#1 Thought experiment - "The Trolley Problem"

[Athene]

---

@Thena,  
You're of the opinion that you would prefer to do nothing, right?  

The most fascinating thing about this Morality thought experiment is when you slightly change the variables, it completely changes the scenario.  

What if you had 6 children ,5 of your children are at the tracks and one of your children is the fat man. What would you do then?

Would you kill one of your child to save 5 of yours or would you choose to do nothing and inevitably kill 5 of your children(Although indirectly,but can you live with that?) ?

Morality is fascinating, even more fascinating when your actions will have direct impact on the rest of your life.  :-)

---

No. And I wouldn't be killing my other children by NOT murdering the one; That's not how it works.
The fucked up tracks would be what killed them.

I actually did offer a variable in which I could conceivably kill the fat man in post #38, though. So, perhaps I would if I knew that my son the fat man was a vicious murderer/child molesting sociopath, or something along those lines. My mind would probably be unable to avoid seeing that as 'out'...saving my other children by sacrificing the one that willfully creates chaos and destruction in people's lives. Kind of similar to the scenario in the film "The Good Son".

Otherwise, no.

Bottom line: I'd need a reason to kill someone. A good one.
Killing someone because five people may die as unavoidable consequence of being in the wrong place at the wrong time is just isn't a good reason to decide to take someone's life, IMO. 

Sacrificing my own life is another issue entirely; I've put my life on the line many times in an effort to save others. 
So, I'm not unwilling to do what it takes..But goddamn, I've got to draw a line somewhere.

Murder seems like a reasonable place to start.