The Upgraded Trolley Problem: Would You Kill Five People if There’s a Chance to Save Ten?
Many of us may be familiar with the trolley problem. Duplicate that scenario and we arrive at something similar to the Prisoners’ Dilemma—the Trolley Dilemma.
But first, in a simple trolley problem, there is a runaway trolley barreling down a train track. Further down the track lay five people who are tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight towards them but you are standing some distance off next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different track where a single person is tied up. You are faced with two options:
- Do nothing, in which case the trolley will subsequently kill five people on its intended track.
- Pull the lever, effectively diverting the trolley off its course and killing one person instead.
This hypothetical scenario has already been heavily discussed and debated from a variety of philosophical, ethical, and moral perspectives. But what about a variation of this problem—one that forces us to tie in game theory?
Consider the Trolley Dilemma depicted below.
Note that there are now two trolleys, four tracks, and two people who have to make decisions on whether to pull the lever or not. Another difference is that each trolley is headed on the track where only one person lays trapped. Thus, pulling the lever would divert the trolley onto the course with five people trapped. If no one pulls the lever, two people will die. If one person pulls the lever while the other does not, six people die. Lastly, if both pull the lever, the two trolleys will crash into one another and no one dies.
It is clear that the best solution would be both people pulling the levers as that would ensure that no one dies. The dilemma lies in the fact that the decisions both people make will affect the overall outcome and that they are unable to communicate with one another.
Potential decisions and outcomes can be represented in a payoff matrix as shown:
| Person 1 x Person 2 | Do nothing | Pull lever |
| Do nothing | (-1,-1) | (-1,-5) |
| Pull lever | (-5,-1) | (5,5) |
Although it may seem like the obvious answer is for both people is to pull the lever, morality comes into play as a preventing factor and complicates the decision. Keep in mind that person 1 does not know what person 2 will do and vice versa. That is, person 1’s choice to pull the lever may result in choosing to kill five people over killing one person if person 2 does not pull the lever. Person 1 would have to actively bet that person 2 is thinking the same way they are in order for this decision to be better off. What if person 2 differs in reasoning and simply believes that killing one is better than killing five, regardless of the fact that there is potential to save everyone? Since we cannot expect everyone to think the same or share the same philosophy, this may very well be the point where game theory crosses into the realm of ethics and morality.
Sources: https://philosophynow.org/issues/116/Could_There_Be_A_Solution_To_The_Trolley_Problem
https://ifunny.co/picture/the-stag-trolley-problem-if-both-persons-pul-the-leve-bdxttQ9k7