Most of us were probably hit by this tricky ethical dilemma at some point in our lives whether at school or a lot later or earlier than that.
It is basically called the “Bystander at the Switch” or “Switch” problem but it is famously known today as the trolley problem.
Here’s how the trolley problem goes:
View this post on Instagram
You were made to imagine as the bystander who was given the option to flip the lever to change the direction where the trolley goes.
There are two tracks, one of which has a person tied on the tracks. The second consisted of five people tied on the tracks. The trolley is running straight to the track where the five people are and you were made to choose whether to let the trolley kill all five or divert it to save them and kill the one on the other side.
Even if we are asked the same problem today, we probably still have a hard time coming up with the “right” answer.
However, two-year-old kid is different when it comes to these kinds of questions!
A two-year-old kid is still a toddler.
Although, at this point, they already know how reasoning works, and could already come up with a solution to easy, day-to-day problems. However, at this age, most kids still don’t have brakes when it comes to making solutions, that’s why they mostly come off a bit frank. With that logic, this awesome dad tried to introduce the trolley problem to his two-year-old kid.
E.J. Masicampo, a dad and someone who teaches a moral psychology class decided to bring this infamous problem into his home.
To present this problem to his two-year-old kid, Nicholas, he first built a miniature tram track from Nicholas’ toys to help his kid visualize the problem. After he explained the problem to Nicholas, he was shocked as to what he did.
He picked up the lone person and put it beside the other five.
It’s quite adorable how he came up with that solution, and as a viewer, you were probably already expecting that he’ll run the tram to the empty side.
However, that is not the case with little Nicholas. Surprisingly, without any hesitation, Nicholas decided to ram the train to hit all five, including the person who was supposed to be on the second track!
This sudden turn of events is enough to make anyone crack up, especially when he ended with a cheeky “uh-oh” afterward.
It’s still a bit concerning, but it does give you quite a big laugh.
Masicampo shared this video on YouTube and racked up over 21 million views in 2016.
You can tell how many people were bamboozled with the results after taking a glance at the comments section. “One person even wrote, At around the 15-second mark, I thought this was going to be wholesome. I was wrong.”
Luckily, her sister presented a “normal” solution to the problem.
Three years after introducing the trolley problem to Nicholas, Masicampo also introduced the same problem to her sister, Nora who turned two in 2019.
After introducing the moral dilemma, Nora’s response was to turn the tram to the track where there was only one person. However, she stopped mid-way and realized that it’s much better to remove him first and put it alongside the other five to save all of them
Considering this is a two-year-old’s solution to this problem, this is pretty normal! Watch the video below:
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
