# A child finally settles the claim that people are basically good **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611 "2016-08-31T22:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Salvor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Salvor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salvor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/1 "2016-08-31T22:34:30Z")
Quick clip of a childs solution to the trolley problem. Not much else to say. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-N_RZJUAQY4/maxresdefault.jpg "A two-year-old's solution to the trolley problem") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N_RZJUAQY4) ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/2 "2016-08-31T23:28:40Z")
Good post. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/3 "2016-09-01T00:18:07Z")
He then went on to solve the Prisoner’s Dilemma by shanking the DA. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/4 "2016-09-01T00:46:36Z")
He went with the “I think your hypothetical is bullshit” approach to resolving it. Does he post here? . ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/5 "2016-09-01T00:48:35Z")
A trolley is rolling out of control down a track where it will kill an ethicist. You can throw a switch that will move the trolley to a track where it will kill 5 ethicists. Should you throw the switch knowing that by doing so, you save the life of an ethicist? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/6 "2016-09-01T07:19:55Z")
The kid believes in equality. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/7 "2016-09-01T08:02:58Z")
He’s a two-year-old. He likes crashing things. (And he knew he wasn’t hurting any real people.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/8 "2016-09-01T09:27:49Z")
Destruction, like knocking all the stacked blocks down, precedes construction, stacking the blocks, in child development. A well tested and well known fact. What was the ‘good point’ supposed to be? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/9 "2016-09-01T09:35:01Z")
I think a good point might be that this OP would have been better off in MPSIMS… ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/10 "2016-09-01T10:17:31Z")
I have to say, [this](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/11/27) was my first thought when I saw the video … ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/11 "2016-09-01T10:58:15Z")
We’re _this close_ to driverless cars, yet people are talking about trolleys? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/12 "2016-09-01T12:12:54Z")
Anyone want to share what happens in the video? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/13 "2016-09-01T12:24:36Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Anyone want to share what happens in the video? Dad set up a train set with a track split: five toy people lying one way, one toy person lying down the other way. He tells the kid the train is on it’s way to run over the 5 people – should he switch it to go the other way? The kid responds by picking up the one toy person and moving it over to the 5 people (so now it’s 6 people on one track), and proceeds to ram the train over all 6 people. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/14 "2016-09-01T12:25:36Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Anyone want to share what happens in the video? I didn’t watch it, but I’m guessing the child chose death over cake. ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/15 "2016-09-01T12:56:08Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Dad set up a train set with a track split: five toy people lying one way, one toy person lying down the other way. He tells the kid the train is on it’s way to run over the 5 people – should he switch it to go the other way? The kid responds by picking up the one toy person and moving it over to the 5 people (so now it’s 6 people on one track), and proceeds to ram the train over all 6 people. …Thereby leaving no witnesses. Smart. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/16 "2016-09-01T13:03:45Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > He’s a two-year-old. He likes crashing things. (And he knew he wasn’t hurting any real people.) Way to kill the buzz of the topic by using reality. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/17 "2016-09-01T13:24:13Z")
> [@Memnon](#): > > …Thereby leaving no witnesses. Smart. He knew he was being recorded though, which is why he expressed a regretful “Uh oh!” at the catastrophe. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/18 "2016-09-01T15:53:43Z")
BTW: image search on “Cut in half by train” WILL turn up lots of grisly pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/19 "2016-09-01T20:28:19Z")
BTBTW: image search on “cut in half by butterfly” doesn’t ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611/20 "2016-09-01T20:40:50Z")
BTBTBTW: observe the power of the BigButterfly lobby. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-child-finally-settles-the-claim-that-people-are-basically-good/764611.md?page=2)