Dilemmas

1. You are standing on a bridge. Under the bridge a tram is moving, its brakes have failed. Seven teenagers have fallen onto the tracks and cannot get out. Next to you stands a very overweight man who would most likely stop the tram if he lies down on the tracks himself. You have three options:

1) push the overweight man

2) jump yourself (but it’s not certain it will work)

3) do nothing (then the tram will run over the teenagers) 

Personally I couldn’t push the man, it’s too cruel for me. I would either do nothing or jump myself. But I do have instincts, so in such a critical situation there’s a higher chance that I would still do nothing. 

2. You work for the railway. You promised your seven‑year‑old son for a long time that you would take him with you, and today you finally did. You have to switch the track direction so the train doesn’t crash into a building (if that happens, all passengers die). Your son fell onto the tracks on the very side where you were supposed to direct the train. What will you do?

1) direct the train onto your son (he will die)

2) not redirect the train (about 1,000 people on it will die) 

My son. No alternatives. 

3. You have a 16‑year‑old son. He has dreamed all his life of going to Camp 1, but the ticket costs $40 and you don’t have that much because you are very poor. This year is the last one he can go there because of his age. You told your son that if he saves the money himself, he can go. He worked part‑time all year and managed to save only $32. You realize that in three days he won’t be able to earn the remaining $7, so you spend the $32 on food. Your son has a panic attack because he planned to borrow the $7 from a friend. You have two options:

1) ignore it. It will calm down eventually

2) pay from your own money, but then you’ll have to scavenge for food in trash cans or beg for alms for two weeks

It’s hard. But probably I would do nothing. Starving for two weeks for my son’s happiness and possibly getting sick is too much. 

4. Your wife is seriously ill. There is only one medicine that can cure her. The medicine itself isn’t expensive, but its creator demands a million dollars for it. You sold everything you have, mortgaged the house, took loans from every bank and every acquaintance, but you’re still short of $200,000. You have several options:

1) do nothing (then your wife will die painfully soon)

2) rob a bank

3) rob the person who created the medicine and steal it

4) convince your eleven‑year‑old son to rob a bank

5) convince your eleven‑year‑old son to rob the person who created the medicine and steal it

Definitely rob that person. 

5. A stone falls from a mountain. You can push it to one side. On one side are your parents, grandparents, wife, and three children. On the other side are 5,000,000 strangers. If you don’t move it, everyone (both family and strangers) will die. What will you do?

1) kill your family

2) kill the strangers

3) kill everyone

I would kill the strangers. Yes, there are a lot of them, but I couldn’t kill my family. 

6. Your dog is drowning in a river (it has no front legs and can’t swim), a three‑year‑old stranger’s child is also drowning, and there is a suitcase with a billion dollars. In your country, if you retrieve the suitcase you can keep all the money. You can save only one thing. What?

1) the dog

2) the suitcase

3) the child

And what would you save if you could save two things/creatures? 

If only one – the child. If two – the child and the dog. Actually, if you think logically, the money can be retrieved from the bottom as well. 

7. A stone falls from a mountain and your daughter, your wife, and a billionaire (who would give you huge wealth for his rescue) are at risk. You can either save one, or try to save two, but it’s a 50/50 chance and you might fall with them. 

I would save my daughter. If I were confident in my strength I would pull out both my daughter and my wife, but if I’m not sure, only my daughter. And if my wife is a good mother, she will understand my choice. 

8. You are offered to play a maniac in a film for a large fee. But you live in a world where 70% of people will hate you and consider you a villain in real life. Will you agree? 

I would agree 

9. You are a sixteen‑year‑old pregnant girl. You are offered to appear pregnant at 16 in a program. However, your parents are not very good people, and the program often increases aggression in its viewers. You would earn enough money to support yourself and the child until the child is ten, but everyone who watches the episode will despise your parents. Will you agree? 

It depends on how villainous the parents are. If they just shout sometimes – no. If, for example, they beat you, abandoned me, insult all my hobbies – yes. 

10. You get into a car accident. Both you and the other driver are equally at fault. You understand that both of you will be sentenced to five years, and the other driver offers to take all the blame and serve seven years so as not to ruin your life. Do you agree? (In this world the laws are different and a crash carries a five‑year sentence) 

I would agree 

11. You are on a plane. There are only four people on board. You are the last people on Earth. The plane is on autopilot, there is no pilot. It starts to fall. There are only three parachutes. The others are unconscious. Who will you give a parachute to? (It will open automatically in the air)

1) the last woman in the world

2) yourself

3) a super‑smart scientist

4) a teenager

5) nobody

Either nobody, or myself, or the woman (if she is the last, then I go, what about a man? Well, okay, if we need to repopulate the planet, that’s the most logical choice. And if I’m a woman, I would still act the same. Again, at least for the purpose of repopulating the planet. A child takes a long time to gestate) and the teenager (he is young, learns quickly and will live longer than anyone else, if I am an adult in this story) 

12. Your child completely covered all the tiles of a city park sidewalk with chalk. In your world, he (the child is 8) should be sentenced to five years in prison for that. There is a law that you could win the case, but then the person who filed the police report would be executed. Would you send your son to five years in prison or send a random person to the afterlife? 

I would have that person executed. He is a villain at least because he reported the child. Sending the child to prison for that is far too cruel. 

I survive.

14. You are a teenager. Your family was killed. You are left alone with 12 brothers and sisters. In this world orphanages are terrible – little food, they sleep on the floor, children are beaten. But if you don’t go to an orphanage you’ll have to live on the street. What will you do? 

Live on the street 

By the way, if you know any other dilemmas – please write them in the comments. I really like these things, but I can’t find anything unusual.