Philosophy
The Trolley Problem and Its Variations
Quick fact
The trolley problem was first introduced by philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967 to explore the moral distinction between killing and letting die.
Why this is interesting
Imagine a runaway trolley is barreling toward five people tied to the track. You can pull a lever to divert it onto a side track—but that track has one person tied to it. What do you do?