It’s the age-old philosophy question. The blurry gray morality. Life or death. Guilt or innocence. Decide or not. This question comes in many forms, but here’s a scenario for you:
You’re driving a bus and the brakes are non-responsive. The bus is moving too quickly – heading straight for a group of six people on the side of the road. You know you can yank the steering wheel and redirect the bus, but the bus will hit two people on the other side of the road.
You have two options (and only two options, so don’t try to come up with a third option in the comments. It’s hypothetical, people.):
A) Do nothing – let the bus careen ahead along its current path – killing the group of six.
B) Take action – choose to stop the bus from killing six people by steering it into two.
What would you choose?
oh. my. gosh, i hate these things. i’m so not trying to break the rules, here, mandy, but is there only one way in which i could yank the steering wheel. i mean…are there two people on EACH side of the road here?
aw, c’mon. all i get is a roll-eye smiley? i am prepared to answer your question, but i wanted to have a full grasp of the total scenario. let’s say there’s a wall on the other side, and there’s no possible way to avoid straight or to the left where the 2 bystanders are. IF i were able to actually think clearly in a moment like this, i would yank the wheel and hope for the best for those two… but i see myself kind of just doing the whole duck and cover thing out of fear/panic.
Now there ya go. No choice but to either steer into two, or do nothing into six…
I like that you have a preferred choice, but realistically may just freeze. Whew.
I would honk the horn and hope they got the message…as I steered towards the two, I guess. tough question.
Bravo for choosing!
And, I hate to break it to ya, but the horn doesn’t work… Sorry bro.
This seems like a semlink discussion question for ethics – so I can’t resist. Technically the choice is not between doing nothing or taking action, because both are actions. It is a choice to drive straight and kill six or to swerve and kill two. So in the split second one has to make a decision I suspect that most people would swerve to kill the two instead of the six, unless there were some additional information which might lead one to go straight – even though it sounds awful to say that. If the two were children and the six were octogenarians, or if the two were non-believers and the six we knew were born-again Christians maybe one might choose to hit the six. Nobody likes to weigh one life more than another, but at least with Christians we know where we’re going (I think of Jim Elliot and Nate Saint and Roger Youderian and Ed McCully choosing to die rather than shoot the natives in Ecuador because the missionaries knew that if they died they were going to heaven).
So I would most likely aim for the two, but I pity anyone who is stuck choosing between those two options.
Drew and I were talking about this earlier… He said there’s a big difference between allowing something to happen and causing something to happen.
BUT, when we put numbers together like this? it just gets ugly.
I have never seen you comment on here before!
He’s one of those weirdo sneaky lurker types – hiding in the shadows… Gotta look out for him
What is so attractive about these questions that force us make morals fit within a box? Why must there be a right and wrong when we ask questions about the value of human life?
Right and wrong imply absolute answers.
In this scenario you are forcing us to choose what is right and what is wrong.
So I will conclude with this answer:
I feel it is wrong of you to request us to make a moral decision in a vacuum.
Now, you might tell me that I can’t do that.
Ah ha!
So are you saying that you are the infinite, all knowing judge over all moral standards? You can’t say that you are. Thus this question ultimately points to where we find our moral gauge. If we would answer that our moral gauge comes form God then we know there are so many more answers than A) or B). There are A), B), 1), 7), up), down), green), olive), chartreuse), Mr), sister), and I could go on.
Moral dilemmas cannot and should not be removed from the creative realm.
Ok, I might have gone overboard here. (Forgive the reference to another popular moral situation question.) You did put this up here for a thoughtful conversation, did you not?
“So are you saying that you are the infinite, all knowing judge over all moral standards?”
I’m not judging any answers, I’m just presenting a question… Not aiming so much for “thoughtful conversation” as knee-jerk responses. Granted, it’s very unlikely that this scenario will ever play out (as Joy Renee questions in her comment), but similar circumstances do actually occur in real life:
If the pregnancy is going horribly wrong, and both lives are in danger, should they abort the baby to save the mom? Or let the pregnancy run its course, leading to imminent death of the mother? I pray to God I never face this dilemma, but I know others have. I can’t imagine the torment of a real-life decision like this.
As for the infinite debate regarding “right and wrong,” I think circumstances do exist in life where there are right and wrong choices – “absolute answers.” Not to say that I have the answers to all morally gray questions, but I believe the answer does exist – somewhere out there – in the Heavens – and in Infinite Justice.
But, none of those are reasons why I posted this scenario to begin with. I was just interested to see what others would choose.
And I anticipated that some, like you, would choose not to choose. That’s totally fine with me.
Thanks for being fine with my evasiveness.
Did you see any of the episodes of Community? Funny show. On one of the episodes community school students can voluntarily sign up for an experiment. They are brought into a room and observed through a video feed. The hours roll by and one by one the students leave after getting impatient and frustrated by not knowing what is going on as well as sheer boredom. One guy is left and he outlasts the testers. Sociology, maybe? Kinda like here… you just want to see what we choose. Cool.
exactamente!
ps: havent seen any of those shows
ya know…i’ve wrestled with a similar question to your bad pregnancy question: if something terrible happens as i’m giving birth, and the doctors ask me if it comes down to it, and they are only able to save one of us, me or baby, who will it be? let’s say i have five kids already. what is the greater loss? our precious child? or the loss of a wife, helpmate and main caregiver of the children? which is the less selfish response?
given my views on abortion…i surprise myself (and almost feel ashamed) that i often consider the “less noble” of the two answers to be my own. i pray that i will never be put in that situation.
When I was pregnant, I had this powerful consuming feeling that I’d do anything to make sure this baby was ok.
My answer to this changed the minute I had more than one child….. actually, it didn’t change so much as get harder. You either leave behind the children you already have, or let the new one be saved and all of them grow up without a mother. It seems that the right choice would be to save yourself for the sake of the family you already have to take care of…. b/c how fair is it to leave kids without a mother…. but the overhwhelming love you have for that unborn or newly born baby might cause you to say “save the baby” over your own life.
All super unfair situations that I don’t think anyone should have to choose…. but in real life they do.
Wow. What an answer. Thanks Brandy.
I think the worst choice in the world would be choosing between children in a situation like this.
Oh yeah. That’d take a lifetime of therapy…
In truth of course, there is no correct answer.
My opinion, quick situational judgement call over the severity of the outcome.
To subtract 2 from the infinite masses is slightly smaller than to subtract 6.
Yet, it is still a subtraction and therefore a loss.
Weigh the loss, most unfortunate, but steer for the 2.
You’re here!
And, of course, if this ever happened in real life, all we get is a “quick situational judgement call”…
I’ve always liked how your brain works!
go for the 2. coz then it will be only 3 dead people (hypothetically including me) instead of 7.
less mourning families and friends as well.
So, I guess if “we” (the driver) die in the accident, then we don’t have to deal with a life of guilt over making the decision to kill people?
Pray!!!
YAY!! My mom comes up with an answer that nobody can morally argue against!
I would take out the two! But first I would make sure everyone on the bus was awake! Some may have never seen such a serious accident before!
bahahaha!!! papa!! I would NEVER have imagined you saying that. hahahah I’m sitting on my couch laughing uncontrollably!! WOW!!!
It reminds me of the movie Speed, now if Keanu Reeves was driving he would climb under the bus and disable the engine, but in this case he’s probably not on the bus so I would say pray and allow God to steer me in the right direction, he can make pretty quick judgement calls, this way you know you done the right thing
Sooo…… which way do you think God would “steer” you?
Tough question, but I would say a prayer and let Jesus handle it from here on out. Trust, have faith, know when things are out of your control and just surrender to our maker. He always make the right decision.
Roz!!! HEY!
Did you cheat by reading my mom’s answer?
I need to hug you soon.
2, same rationale as John’s.
But if we could add to the hypothetical… since the brakes don’t work, do a quick hard yank on the wheel, thus causing the momentum of the bus to roll it on its side and let it slide to a stop in the middle of the street, hitting no one. And since I’ve braced myself like Jason Bourne in his many car chases, no one gets hurt. Cause I’m one awesome bus driver.
And I just realized that I’m now to be added to the ranks of the Pacific Time Zoners who can comment into the wee hours of the night on Mandy’s blog. This is going to rule.
hahahahah!!! This could be rather dangerous.
And, for the record, there’s no Jason Bourne option. Just 6 or 2.
My knee jerk reaction is steer in the OPPOSITE direction, away from the six AND the two …..coz based on ur scenario, it seems like the bus is headed straight for the six.
I like your mom’s answer – “PRAY”
I’ll give you a story … my best friend was in a bus (well, a smaller version of a bus, a privately owned van that can safely hold about 15 people, called ZRs in Barbados as the licence plates for these vehicles are all ZR and a number. These van drivers are notorious for bad driving because this is the preferred method of public transport for the young people, and the loud music that is played on them incites crazy stunts on the road.) Anyway, my friend was on one of these ZRs and, as usual, some sort of crazy stuff was happening – and the van spins out of control on one of his absurd shimmies. Everyone on the van screams out – and my friend could only react by saying “Oh Holy Spirit!” in the same way that most people would cry out “Oh sh*t” (Can anyone say ‘rapid fire one sentence prayer?????) But you know what? SOMEHOW the van comes to a complete stop without hitting the wall it was heading for. So yeah, prayer is a definite answer in that situation…..
Wow. That’s a crazy story, Bajan. LOL!!
Yeah, I’m notorious for crazy stories
LOL
Until I must make a choice I have no choice to make.
But, in trying to keep with the theme here: Would kill one man, a man who had just raped you, to save four girls?
She didn’t: http://m.npr.org/news/front/4569395
Oh my gosh. I’ve got to make some time to listen to that story… But, then again, I don’t know if I want to listen to that story.
So I’m a little late to the party, but I think the 2 is the obvious choice. Not simply because you “save more people”, but by turning the bus that lessens the momentum and then you give the 2 a greater chance of survival than the 6 that you were heading straight toward. Of course, if you yank too hard it is possible that you would hit all 8 because the bus might begin to spin out of control (depending on speed and how hard a turn was made). But I guess that is where the praying comes into play big time.
It’s guaranteed, in this *hypothetical* situation, that either 6 die (not your fault) or 2 die (because you choose to save 6).
So what do we do with all that guilt? The guilt of letting – or making – it happen?