Would you sacrifice 1 life to save 5? Will you buy a selfish car?

 A run-away trolley is hurtling down the track, there are five people ahead on the track unaware of the situation. You are standing next to railway switch, you can switch the trolley to the side track. However, there is one person on the side track. You have 2 options

1.       Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill five people.

2.       Switch the trolley to side track and kill one person.

Which one is the more ethical option? 

The trolley experiment was first devised in 1967 by moral philosopher Philippa Foot from Oxford university. “The grand dame of philosophy” – Philippa’s thought experiments started a revolution in morality and ethics research. Philippa was 20th century Aristotle teaching and inspiring new generations around the world. 

In 1987, Professor Judith Thompson from MIT devised a variation of the original trolley problem. 

•  You are on top of a bridge above the tracks next to a large person, if you push the large person on to the track, thereby killing the person but potentially stopping the trolley and saving five people down the track.

Objectively speaking, in both scenarios, you sacrifice one life to save five. If you let artificial intelligence to make the decision, it will have no problem. However, it is not that easy for humans. This experiment illustrates complicated tapestry of morality and ethics. 

Inspired by great women thinkers, I decided to update this experiment to 2020 and to try it on my unsuspecting son whilst walking along the banks of Thames.

He is turning 11 in July, starting secondary school in September. I get a constant reminder that he is not a kid any more and deserves iphone as a birthday gift, so it is a fair game.

 Conversation with my son

Me: Tesla has rolled out self-driving cars, they are already on roads in America.

Son:  I know, what’s new about that?  

Me: In the near future, only self-driving cars will be allowed on the road.

Son: That is not possible but I’ll go with it. 

Me: I think 5 years from now, Elon will give away Tesla cars for free but you need to pay monthly subscription fee for self-driving software. Let’s run few scenarios for pricing.

Son: That’s interesting, let's crack on. 

Me: You have 2 versions of the software, selfish self-driving mode that protects car passengers and selfless or generous mode that protects pedestrians. Selfish mode is priced @ £500 per month and Generous mode is priced @ £300 per month. Which one will you choose?

Son: The Generous mode - £300 per month, it is cheaper.

Me: You are traveling alone in Tesla on generous mode, your car is about to crash on to 5 pedestrians but the generous mode as designed crashes on to the wall saving pedestrians. Did you make the right choice?

Son: Yes.

Me: How is it the right choice, you are putting yourself in danger? Explain.

Son: I trust Elon’s engineering, I am sure, I’ll be safe despite the crash. On the other hand, 5 pedestrians had no chance against speeding Tesla.

Me: Fair enough, you got away easy. I need to raise the stakes. 

Me: You are in the car with your wife and 3 kids on generous mode, it again protects 5 pedestrians and crashes on to the wall. Did you make the right choice in this scenario?

Son: I will not get married or have kids, this is absurd.

Me: It is a thought experiment, let’s assume they are your neighbour's kids on their way to school and you have agreed to help them out.

Son: This is difficult, I would have chosen selfish mode to protect young children.

Me: Interesting, Elon will be happy to hear this. 

Me: I think there is a demand for a new product. If I give you a hybrid option. you can switch to selfish mode for one hour a day, will you pay £400 per month?.

Son: Yes, it make sense. I will switch to selfish mode for school run. 

Me: The government has new regulations, selfish mode will have to be prominently displayed in LED screen on top of the car with the default message “I am a selfish person”. Are you o.k with that?

Son: Can I just display S like "L" for Learners

Sensing commercial opportunity

Me: That will cost you extra £25 son, you can just display “S” . Will you pay £25 extra per month?

Son: Yes, I am not hiding the fact but displaying S is much better 

Me: It is fascinating to imagine the future. Auto loan as a product will be extinct, car and life insurance premiums will be linked to the software mode on your car. 

Tesla’s software division will be valued far more than hardware. Elon might cash out by selling his software division to Amazon. Prime subscription will include self-driving software in addition to 24 hour delivery, video, music and grocery. 

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Before I could complete my market research, he spots his friend and runs away. hopefully I planted concepts of morality, ethics, AI limitation, Cloud, SaaS, Pricing, bundling, valuation, insurance without using buzz words.

We always underestimate the pace of change, you too will have to make some difficult decisions sooner than you think.

Which product will you choose? Let me know your option and your thoughts in the comments...

my son chose option 3 + add on 

1.       Selfish mode : £500 per month

2.       Generous mode: £300 per month

3.       Hybrid mode: £400 per month (you can drive in selfish mode for 1 hour a day)

Add on: Display sign: £25 per month for displaying “S” instead of “I am a Selfish Person”

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Note: The views expressed are my own in personal capacity. It is unedited musings in written form.

I do not buy anything other than groceries these days, please do not waste your time with marketing mails.

Read all my “Notes to Self” at view all blogs.