Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Call for questions: TROLLEYOLOGY (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-31 22:02:10
Edited:
2025-03-31 22:05:32
Imported:
2026-06

Content

"Trolleyology" is the study of moral dilemmas typified by the "trolley problem" -- a hypothetical situation to sacrifice one person in order to save several others. For example:

A runaway trolley is headed towards five people, but you can pull a lever to divert it onto a side track where one person is standing, saving the five at the cost of one life. Do you pull the lever?

or

You are standing on a footbridge over train tracks and its trolley is heading towards five people. You can push someone off the footbridge to hit the carriage and the trolley will stop, saving the five people’s lives but killing the person you pushed. Do you push the person?

This week I'm interviewing a Professor of Psychology at Harvard who has conducted neuroscientific and behavioral research on the emotions and reasonings of moral dilemmas. How do we decide what's right and wrong? Why do people often disagree about moral issues? Post your questions on moral cognition in the comments.

Deadline: Wednesday, April 2 at 5pm PST

Comments

Adam Silk

How can we be better aware of biases in our own morals?

Stu

I don't have a question but I just wanted to call out the video of the kid that, when presented with the trolley problem, placed the single person with the other group of people then ploughed through all of them

Julia Casey

The examples are usually depressing (at least to me), is there any funny or bizarre ones you can share?

Charlotte Parkinson

What were your thoughts on The Good Place and how it portrayed moral dilemmas?

Leila Laco

I NEED to know about their favourite The Good Place episode (or scene about a specific moral question)

Quinn

Were these types of questions ever used to convict people of crimes and/or to classify them as psychopaths/sociopaths, narcissists, or anti-social?

Britt Kline

How much is nature, how much is nurture, (how much is religion?) and how can we help people truly understand different sides of an issue? How can we connect with others’ humanity in a way that opens hearts and minds, preferably on all sides?

Quinn

What part does anthropology play in these questions?

Chloe

How can we balance what we know is right and wrong vs respecting people’s lifestyles and beliefs. The recent political climate inspired this question. Thank you :)

Colby Evans

Love how jaunty that switch operator is. And how will that person push that solid linebacker off the bridge??

Quincey Robisheaux

I've recently learned about moral OCD, also known as moral scrupulosity or scrupulosity OCD. Is there any data or studies that have been done about how this may be impacting conversations on moral dilemmas?

Sam Danielle

How much does having people think through these abstract, probably-never-going-to-happen scenarios actually help them improve their ability and confidence in making day-to-day moral decisions?

Nick R

Have studies been done when the stakes aren't with random human strangers? Like if it's your beloved pet or five strangers? Also, some of the "Absurd Trolley Problems" are actually kind of interesting I think, especially since it gives stats for how many people did or didn't do what you choose. Have you seen those and thoughts? Neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems (or Google it) Oh right, first time question asker :)

Leila Laco

Did morality evolve, if so why/how, and do other animals have morals?

Adam Foote

I feel like my instinct is to try to weasel out of the question and find a solution that doesn't hurt anyone. How many other people do that? I think it's probably how most people behave but is that true?

Quinn

Why are people’s moralities so variable? It feels so wild that some people are so okay with things that imo are so immoral, sheeple/herd mentality much?

sidney

How would people's choices change if they had to choose between something that would delay or seem to distance themselves from the killing of five people? Confusion question, here's an example! 'pull a lever to cause a trolley to take a track which causes that trolley to pull a lever that causes a third trolley to kill 5 people' or 'pull a lever to kill one person right now in front of you'

HannahBoNannas

Is there an easy way to determine whether we are “good people” or figure out what our own morals are? Having left a fundamentalist cult, I am often trying to figure out for myself what makes a “good person” other than just “trying not to hurt people”.

Pallison

Are moral facts real or are we all actually non-cognitivists?

Quinn

I heard this saying once of “you’re not a good person if you need the threat of hell to be a good person” commentating on the role of religion and “bad” consequences for people to make “good” choices, thoughts?

Amber Dickerson

At first glance, I thought this said Troll-ology. Is that a thing? Can it be? For this ology, I’d like to know if people ever ask about a third option…like jumping off before the junction.

Rachel

Seconded!

JENN 'Benthopelagic squirrel' ALVAREZ

Can the one person to be smushed be a bad person bc that's ok with me but if not, I'm trying to save them. This isn't the answer but it is in my world 😊

redheadedscientist

my partner wants to know what your favorite use of the trolley problem in fiction is (the good place maybe?) and I'd love to know how these moral dilemmas are used to train AI (ex: self driving cars). I took one of those quizzes where your hypothetical self driving car must choose whether to stay on the road and hit a pedestrian or swerve off and injure the passenger. It showed I had a strong bias for saving animals lol

Philipp Meder

There's so many memes that sprung up based on the trolly format. Which are your favorite ones?

Rachel

How do we reconcile the baked in violence of the trolley problem to real world moral dilemmas? Like how do we keep from using trolley problem logic to advocate for say political violence or for throwing one group of marginalized people under said trolley to seemingly save others?

mish the fish

no question but please pull sound bites from the good place

Rachael Mae

Is there any evidence that shows humans are born with a basic sense of morality? I saw this study on 60 minutes that investigated whether humans are born with a basic sense of morality. I think the segment was from 2012? So, a while ago. They used babies and a little puppet-show where one puppet helped the other, and vice versa. Turns out that the reactions of the babies favored the puppet that helped the other, versus the cruel puppet. This suggests that we’re born with a basic sense of “right and wrong.” I’m not doing the best job at breaking it down, but it was incredibly interesting!

Zoë Scholtes

I wonder how neurodivergence has influence on moral dilemma’s. I’m autistic and have quite a black-and-white/right and wrong way of thinking. For me i can easily ‘pick a side’ in these moral dilemmas but when i hear friends debating on this they can’t easily choose. Do neurodivergent people see /solve moral dilemmas in a different way than neurotypical individuals?

Anthony Richards

Harming someone to save other people would be a tough situation to be in. If someone had to make that decision, how would they get through that? It seems like you would have guilt regardless of the outcome..

Saira (‘Sarah’) Manns

It’s so interesting how at first thought my immediate reaction was to sacrifice 1 to save 5, but then I think further… what if it was 1 BABY or 5 criminals on death row? Which got me wondering… is there an established sort of “hierarchy” that most people have by which we’d typically prioritise other humans? e.g. the whole “women and children only” thing in Titanic

Nicky G

I second this question! As an AuDHDer, I have a really difficult time navigating black and white/right vs. wrong moral issues without getting super activated.

Alyssa Driscoll

Can we get Zack from the try guys on this

Nicky G

Third-ed! 😂

Meaghan Ratcliffe

i wonder how does religion influence these moral quandaries? is there continuity on these sort of things across different religions or do they take different approaches?

Lindsay Mixer

It seems like this topic is always centered around European/Western ideologies and philosophical canon--what are some examples of moral dilemmas from other parts of the world? Any Indigenous perspectives? How does culture affect both the types of questions asked and the types of answers provided?

Ninja Squirrel

Do you see a common connection to someone's identified political party and how they answer these moral dilemmas?

Annmarie Everhart

If you had to pick one characteristic/commonality of people who generally see moral dilemmas as one way versus another, what would it be?

Lindsay Mixer

I always wonder that too, but for different reasons--I always have follow-up questions to the dilemma and want to know more context before I can answer. What's stopping the people on the track from moving? Can the trolley driver not see/brake? Can I call the trolley driver? Is there anything nearby I could put on the track to stop the trolley? Is there anyone else around who can help? How did I end up being the only person around who could help? What if I jumped in front of the trolley before it reaches anyone else?

Brenna Hull

How do you feel about representations of the trolley problem in film and tv? I’m thinking of The Good Place in particular

Vic W

Ethical dilemmas in employment situations especially where the law or rules of professional responsibility require what may actually be unethical actions? E.g. I was a defense attorney and struggled with the idea of advancing arguments that might help my client but were harmful more broadly, undermined activism, and/or propped up and legitimized a fundamentally violent and harmful system.

Erin Burbidge

Is there research comparing how people respond to the trolley problem across time / ethnicity / socioeconomic status? If so, are there any interesting correlations between broader social forces and the way people wrestle with the problem?

Sarah Mabel

I’m curious about how much results vary when children are involved, such as in the film the good son.

Emily Krieger

we know people's actions often don't match their words, so how is that accounted for in the results of these hypothetical and extreme scenario studies? People say they're gonna do a lot of things and don't.

Roger Gans

My first ever question! How does the work of Stanley Milgram reflect on your studies today? How does having to choose -- in a moral-dilemma situation -- change a person?

Sydney Booker

Does this ologist think that the trolley problem is a functional/good way to learn about someone’s moral compass? As a philosophy major I’ve always been fascinated by these kinds of thought experiments, but the world is so nuanced, it almost feels as though simplifying moral problems by trying to eliminating external factors actually limits our critical reasoning/moral reasoning, at least as far as it might apply to real life moral quandaries

Marc Rubin

Has there been much work regarding moral dilemmas and AI? E.g., would a self-driving car swerve into and kill a small child to avoid hitting a family? Also, please do an episode on veterinary gerontology with my lovely wife, Dr. Ashley Portmann of Home Together Vet!! https://www.hometogethervet.com

Teresa Gleason

If you want to avoid the moral dilemma, in the footbridge situation, couldn’t you just jump off of the footbridge?

Guido

Are there animals that can experience moral dilemmas? If yes, how do they respond to it?

Meagan Walker

A professor talked about “the cost of inclusion,” the specific context was that having social services means that some people will abuse them but hopefully most won’t. How do you talk to folks about this balance to ensure the services stay in place and viable?

Cynthia Cinnabar

Has anyone studied whether the popularity of common moral dilemmas, like the trolley problem in American culture (can't speak to other places), influences or is used to influence the popular morality of the culture where they are widely circulated (and if so, what did they find)? Also (different question), are there instances of moral dilemmas from other times losing their salience because whatever the choice being offered was, stopped being a morality issue?

Mini Minnie

As a defense attorney, your job is at its base simply to ensure due process is followed

Adam Weaver

Yeah, but what's your favorite Trolley Problem meme?

Marla J

There are so many variables. We can't discount our emotions, even emotions we don't like to admit to. Who are the people who might be in danger? Are they strangers? Are there children? Would someone save 5 high school kids waiting for the train to their college but let a toddler die because they had not lived as much or worked as much for their dreams? Would someone let five Washington DC politicians die and save a regular working guy and risk the backlash (good or bad)? Would someone save their favorite crush rock musician or actor and let five "nobodies" die? This problem creates a lot of ugly, uncomfortable, and heartbreaking situations. Or would most people just panic and do whatever their first knee jerk reaction is without even thinking?

Matt Thompson

How do Martyr Complexes factor into the trolley problem? In the way that "If *I* 'lay on the tracks' then I can save 5 people".

Alex Taylor

I have no questions but I just want to note that since I opened the email about this post, I've been singing 🎵 It's a trolleyology with Maaaary! 🎶 in my head. FOR HOURS. Pretty sure those are the original lyrics from Mary Poppins.

Lisa Gorman

How do we account for normal human connection in these moral dilemmas? For instance, the vast majority of people are going to save their family member from a burning building first before saving others if that is an option, but that doesn't seem amoral, it is just what humans do.

Jazzercize

First question! It’s seems like the trolley problem is useful to understand different moral philosophies - such as how a utilitarians answer would differ from a justice ethicist. But there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer, or a moral philosophy that is “best”. How do we choose which moral philosophy is best for us?

Chrysalis Ashton

What a great topic! I’m taking an ethics class right now and we have talked about this. My question is what part of morality is innate and what part is learned? Or do we even know?

Lisa Gorman

Would a purely moral person be able to exist in any society? And is a purely moral person even a possibility? I'm thinking of the book The Dutch House when the mom abandons her children to go help the poor in India as she feels she has to help those less fortunate, but in doing so leaves her own children behind, which to me made it impossible to give her the moral high ground. (Do other people read this book and think of the mom as truly moral?)

Lisa Gorman

What are real world applications of studying moral dilemmas?

Diana Staresinic-Deane

A great topic! But I confess I'm a tiny but disappointed we aren't actually taking about trolleys, because I want to know what happened to Mr. Roger's trolley and what happened to all of the trolleys that used to transport people through Midwestern towns!

Chuck Meriam

After reading, "Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)" by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, I always wonder how does cognitive dissonance factor into studying moral dilemmas.

Bologna Sandwich

How would you explain the seemingly innate hypocrisy, or rather, conflicting nature of morality and ethics, especially in organized religions that have caused so much harm historically (ahem - Christianity, Catholicism)? P.S. not trying to be a hater, I think religion is and can be beautiful, but obvs problematic.

Nina Eve Z.

Ooo! How does this/does this relate to the issue of wanting to save everyone? For instance- people who will rush into emergency situations with no thought to their own safety. Are all the morals too many morals? Maybe there is no relation and this really is a dumb question but seems like a good place to ask.

Alex Minor

Why do the morals I was taught as a child, ones I am actively trying to unlearn or reshape, seem to hold more weight and instinctively override the morals I now consciously believe in? Is there a cognitive or emotional mechanism that makes early moral conditioning feel stronger than later rational moral reasoning?

Nina Eve Z.

Also started think about all the questions I have about trolley cars…

Diana Staresinic-Deane

So what I'm hearing here is that we also need an episode about trolley lines and trolley cars!

Alex Minor

Why do I struggle to align my spending habits with my moral values? I believe in buying locally, sustainably, and ethically, but I often default to cheaper, more convenient options like Amazon and SHEIN. Spending more money, even for ethical reasons, feels morally wrong to me. Is there a psychological reason why my moral reasoning conflicts with my financial instincts?

Paul Alcantra

Given the continuing emergence of AI… What would an autonomous artificial intelligence agent do? And, what factors would affect its decision?

Ashley Turner

Why are so many people standing in the trolley track?

Rineil Mandre

There are always too many inconceivable details in my opinion. We make so many quick assessments on a second by second basis that get overlooked in the form of the this or that equation. Relationships, age, debts, ability to aid in future survival, option to sacrifice oneself...

Her Ladyship Jen

Came here to ask this. I'll also add different cultures more broadly to the list.

Her Ladyship Jen

When researching these moral quandaries, is there an option for subjects to opt to do nothing?

Jacob Morvay

Are there any through lines to moral decisions made between different cultures, I.e. innate to humans, versus morals shaped by our culture / environment?

mellifluous

As an Australian I thought it was about shopping trolleys (those wire baskets on 3 cooperative wheels and one rogue)... I did wonder how there'd be a whole episode on it!

SoManyQuestions

How do we translate what we learn about ourselves and others through trolleyology problems to making decisions better aligned with our values in the real world?

Jonathan Auyer

Two questions: I'll preface this by saying that I am REALLY excited to listen to this one since this is an area that I teach. Buuuut…1. I'm genuinely curious why you didn't have a moral philosopher answer this topic as the whole idea of the Trolley Problem comes from the philosopher Phillipa Foot (and later Judity Jarivs Thomson). 2. What does the trolley problem reveal about the tensions between our moral theories and our intuitions/gut reactions in real life? Our theories might compel us to act in a way that we just don't think we can. (e.g., it might be the morally right thing to do to pull the lever or push the man off the bridge, but we simply can't make ourselves do it).

Jeanette-o-saur

Right?! And why can't they get off of the track? Are they refusing? Did someone tie them to the track like a cartoon villain? If so, is someone going after this psychopath? Also, who built this trolley without emergency brakes or any kind of safety system? I'm sure these type of questions have a use, but all I can think about is that they're asking the wrong questions.

Jeanette-o-saur

How is this type of scenario showing up in the development of self-driving cars (eg hitting another car to avoid hitting a pedestrian). Why are we so uncomfortable with a computer calculating that decision even if we would have made the same decision? (I realize ai and self driving tech is not very good at the moment, but someday presumably it will be better and the idea still makes my skin crawl a bit)

Hayley Balzano

I was going to ask if the ologist also heard the trolley music from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood in their head when they saw a trolley. I was sad when it was not about actual trolleys.

Jeanette-o-saur

When we ask moral questions with A or B response options are we actually asking a helpful question? Does this type of framing push people into absolutist mindsets or reduce their ability to problem solve creatively? Has anyone studied this?

Lily

What (if any) differences occur across cultures when it comes to morals, are there cultural moral differences?

Jeanette-o-saur

Why do politics always offer messed up trade offs like 'if you want to feed you family you have to vote to take away minority human rights' and how does that personal level threat blind people to the broader implications?

Lily

How do morals shift throughout a lifetime? Are there generational morals?

Lily

How are morals informed by, or how do morals inform, values?

Lily

How is morality different from religion?

Lily

Is there any argument to be made for how humanity has shifted morally over time, throughout our evolution? Like going back to what records we do have, how have humanities morals shifted since the dawn of civilization, or have they not?

Lizzy

Is it possible the world is so bad we are forced to live immoral lives? (Per Adorno)?

Harper

I work in public service coordination helping individuals find resources they need. At the same time, the organization I work for does a lot of fundraising and policy work. My state is currently facing a massive housing crisis and shelters are all full with long waitlists. A question I run into frequently is how best to use the limited funds available to us. Do we focus on longer term solutions at a larger scope, or immediate needs person-by-person?

Sonjabird

Do these scenarios really help us examine morality when they are such extreme examples? I believe I would sacrifice myself to save a group of people, but in the moment, could I actually do it?

Theladyisageek

Did you watch The Good Place? What did that show get right about moral philosophy and the psychological impact? What did it get wrong?

Sarah king

Are there ways to teach what following good morals or Making the moral Decision feels like?

Sarah king

What do patterns look like from where morals come from? (Family, location, experience, anything on genetics)

Lizzy Carr

When I was a junior in high school we were discussing the trolley problem in class and I tried to argue that not pulling the lever was a good option because then the same thing would have happened regardless of you being there, whereas pulling it meant that one person is dead specifically because of you and I didn't think that my classmates would actually have it in them to do that if it was real life. Is this a valid rationale or can I chalk this up to being 16 and wanting to be cool and different?

Felipe Jimenez

Are emotional responses more dominant in certain types of moral dilemmas ? I remember the trolley dilemma from my philosophy class where the teacher changed the scenario for the “one sacrifice” being your own child vs. 5 strangers.

Dionne Needham

That is were I heard the trolley problem. I wonder how much effect the TV show had on bringing the trolley problem into the mainstream 🤔

honeybear

I want Trollology so bad now

Naomi Jane

Is there such thing as a selfless good deed?

Naomi Jane

On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is serial killer, and 10 is Dolly Parton levels of philanthropy, where would you rank inaction?

Naomi Jane

I wasn't specifically referring to the trolley problem, but if you want to apply it to something that also works.

Karin Dicker

As an Irish person, same!!! Americans call them shopping carts.

Karin Dicker

I’m became an atheist at age 18 because I realised that the Abrahamic religions didn’t align with my morality. I’m also became a vegetarian at 14 because killing animals for food made no sense to me. I’m 60 now and I’ve never changed. Where does my innate sense of morality come from?

Lyssa Mercier

Hi Aly, this sounds like another fascinating interview! Please ask them if they have watched the Good Place and what their thoughts are on the way it discusses different schools of morality. If they haven't watched it, I can't recommend it enough!

Lindsay Mixer

Oh that's a great question. I had a Sociology professor who said, about school disability accommodations, that she'd rather accommodate a few people faking need than risk denying even one person who actually needs that help, which has become my view about social services altogether--though I add that anyone who would lie to get a social service is clearly in need of something, and if that's the only way they can articulate that need that's okay. Hopefully it puts them in a place to address the actual issue.

abigail macrae

This is easy. You can shout at the one person to “move off the track!” but if you shouted that to five people they would probably bump into each other

Rob Brennan

How sure can we be about our own moral standing on things? With so many social influences, cultural norms, individual experiences, and dissonance reduction biases, it seems like how we look at things morally might shift and change without us even realising.

Amanda Terrill

Do you think that Kants Categorical Imperative should be a go to for secular morality dilemmas?

daniel schmaniel

i saw a study showing babies under two years old showed signs of understanding right from wrong. what's the explanation? is there a genetic component to morality?

Eli Loves Vultures

How did the Good Place do at representing trolleyology? Like they said, is it now harder to answer moral dilemmas, or was it always complicated and people just weren't aware?

Andy Pepper

Is religion a thing because it's easier for our animal brains to outsource morality (and spirituality) to an institution, even if that means doing things that are CLEARLY amoral? See: every "holy war" ever.

Ted Vician

Switch version: half throw the switch to derail the trolley and assume the manufacturer built it to withstand the crash safely. Bridge version: you have the option to jump to stop the trolley, rather than push the other person. Got to Kobayashi Maru these things.

Chris Eff

Anecdotally, I’ve found that folks that received a highly religious upbringing but left their faith as adults often have a stronger moral compass than those who continued following religion into adulthood. What role do you see modern religion having in forming a basis for moral character vs an innate desire to do good? Also/or, how much of outwardly moral, empathetic behavior is driven by one’s own desire to appear ‘good’ in order to maintain social status?

Amy

I'm not sure about Midwest towns, but I know here in New Orleans that the trolley companies were bought by vehicle manufacturing companies and then closed to encourage the use of cars

Amy

I was just about to ask basically the same question. How does a question like this actually give us any insight into someone's true moral compass? Are hypothetical questions even useful in these situations?

Amy

Excellent question

bluebadger

Why is John Rawls' veil of ignorance idea such a big deal? Did some people get all the way to graduate school without ever hearing of the golden rule?

Lauren Bell

Have there been attempts to apply this reasoning and logic to law-making? If not, how can we? What are the chances we come to an agreed-upon set of moral reasoning? I'd love to see a time when we make decisions with consideration for the next 7 generations (with considerations on sustainability and living beings other than humans) like some tribes had done.

Han the Bee

I am wondering if we see any difference in moral reasoning based on cultural affiliations? Or, do we see similarities worldwide/ across cultures on what is viewed as "ultimate good". In a similar vein, do we see any difference is views of moral decision making based off of the gender you were raised as an how that socialization/ expectations may influence your views of morality?

Andrew McVay

I like that perspective… a debate about what’s our responsibility to solve problems that others create… and if our solutions cause another problem, is that progress? One step forward, one step back.

Biscuits and Gravy

Now that we live in the age of self driving cars, how will cars be programmed to deal with this kind of situation? What if a self driving car has to decide between saving lives of pedestrians or the driver? Is the car's priority overall life or the life of its owner? Could this be an option we see one day in self driving cars?

Cindie Flaig

I see a 3rd alternative, which I've never heard mentioned. That is, I could choose to throw *myself* in front of the trolley, avoiding the moral dilemma altogether!

Dinah Phillips

What if you added a little nuance... Would you sacrifice five old people (say, my age of 75) for one kid (say, my nephew of 9)? I hope I would...

Alli B

Not according to that Friends episode.

Alli B

How has moral responsibility changed in the past few decades with more and more media and technology? (IE groups of strangers recording an accident or crime on their phones without helping the victim.) Or have humans always been more likely to observe without action?

Alli B

Great questions!

Dr. Lina Carpenter

Oh boy oh boy oh boy -- as someone who researches moral development and altruism I am THRILLED to see this ology! I'm coming from an educational psychology background, so I may use different terminology or instruments than our Ologist, but hopefully my questions still make sense. And I apologize to Alie & Mercedes & Jacob in advance if they're too esoteric. (1) In my research I look at motivations behind prosocial (helping) behaviors/tendencies. Some of the categories we use are public (self-serving motives), dire (motivated by emergency), emotional (motivated by emotional distress), compliant ("because someone told me to"), and altruism (sympathy for others leading to action that does not benefit the self, or may even cost the self to help the other). (These are survey measures, so I know my mileage my vary here.) Have prosocial tendencies/behaviors been examined relative to moral dilemmas such as the trolley problem? For example -- is someone who rates as more emotional more likely to save one child or save five people? (2) I also look at social-emotional traits like empathy, perspective-taking, and emotion regulation. Research has shown us these factors influence prosocial behavior and prosocial moral reasoning -- do they also affect how someone reacts in a moral dilemma? (3) Have researchers manipulated the trolley dilemma to examine other factors like the influence of gender and ethnicity? If so, how did researchers manage to get participants to show their biases?

Matt Hirschl

Is there a better way to assess moral fiber than What If scenarios? Ultimately, why even ask these dilemmas in the first place?

Kyra Black

Is morality something that is more often culturally defined or do people generally have an instinctive sense of right and wrong

Azra

Thoughts on how many moral discussions are disguised as scientific debate? Why do we feel the need to do this?? **TW** E.g., definition of "human being". I recently found myself stuck in a conversation loop with an anti-abortion group outside a train station and the conversation kept coming back to how /scientifically/ I would choose to define when a human is a human, and thus whether I am okay with killing another human being even if they are unborn. I kept saying that of course I'm not arguing that a human fetus is Homo sapiens, but that my issue was with prioritizing an unborn non-person (as of yet) over a social person who may not be able to take care of a whole ass person!! I had to end the conversation because I realized we were not going to get anywhere; they were not admitting that they were mobilizing for a moral cause rather than a scientific one.

Audrey Lloyd

This is a silly one, but have they heard of the trolley problem subreddit? People come up with some interesting (and ridiculous) scenarios in the format of the trolley problem. What’s the intersection of humor and morality? Do surveys of popular opinion play a role in the field?

Tara Goddard

How can we use the trolley problem to help ask whether we are even asking the right questions with the trolley problem? Here is my example: The MIT Moral Machine project used a scenario with an autonomous vehicle that has "sudden brake failure" and is going to kill either the person/people in the vehicle, or the person/people/pets, etc outside the vehicle. But that ignores two key questions: 1) why wasn't the brake failure avoided in the first place? Do we need better maintenance protocols? Better sensors in the AV? etc;, and 2) should AV be traveling fast enough to kill people where they are going to be walking? Does the focus on the trolley problem obscure whether the issue is actually "upstream" and a systems issue rather than an individual one?

Tara Goddard

Your work sounds so cool! Have you seen the MIT Moral Machine work? They manipulated all sorts of those identities - gender, weight/fat, age, human vs pet, executive vs homeless, etc. And they also used language about how the pedestrian was following or "flaunting" the walk signal. TONS of interesting stuff, with millions of responses across over a hundred (IIRC) countries.

Earl of Greymalkin

1) How much are our moral codes based on ~vibes~ versus logical patterns? 2) How do our moral guidelines change as we age? Are there particular types of events that can drastically and rapidly change someone's perspective or do people tend to be relatively stable after forming a core idea in early life? 3) How much do trolley problem answers shift in different cultural frameworks? 4) How well does religion shape someones morality, or do people tend to rather use their preexisting moral structure as a lens to interpret the religion into their own fashion? 5) Why is it a trolly? Was this question written in San Francisco?? 6) How conditional are our moral codes usually? Asking in the context of rising fascism and hate and certain someones trying to manufacture consent for terrible things... How does the slide down the slope happen? 7) Are there certain archetypes of moral centers that different people tend to exhibit? How many of us are walking around with loose concepts of a moral center versus a more solid and internally consistent framework? What can you do to build a better moral framework? 8) What can we say about if other animals have moral values or not? Hopefully these questions make sense!

Al Hamm

How is the decision that people make formed and affected by group affiliations (religion, politics, professions, etc.)?

Tommy McElrath

First time question asker, but, has this ologist seen "The Good Place" and if so, how much did they enjoy the Trolley Problem episode?

Raja

I missed the deadline, but was struggling to come up with a question in any case. Such a tough topic!! But fascinating name!

Megan R

I came here to ask the exact same question!

Kelly Shaver

I obsessed over my questions for too long and missed the deadline but I'm encouraged by all of y'alls good ones

Cheryl

It's all circumstantial, for example, if you're saving your child compared to 5 strangers then it's easy. The circumstances will depend on our own personal emotional attachment to the people who may or may not be rolled over by the trolley. If we have zero information about the people involved then it's a personal moral decision?

Cheryl

There's always the concrete argument if said embryo or fetus is considered an alive human being then why don't pregnant women get child benefits? 🤷‍♀️ lots of different perspectives and beliefs. Unfortunately, soke people won't "Live and let live" x