this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2025
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Cool meme
But the whole trolley part doesn't add anything to the question. You can leave it off and nothing changes. It is still just the question on whether teleporting transports you or copies you. Which depends entirely on the technology used.
The joke is that trolley problems are usually used to portray moral dilemmas, so the teleporter is a subversion by rendering the trolley question irrelevant.
I thought it was funny
The trolley is still relevant because if you don't step into the transporter, people die. If you do, there's a good chance some version of you dies, but some version of you survives. So is the current version of you more valuable than the lives of the people on the track?
Personally I love memes that mix different moral/philosophical dilemmas in silly ways
The exemplar version of this concept
I believe that the trolley portion is partly subtext: notice how, unlike in the traditional problem, there's nobody ON the other track. This is a variant where you must risk/accept personal annihilation of self to cause someone else identical to yourself to save five lives. It does add a layer, but I think it would be better to explicitly state the actual sacrifice, rather than asking the trite question.
It also raises the question whether it's a perfect teleport or one that modifies you. While you might be willing to pull the lever before jumping into the teleport, you might not be afterwards.