing on the tracks. I would probably think it was some type of cult based mass suicide attempt or something. In which case... see-ya!

Answer 6

I love these kind of questions!
1) Say "holy crap!" and hit the button because of 2) and 3) (see below)
2) The person is a mass murderer
3) My mother has already passed on

Answer 7

I think I would be very selfish in this situation. If that one person was my mother I would push it. If it was a mass-murderer I wouldnt. If the person was a stranger I guess I'd have to go by the nrs and sacrifice him/her for the lives of 20 others...

Answer 8

If the single person was a mass murderer, then press the button, otherwise, yell, EVERYBODY RUN and hope for the best.

Answer 9

this is a difficult situation. i wouldn't want to push the button nor would i want to push the button. even if the single person was a known mass murderer, he doesn't deserve to die. it wouldn't matter what choice you make. either way, someone dies.

Answer 10

I would have to decide to press the button. I would try to get whatever is on your brain, out. Are you trying to learn about the way the world thinks and could work? Have you been in much discomfert or been watching movies lately or felt some concerning mixture between science, God and reality during the night or after a meal???