• Blackout@fedia.io
    1282·
    28 days ago

    If these are tracks in the US then I just understaff the engineers and maintenance teams and the train derails before I have to make a decision, checkmate.

    • matlag@sh.itjust.works
      13·
      27 days ago

      If these tracks are in the US, so I am. So I shoot the other guy with the gun(s) I usually carry around when I go out and then pull the lever.

    • UmeU@lemmy.world
      30·
      27 days ago

      This was super funny, this person has a great career ahead of her. Very Tim and Eric style obscure indie comedy, I loved it.

  • AWildMimicAppears@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    53·
    27 days ago

    for the longest time, i did know that game theory did not have anything to do with “games” and that it is somehow connected to the prisoners dilemma, but the concept as such wasn’t very clear to me. If you are like my former me, take 30 minutes out of your day and visit https://ncase.me/trust/ to learn and play around with game theory; it’s a great webpage and it’s pretty good fun all around.

    • solstice@lemmy.world
      13·
      27 days ago

      I did a few game theory simulations in college and they were always real interesting. In one of them for example, it was a multiplayer game, with multiple interactions. I think it was to simulate global trade basically: you could cooperate with as many players as you want and each time you cooperate you both get a point. If you defect then you get two and they get none. However, all the players could see what the other players are doing, so if you defected they would know and probably would play (trade) with you. The best way to win was to form as many connections as possible and fully cooperate the whole time.

      I formed maybe like 20-30 connections with other players and didn’t defect. Each point was worth a few cents or something. So I walked out with a check for like $20-$50 or something. Many players walked out with nothing because they cheated too many people too many times and nobody wanted to trade with them.

      Therefore, clearly, the best economic policy is protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, and fucking over both allies and enemies, right? Right?!?

      • Lemming6969@lemmy.world
        5·
        27 days ago

        Your simulation seems to only punish selfish actors when that’s not always the case. Doesn’t include natural monopolies, lacks clandestine exploitation, and there’s likely no market capture or saturation. In such a case the only play is to cooperate.

    • batshit@lemmings.world
      41·
      27 days ago

      For those interested, Veritasium has a very good video on this. It also sort of tells what strategy is optimal to “win”.

  • Saledovil@sh.itjust.works
    48·
    27 days ago

    Unlike the classic prisoners dilemma, this isn’t a nash equilibrium. When I know that the other person pulls their switch, I’d improve my outcome by not pulling mine. Compare to the prisoners dilemma, where not snitching when the other side snitches earns you five years in prison.

    • Wade@lemmy.world
      2·
      27 days ago

      And unlike the original trolley problem, pulling the lever will always kill more people. I’d wager most people wouldn’t pull this lever because of this, but I agree there’s no Nash equilibrium.

  • wabafee@lemmy.world
    41·
    27 days ago

    Do nothing that way you don’t get to jail for murder. All the pressure goes to the other guy. Sue the railway company, guy who pulled the lever and the creator. Another is find a way not to reach to that point.

  • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
    233·
    27 days ago

    This is only superficially a prisoner’s dilemma. In a true one, you cannot get a better result for yourself no matter what the other person does, but here if you assume the other person pulled the lever, there is no reason to pull the lever yourself.

    To fix this, you can have 4 relatives on the trolley, and 5 of the opposite faction way back on the middle track. Both do nothing, 1 relative of each is killed. One guy switches the lever, their relatives are all fine, other guy loses 5. Both switch, crash with all 8 relatives on the trolley dead.

    • TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world
      142·
      27 days ago

      I see what you’re trying to do and you’re not necessarily wrong, but you’re kinda perpetuating the attitude that inspired someone to make this meme in the first place

        • TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world
          10·
          26 days ago

          Touche. But no, my point was more of a haphazard reflection on how both the Trolley Problem and Prisoner’s Dilemma are (by design) built on the idea of reducing human life and/or morality and empathy down to a math problem. It is a method of thought that has its purposes, sure, but I think too many people make that their default setting, which makes dehumanization more common, even if subconsciously. Idk man, I’m going through some stuff

          Edit: Fixed a pretty bad typo

          • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
            6·
            27 days ago

            Given that this problem is given during corporate interviews … it probably screens for the requisite level of sociopathy.

  • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    233·
    28 days ago

    You pull the lever, then pew pew pew the other person near the lever.

    Boom.

    Did I solve it?

    Where’s my prize?

    Wait a minute, gotta shoot everyone else related too. Don’t want to face any revenge.

    Automatic Weaponry goes brrrr

    No witnesses

    Okay I saved 1 of my loved ones.

    Bingo?

    Now theres only one color of people.

    Wait am I a racist?

  • rational_lib@lemmy.world
    19·
    27 days ago

    Yell to the guy on the other side that I’m going to pull the lever, so he’d better not.

    Then let it go because that both maximizes global utility and poses the lowest risk of the worst case scenario.

  • somewhathinged@lemm.eeEnglish
    181·
    27 days ago

    If you think about this for any length of time and actually imagine this scenario, you realise you don’t pull the lever and it’s not even close.

    • socsa@piefed.socialEnglish
      16·
      27 days ago

      Wrong. You pick the obviously wrong moral stance and then aggressively yell about it on the internet. The more obvious it becomes that you are wrong, the louder you yell. This protects your ego from introspection.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
      4·
      27 days ago

      that right, I’d masturbate on the tracks and on the people tied to the tracks so they are slipery and can slide or bounce to safety. And before you judge me, its the only thing I’m really good at and we should make the most of what we have in life.

      Failing that for whatever reason (or maybe in addition to that), I’d asses which of the prospects are lefties and make sure those people in particular live. Sorry centrists and republicans, but we need the votes and some people have to die, but I’m focussed on doing the least harm here.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
      11·
      27 days ago

      You realize this is your family watching you make the decision to have their vehicle run over a loved one? There’s a possibility they all live if you pull it.

      • Famko@lemmy.world
        2·
        27 days ago

        Or if you pull it, then they see you make the decision to risk their lives to kill three other people.

        What is better, three lives lost or one life lost?

  • _bcron@midwest.socialEnglish
    15·
    27 days ago

    The outcome from both levers pulled is so steep that it really makes no sense to pull the lever

      • _bcron@midwest.socialEnglish
        7·
        27 days ago

        They’ll be thinking the same thing tho and if there is a greater than 20% chance of them pulling the lever it’d be worse in terms of losing family members than not pulling at all.

        But in terms of overall death, not pulling the lever is 1 or 4, and pulling the lever is 4 or 13

      • Emerald@lemmy.world
        4·
        27 days ago

        Not really. This would all happen so fast and be emotionally, not logically, driven.

      • BluesF@lemmy.world
        1·
        27 days ago

        But equally that might be what they’re thinking. There’s no simple equilibrium in this game… If your opponent pulls, your best move is not to pull. If they do not, your best move is to do so.

        Well, from a pure game theory standpoint, assuming you only value your relatives. This is all somewhat disregarding the three innocents in the middle.

  • aviationeast@lemmy.world
    14·
    28 days ago

    Questions: why doesn’t the person at the switch run and get the person off the tracks? And the people on the trolley hop off or try to the sslow the trolley?

    • Vivian@lemmynsfw.com
      19·
      28 days ago

      They are tied to their chair with the only thing they can do being flipping the lever. It is the prisoner’s trolley problem

    • actually@lemmy.world
      914·
      28 days ago

      I think this exposes the sadism of philosophy the past few hundred years.

      Often, it’s been some rich idle folks making up murderous fantasies in their heads while looking down at my ancestors . “Oh, you don’t know page 273 of Aristotle’s rejoinder? Haha, you must be too poor”.