The Trolley Problem Problem

There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two (and only two) options: [[Do nothing, in which case the trolley will kill the five people on the main track.]] [[Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.]]

{ (display: "splat") (live: 0.15s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] (live: 0.3s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] (live: 0.45s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] (live: 0.6s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] (live: 0.75s)[(display: "crash")(stop:)] }You do nothing. The runaway trolley careens into the five people tied up on the tracks, killing them in an //incredibly// gruesome fashion. It hurtles on into a trolley station, which - though you hadn't noticed during your initial assessment of this terrible situation - also happens to be the end of this particular line. The trolley slams into the stopblock at the end of the tracks, throwing passengers violently through the glass windows. Seeing this, the one person on the side-track immediately suffers a heart attack and dies. (live: 5s)[THE END(stop:)]

{ (display: "splat") }You pull the lever, becoming directly responsible for the death of that one person tied up on the side track.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "four more")]

{ (animate: ?passage, "rumble") (unless: (passage:)'s name is "Start" or (passage:)'s name is "Do nothing, in which case the trolley will kill the five people on the main track.")[(display: "hue roll")] }

{ (set: $hue to (random: 360)) (set: $hueThreshold to 20) }

{ (set: _oldHue to $hue) (set: $hue to (random: 360)) (if: $hue < _oldHue + $hueThreshold and $hue > _oldHue - $hueThreshold)[(set: $hue to _oldHue)(display: "hue roll")] (else:)[ (enchant:?page,(text-colour:(hsl:$hue, 1, 0.8))+(bg:(hsl: $hue + 180, 1, 0.2)))] }

COLOUR PARTY!!!(live: 1s)[(go-to: "hue test")]

{ (display: "splat") (live: 0.15s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] (live: 0.3s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] (live: 0.45s)[(display: "splat")(stop:)] }The trolley careens on in its terrible path, flattening four more people who wandered onto the side track just after you pulled the lever.(live: 5s)[(go-to: (either: "dog", "car"))]

{ (display: "bark") }This startles a dog, who bites a passer-by.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "dog car")]

{ (display: "tyre squeal") (display: "crash") }The trolley - now an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction - slams into a car.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "petrol station")]

{ (display: "tyre squeal") }The passer-by stumbles in front of a car, which is forced to swerve.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "petrol station")]

{ (display: "explosion") }The car smashes into a petrol station, causing a violent explosion.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "fire")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "man scream") (display: "man scream 2") }People run in a panic, enveloped in flames. Oh, the humanity!(live: 5s)[(go-to: (either: "orphanage", "bunny hospital", "antiques emporium"))]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "child scream") }The fire spreads to an orphanage.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "orphanage 2")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "bunny") }The fire spreads to a bunny hospital.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "bunny hospital 2")]

{ (display: "fire sound") }The fire spreads to an antiques emporium.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "antiques emporium 2")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "child scream") }Flaming orphans run in front of //another// trolley!(live: 5s)[(go-to: "trolley uprising")]

{ (display: "boing") (live: 0.15s)[(display: "boing")(stop:)] (live: 0.3s)[(display: "boing")(stop:)] (live: 0.45s)[(display: "boing")(stop:)] }One of the injured, burning bunnies rushes off the end of a pier in an attempt to jump into the sea.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "submarine")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "oh no") }"Oh no!" cries the guy from //Bargain Hunt//. "Not the antiques!"(live: 5s)[(go-to: "mole people")]

{ (display: "fire sound") }There's no point pulling any levers this time.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "orphans everywhere")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "child scream") (live: 0.3s)[(display: "child scream")(stop:)] (live: 0.6s)[(display: "child scream")(stop:)] }Orphans on fire are rolling around on every stretch of trolley track nearby. Three or four get run over. The rest just sort of crisp up and blacken.(live: 6s)[(go-to: (either: "crispy orphans", "actual trolley uprising"))]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "transform") }The least-burned of the orphans develop a kind of hive mind and combine into a giant orphan Voltron.(live: 6s)[(go-to: "giant orphan voltron")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "impact") }"You did this!!!" bellows the giant orphan voltron, and it stomps on you.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "elaborate end")]

{ (display: "sad trombone") }All because you pulled that lever... (live: 5s)[THE END(stop:)]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "transform") }So horrified are the trolleys at their role in all of this that they develop sentience and stage an uprising!(live: 6s)[(go-to: "actual trolley uprising 2")]

{ (display: "fire sound") (display: "transform") (live: 0.5s)[(display: "impact")(stop:)] }Trolleys unfold into giant robots //Transformers//-style and begin beating people - including you - into bloody pulps!(live: 6s)[(go-to: "elaborate end")]

{ (display: "sonar") }But it accidentally dives into the open hatch of a nuclear submarine instead!!!(live: 5s)[(go-to: "submarine 2")]

{ (display: "man scream 2") (live: 0.2s)[(display: "man scream")(stop:)] }It sets light to the goofy navy trouser legs of two submariners!!!(live: 5s)[(go-to: "submarine 3")]

{ (display: "double lock") }They both fall over, inadvertently inserting and turning their keys in the machine that controls the launch of the intercontinental ballistic missiles!!!(live: 6s)[(go-to: "global thermonuclear war")]

{ (display: "siren") (live: 2.5s)[(display: "explosion")(stop:)] }Global thermonuclear war breaks out.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "elaborate end")]

{ (display: "digging") }All the commotion summons the mole people from deep within the sewers.(live: 5s)[(go-to: "mole king")]

{ (display: "mole king voice") }"Who dares disturb the repose of the mighty mole people!" demands the Mole King...(live: 4.5s)[(go-to: "mole splat")]

{ (display: "splat") }...moments before he is splatted by yet another runaway trolley, its driver distracted by the general carnage all around.(live: 6s)[(go-to: "diplomatic incident")]

{ (display: "machine gun") }The diplomatic crisis that ensues results in a global war against the mole people. Total casualties are impossible to confirm, but are definitely higher than five.(live: 6s)[(go-to: "elaborate end")]