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Prismattic comments on [LINK] Why I'm not on the Rationalist Masterlist - Less Wrong Discussion

21 Post author: Apprentice 06 January 2014 12:16AM

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Comment author: Prismattic 08 January 2014 02:50:39AM 3 points [-]

Trolley problems..... I keep getting an impression that the point is that people don't have enough inhibitions against killing for the greater good.

I don't really like trolley problems either, but I don't think they can be waved away. When programming a self-driving car's decision algorithm for reacting when a car full of people skids in front of it while there is a single pedestrian on the sidewalk where it would have to swerve, you are essentially dealing with a real -world trolley problem.

Comment author: CronoDAS 08 January 2014 05:04:03AM 3 points [-]

Better to hit the other car rather than the pedestrian. The people in the car are protected by a lot of metal and will tend to suffer much less damage.