this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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Thats actually a really good dilemma if you think about it. Like if everyone doubles it you basically don’t kill anyone. But you’ll always risk that there’s some psycho who likes killing and then you will have killed more. And if these choices continue endlessly you will eventually find someone like this. So killing immediately should be the right thing to do.
Some day it reaches a person that thinks...
Well, 4 billion people less is better than someone being able to wipe out humanity...
(it would also solve many problems lol)
(and that point would be after 32 people had the choice...)
ok buts let's go two steps further here. The people who would die if the person at the switch decided to kill are already bound to the tracks, as can be seen in the image. Now, if the choice is "Kill 16 billion people or double it and give it to the next person", the person who's supposed to flip the switch is ALREADY on the tracks, unable to move.
So the real question is, what is the default position?