The point of the trolley problem was to present a scenario where deliberate action harms someone but doing nothing harms more people as a way to explore notions such as malevolent intent and harm by neglect.
It doesn't have to be trolleys; it was done that way for simplicity of presentation but some people try to out-clever it by being literal about it.
I thought it was about in-action or action in the face of lesser harm vs greater harm.
Edit: Oh I misread. Yeah. I guess my issue is it's existence in pop culture. I'm not really interested in people's answers because of what you describe. People basically cheating out the choice, taking it as literal.
I already think the trolley problem is base level contrived. But this is even stupider.
The point of the trolley problem was to present a scenario where deliberate action harms someone but doing nothing harms more people as a way to explore notions such as malevolent intent and harm by neglect.
It doesn't have to be trolleys; it was done that way for simplicity of presentation but some people try to out-clever it by being literal about it.
I thought it was about in-action or action in the face of lesser harm vs greater harm.
Edit: Oh I misread. Yeah. I guess my issue is it's existence in pop culture. I'm not really interested in people's answers because of what you describe. People basically cheating out the choice, taking it as literal.
It's that bit where Bart Simpson answers "what is the sound of one hand clapping" by smacking his fingers against his palm.