Consider the following case:

On Twin Earth, a brain in a vat is at the wheel

North Las Vegas, Nevada, United States 

of a runaway trolley. There are only two options that the brain can take: the right side of the fork in the track or the left side of the fork. There is no way in sight of derailing or stopping the trolley and the brain is aware of this, for the brain knows trolleys. The brain is causally hooked up to the trolley such that the brain can determine the course which the trolley will take.

On the right side of the track there is a single railroad worker, Jones, who will definitely be killed if the brain steers the trolley to the right. If the railman on the right lives, he will go on to kill five men for the sake of killing them, but in doing so will inadvertently save the lives of thirty orphans (one of the five men he will kill is planning to destroy a bridge that the orphans' bus will be crossing later that night). One of the orphans that will be killed would have grown up to become a tyrant who would make good utilitarian men do bad things. Another of the orphans would grow up to become G.E.M. Anscombe, while a third would invent the pop-top can.

If the brain in the vat chooses the left side of the track, the trolley will definitely hit and kill a railman on the left side of the track, "Leftie" and will hit and destroy ten beating hearts on the track that could (and would) have been transplanted into ten patients in the local hospital that will die without donor hearts. These are the only hearts available, and the brain is aware of this, for the brain knows hearts. If the railman on the left side of the track lives, he too will kill five men, in fact the same five that the railman on the right would kill. However, "Leftie" will kill the five as an unintended consequence of saving ten men: he will inadvertently kill the five men rushing the ten hearts to the local hospital for transplantation. A further result of "Leftie's" act would be that the busload of orphans will be spared. Among the five men killed by "Leftie" are both the man responsible for putting the brain at the controls of the trolley, and the author of this example. If the ten hearts and "Leftie" are killed by the trolley, the ten prospective heart-transplant patients will die and their kidneys will be used to save the lives of twenty kidney-transplant patients, one of whom will grow up to cure cancer, and one of whom will grow up to be Hitler. There are other kidneys and dialysis machines available, however the brain does not know kidneys, and this is not a factor.

Assume that the brain's choice, whatever it turns out to be, will serve as an example to other brains-in-vats and so the effects of his decision will be amplified. Also assume that if the brain chooses the right side of the fork, an unjust war free of war crimes will ensue, while if the brain chooses the left fork, a just war fraught with war crimes will result. Furthermore, there is an intermittently active Cartesian demon deceiving the brain in such a manner that the brain is never sure if it is being deceived.

why hello there

 

baba777 posted on February 06, 2012 @ 11:01pm

@b4b4777 Do you even even realize what you did last year? If what you say is true, then you're a troll. You hid behind "anonymous" and raised everyone's airs. You insulted people who never did anything wrong including a guy and his 13 year-old brother. You started a flame war and for what? You wanted some attention? What were you trying to do? Do you consider other people human? You started this for some sick need to force anger out people to do what? To control them? You need therapy.

 

nonis posted on January 31, 2012 @ 4:45am

. . . . . . . . . .,'´`. ,'``;
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. . . . . . .' - .. .....-`

 

nonis posted on January 12, 2012 @ 8:43pm

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Clank posted on January 01, 2012 @ 7:06pm

^^^^^^^^^^^|
|ANIME TRUCK |? '|""";.., ___.
|_..._...______===|= _|__|..., ] |
"(@ )'(@ )""""*|(@ )(@ )*****(@
THIS? IS A ANIME TRUCK IF U RECIEVE THIS IT MEANS UR FUCKIN ANIME IF U GET THIS BACK UR EVEN ANIMER...SEND THIS TO 10 PEOPLE....IF U BREAK THIS YOU AINT' ANIME FOR SHIT.'

 

nonis posted on December 31, 2011 @ 6:40pm

★˛˚˛*˛°.˛*.˛°˛.*★˚˛*˛°.˛*.˛°˛.*★Merry*★* 。*˛.
˛°_██_*.。*./ ♥ .˛* .˛。.˛.*.★* Christmas*★ 。*
˛. (´• ̮•)*.。*/♫.♫*˛.* ˛_Π_____.♥Everyone ♥ ˛* ˛*
.°( . • . ) ˛°./• ‘♫ ‘ •.˛*./______/~＼*. ˛*.。˛* ˛.*。
*(…’•’.. ) *˛╬╬╬╬╬˛°.｜田田 ｜門｜╬╬╬╬╬*˚ .˛ …

 

iScreamMan posted on December 26, 2011 @ 11:43am

Dumb and gay

σψиεг

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<-- that is your MOM that is YOUR MOM to the right and I DID HER, i did YOUR MOM.

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The developer of this game literally said that making it was "like [being] in a fucking concentration camp." Take that as you will.

Leave a comment December 27th, 2011 @ 10:30am

My girlfriend works at a cafe. I'm always staring at her, but she rarely looks at me. I sit around all day, waiting for her to notice; but the times she does, I look away to avoid eye contact.
I stare at her through the bleachers at school, watching for her next move. Will she see me?
After a bit of investigation, it seems she has a boyfriend... And it turns out he's a total dick. She doesn't understand our close relationship together, I guess, but that will soon change. I know she'll go for the nice guy, I know it. He's an asshole for going out with MY girlfriend and I know that she'll love me when she knows I'll listen and care. I'll never leave her. We'll get married and live our lives together, forever, talking about her and everything else. I'll never let someone touch her. I'll never let someone take her away from me...
I think all of this as I stare through her bedroom window. I know - I just do - that my fantasy will become a reality.

Oh wait, she's really an atomic bomb

Leave a comment July 4th, 2011 @ 11:23am

If you like balls, get this game.

Leave a comment May 1st, 2011 @ 7:31pm