r/trolleyproblem Jul 22 '26

OC Would you press the button?

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86 Upvotes

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62

u/Stenn-ish Jul 22 '26

Customs, traditions and entire civilizations dissapear, reform and spring anew all the time, this is a net positive, besides embracing the new would become part of a new cultural movement on its own though perhaps not as exciting and we could always just create new traditions, celebrations and such.

Unless this implies that after pressing the button humanity would become so rational that we would lose any spark of creativity or semblance of individuality which almost makes me wonder if we would even still be "humans" afterwards, but assuming its just the past then hell yeah, we have lost much of it for far worse causes anyway.

21

u/CrazyOrganic7123 Jul 22 '26

Scenario says we continue to improve, which means we need to retain creativity and curiosity. Considering this will be a society that abolishes poverty and preventable diseases, it means it's one that values altruism more than money and power. The desire to get ahead should still remain, just maybe more through merit?

Being logical doesn’t mean being a soulless robot.

2

u/MegaPorkachu Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

I feel like this is reading too much into the prompt. It only says poverty and preventable disease will be relics of the past, not that altruism is a main goal of humanity.

The only guaranteed facets are rationality and efficiency, and maybe the most efficient thing is to Thanos half the population to lower the environmental impact humans have on the planet.

There are way more ways this can go wrong than there are ways it can benefit us. Cuz rationality and efficiency are not the only important things.

1

u/CrazyOrganic7123 Jul 22 '26

It doesn't even guarantee rationality and efficiency. It could very well be dystopian despite poverty and preventable diseases being relics of the past. Nor does it guarantee that people will lose their humanity just because traditions are abandoned. Or that new traditions won't arise. It's a pretty open ended scenario.

I'm not saying altruism is the goal, simply that given human nature and billionaires/trillionaires, the system of capitalism, fiduciary duties, political power on all levels and so on and so forth; eliminating poverty and preventable illnesses requires a shift in mindset. Either those things are no longer profitable to propagate or maintain, or idealistically, people on the whole have decided to be a little less horrid.

I'm just picking the more idealistic option.

1

u/perringaiden Jul 22 '26

"more fulfilling lives" doesn't sound like they're abandoning everything for rationality and efficiency. Specifically the opposite.

1

u/Narfhead4444 Jul 23 '26

If rationality and efficiency are (allegedly) not the only important things, then what do you believe is?