The Infinite Trolley Problem

Do you pull the lever, killing 1 + 1 + 1 + 1... people — one person for every integer — resulting in infinite people dying? Or do you do nothing, allowing the trolley to kill one person for every real number? In both cases, infinite people die; but in the top case, the smallest possible infinity of people die (ℵ₀), whereas in the bottom case, a larger infinity of people die (some infinities are bigger than other infinities). What do you do?

A trolley approaches two tracks filled with people, while a person decides whether to pull the lever. The joke applies the trolley problem to mathematical infinities: killing one person per integer produces countably infinite deaths, while killing one person per real number produces a larger, uncountable infinity. It is used as an absurd reaction to impossible moral choices or overly technical philosophical dilemmas.

• @dev_meme / 4753 2022-08-09