Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: December 24, 2024, 2:16 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
#83
RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian?
(November 16, 2015 at 8:18 pm)IATIA Wrote:


The answer is no it shouldn't. And my solution to the "trolley problem" is no I do not by default redirect the trolley, but I would think about it before making a decision. It's true that 1 life is worth less than 2 or more lives, but it also doesn't mean that one life in particular is worth less than 2 or more other lives in particular. Also my life is worth more to me than the lives of several other people, thus I would prefer the driverless car to kill the pedestrians and allow me to live. However there is the predicament that one could argue that it's equally likely that I would be the pedestrian - however I find it very unlikely that in the real world that several pedestrians would be killed all at once, thus my best probability of survival is to have the driverless car kill the pedestrian, with the possibility that as the pedestrian I could escape fatality and only become injured/paralysed, etc.

Again though in a specific instance this might be different:

Melanie Kembrey (Journalist) Wrote:[url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/nsw/skydiving-instructor-tony-rokov-killed-in-accident-at-goulburn-airport-20151121-gl4raf.html][/url]

Tony Rokov died after he plunged to the ground while tandem skydiving on Saturday afternoon at Goulburn Airport.
...
A 14-year-old who was strapped to him, and was believed to have been skydiving for the first time, was critically injured and remains in hospital.

It is believed Mr Rokov wrapped himself around the boy to cushion him from the impact.
It now looks like Elijah Arranz (the 14 year old) will survive the accident (which was a 10 meter free-fall to the ground). The philosophical question here would be could the 44-year old have instead survived by using the boy to cushion the impact? The answer is perhaps - however the probability of survival would be considerably less than the other way around since he is the one who weighs more, he has the parachute pack on his back (which itself provides some cushioning as it presumably still contains the reserve parachute), and he would have had to have hit the ground face-first (and since he is taller it probably means hitting his head anyway). On the other hand, one could also make the philosophical argument that a face-first dive into the ground would have provided the boy the certainty of a merciful death. So there really is no clear-cut right or wrong answer as to whether to hit the ground facing forward or facing back in that situation.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK

The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK


"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
Reply



Messages In This Thread
RE: Should driverless cars kill their own passengers to save a pedestrian? - by Aractus - November 28, 2015 at 9:15 am

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Are cats evil beasts that should be killed to save mice? FlatAssembler 34 3605 November 28, 2022 at 11:41 am
Last Post: Fireball
  Does anyone own "The Moral Landscape"? robvalue 191 21346 October 18, 2018 at 4:39 pm
Last Post: vulcanlogician
  My own moral + ontological argument. Mystic 37 12440 April 17, 2018 at 12:50 pm
Last Post: FatAndFaithless
  If You Could Choose Your Own Desires Edwardo Piet 34 4452 November 12, 2016 at 1:43 pm
Last Post: Thumpalumpacus
  Would you kill the person who is about to kill? brewer 63 10165 December 10, 2015 at 2:07 pm
Last Post: Whateverist
  If there were a creator, what would be their limits? Razulxe 2 54 10422 February 19, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Last Post: IATIA
Tongue Just for fun: Make your own "Proof by Anselm" thedouglenz 0 908 June 10, 2014 at 11:01 pm
Last Post: thedouglenz
  Do We Own? Walking Void 43 13578 July 21, 2013 at 4:15 am
Last Post: genkaus
Question One thing that makes you doubt your own world view? Tea Earl Grey Hot 9 3066 July 14, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Last Post: Something completely different
  Do we own our own lives? A discussion on the morality of suicide and voluntary slavery. Kirbmarc 36 15623 December 13, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Last Post: naimless



Users browsing this thread: 7 Guest(s)