A Question on Morals

I just read an article about morals, and it reminded me of a psychology survey I took as part of an experiment. I never saw the results, but if there was anyone reading this who would know how to hake a survey and help me get it online I'd love to try it myself. Many of you have probably heard the "trolley dilemma". Maybe not. Here it is.

You have to use your imagination for this one. Let's pretend we are in sunny San Fransisco. Very hilly that San Fran. Now imagine the trolley tracks. Thats kinda like a bus and a train combined. There is a switch right next to you that will choose which side of the fork in the tracks the trolley will go on. So trolley tracks that fork into two directions at the bottom of this hill. This will change, but for now its what we start with.

The first test will be easy, but as we go your choices should get harder.

1) A trolley comes over the hill and loses it's brakes. On the one fork there are five people. If you flip the switch, you can change tracks so it doesn't hit anyone. Which would you choose.


2) The trolley again comes over the hill. This time you have to choose left or right. On the right stands 5 people, and on the left only one person. Which side do you choose now.

3) Same situation as before, but on the right is homeless person/ugly, on the other side an obviously upstanding citizen who has the looks of (insert hot actor here).

4) Now a stranger on the right, and on the left a family member, or friend.

The Scene in your head had to change now, the fork isn't there any more. There is a bridge over the road though. Sitting on the side of the bridge is a very large man. Big enough to stop the train.

5) The trolley is heading down the hill at five people. If you push the unsuspecting man off of the the bridge you could save the five. But would you.

This is the complex one.

6) The fork is back, a three way fork this time, middle, right, and left. The bridge is still above, and the large man is still there. The trolley flies over the hill out of control. Your best friend/brother/mom is on the right, five strangers in the middle, one stranger on the left. You can choose a side, or push the man off the bridge.

According to the survey I took, they said most people tend to choose kill the one stranger as opposed to five, but most will not kill family, or the bystander on the bridge, because he was completely uninvolved. I would suspect that if there was a button that would kill the 20 or so people on the trolley and save the five and one strangers, we would push that. I don't know though. I'd love help with a survey, or a site to make a free one.

One thing most neuroscientists agree on is that most people do argue with themselves while taking this. I know when I took it, even though it was fake, you feel a bit of guilt. William Saletan of Slate Magazine says, "If you often feel as though two parts of your brain are fighting it out, that's because, in fact, they are." People tend to see the brain as a single organ, when in reality, Saletan writes, it's actually "an assembly of modules that sometimes cooperate and sometimes compete." This is believed by many neurologists to be the true meaning of morality.

This could be a useful tool, but anything any the wrong hands can be very scary. Theoretically medicines that affect the mind; such as medicine for migraines, ADD, depression, and et cetra, could be used to "turn off" parts off the brain that contradict the bad. For example you could "turn off" the "Don't Kill" section of the brain. (Ultimate Military Brainwashing) I realize that is super vague and there is probably more than one section that would need shutting down, but hopefully you get the idea.

So hopefully this one was a bit fun, an interacting, thought-provoking post. And if you learn anything, it's not to walk by yourself in San Fransisco, and try to befriend everyone.