#30: Trolley and the Fat Man

If you studied philosophy in college, then surely you know of the Trolley Problem. It goes like this.

There are five people tied to a track and a train is going to run them over. However, you are standing next to a lever that when pulled would divert the train to an alternate track. Unfortunately, there is one man bound on that other track. Would you pull the switch and thus kill the one man? Would you sacrifice the one to save the five?

Most people would say it is right to divert the track based on utilitarian principles. However, if we change the variant slightly, most people change their answer.

Here is the variant. There are five people tied to a track and a train is going to run them over. You are standing on a bridge over the track next to a fat man. If you push the fat man over the bridge, he will stop the train before it reaches the five. Would you push the fat man? Would you sacrifice the one to save the five?

Below is a poem that delves in to the Trolley Problem although it twists some of the principles around at the end to ask a different philosophical question.

The New York Times; Illustration by Frank O’Connell

Heading to the station

A quarter after three

I hear the bustle and commotion

A horrific thing I see

Down the way are five men

Stuck between the rails

They’re screaming out for help

I faintly hear their wails

Up the way I spy a trolley

Barreling along

The conductor does not know

Something terrible will go wrong

A fat man walks up next to me

He says “Is there anything we can do?

I look up perplexedly

Until my mind thinks up a clue

“Look man, I’m sorry,

We all are ill prepared

And it’s nothing personal

In fact, I’m pretty scared

I've done the math inside my head

You surely have the girth

Their lives should be spared

They represent a greater worth

The tragedy is one life

If you are on the track

But you must act now

There is no going back

It’s not that you’re not valued

It’s just that five is more than one

And there isn't any time

Or something else that can be done.”

The fat man looks at me and says,

“Surely you wouldn't dare?”

His mind racing fast

He looks at me and glares

“Their fate is on that track

Mine is safe and sound

I am not moving an inch

Right here I’ll stand my ground

Besides, look at you

You weigh as much as I

I think it best then

That you be the one to die.”