Welcome to the Machine
“One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion” ― Voltaire Perhaps one of the most famous thought experiment ever devised is the trolley problem. It is said to be the classic representation of the clash between the two schools of thought in the western philosophy - utilitarianism and deontology. The problem states that a trolley is running down a track and on the track there are five people tied up and unable to move. There is an alternative track on which a single person is tied up. You are standing at a lever that can change the direction of the trolley to the alternate track. Your choices are to either do nothing and let the trolley kill five people or to pull the lever and divert the trolley where it kills one person. The dilemma here is that which is the more ethical option? Upon facing the situation, I assume, many people would choose to pull the lever. I myself might end up doing the same. However, t here are m...