Poll

Question 1: The Trolley

Pull the lever, kill 1 save 5.
9 (75%)
Don't pull the lever, it's not your fault or problem.
3 (25%)

Total Members Voted: 12

Voting closed: March 09, 2025, 12:27:24 PM

Author Topic: Blockland Ethics Questions: Vampire Age Gap (Vote on Strawpoll)  (Read 3367 times)

BLOCKHEAD ETHICS!!
Every week I will post a new ethics question for our beloved blockheads to debate. The results will be saved for posterity.

Trolley question: 9 people voted to pull the lever, 3 people abstained.

Sibling Incest question: 6 people voted that a night of passionate experimentation between adult siblings with protection was okay. 4 people voted that it was unethical regardless of protection.


This third question is about age gaps.

An "age gap" refers to the difference in age between romantic partners. A common criticism of large age gaps is that the older partner has more worldly experience than the younger partner, and this could cause the relationship to be inherently manipulative or trend towards abuse.

What age should the younger partner be for the age gap between them and the older partner not to matter? Assume a floor of 20 years old.
If there is no age that the age gap stops being unethical, then what should the maximum age gap be? Does the ethical age gap range grow wider the older the younger partner gets? For example, if the younger partner is 20, should their older partner be no more than five years older? If they're 40, should their older partner be no more than 15 years older? Explain your reasoning for either.

Taking this question to its extreme, assume the older partner is a 500 year old vampire. They have never met, nor heard of other vampires and assume themselves to be the only immortal person on the planet. Worrying only about the age gap and lived experience, is it ethical for them to engage in romance with a normal person? If yes, what's the youngest age of mortal they should be allowed to date? 20? 50? 100? Or is it not ethical at all, does the age gap of hundreds of years of lived experience become so problematic that the vampire cannot ethically find love in a human at all?
https://strawpoll.com/xVg71N9DRyr
« Last Edit: March 13, 2025, 11:56:27 AM by Rigel »

tackle the trolley from the side like a champ. the people inside of it may get injuries from the fall (if there are any), but it's a better fate than getting rolled by it
« Last Edit: March 02, 2025, 01:04:53 PM by Metalliku »

By basic utilitarian brown townysis, the correct option is to pull the lever

pull the lever as the trolley is halfway over the split, causing it to derail

pull the lever as the trolley is halfway over the split, causing it to derail
now all the passengers are dead, you villain

pull the lever as the trolley is halfway over the split, causing it to derail

pulling the lever is a slippery slope down the path of "the greater good", and i've seen hot fuzz at least 5 times to know that's a bad idea.
i do not pull it, fate shall carry out its will unimpeded.

BLOCKHEAD ETHICS!!
Every week I will post a new ethics question for our beloved blockheads to debate. The results will be saved for posterity.

The first question is one that everyone knows. The Trolley Problem!


A runaway trolley is headed towards a fork in the tracks. On the south track, there are five people tied to the track. The trolley will hit and kill all of them unless diverted to the north track, where one person is tied to the track. You are the only person close enough to the switch to divert the trolley in time. If you do nothing, five people will die. But you did not tie them to the tracks, so have you really killed them? If you do divert the trolley, you will kill one person who was otherwise safe. You are responsible for his death. But in sacrificing one, you save five.

What do you do, blockheads?
you're just asking if they would save 1 guy or 5 guys and the logical answer is to save the 5 .....however if u alter the scenario just a bit, you will find the voted outcome may vary. see below pic for details:


pull lever, save 5, doom 1. choosing not to act is a choice in and of itself, and in that moment if i don't spare those 5 people when i have the option available to me, i would be a bad person.

i jump in front of the trolley and make it 6

you're just asking if they would save 1 guy or 5 guys and the logical answer is to save the 5 .....however if u alter the scenario just a bit, you will find the voted outcome may vary. see below pic for details:
Listen we don't wanna tip the scales too far here.

ingame vehicle physics make it unlikely the trolley will reach the victims before derailing

pulling the lever is a slippery slope down the path of "the greater good", and i've seen hot fuzz at least 5 times to know that's a bad idea.
i do not pull it, fate shall carry out its will unimpeded.

This answer pisses me off immensely. Every time someone brings up the slippery slope, the implication is that it will eventually lead to worse outcomes, thus defeating the whole point as it turns out there is a greater good to choose.

This answer pisses me off immensely. Every time someone brings up the slippery slope, the implication is that it will eventually lead to worse outcomes, thus defeating the whole point as it turns out there is a greater good to choose.
that's how it always starts, first it's starting the homeowners association for the neighborhood to get deal with that richardhead mike who REFUSES to get rid of the garbage on his lawn, next thing you know you're sacrificing that richardhead mike so you don't lose the village of the year award because now he INSISTS on keeping 20 lawn flamingos on his small plot of land we've reduced him to.

he doesn't share our vision, his sacrifice is for the greater good of wink dink ville.

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If at any point those rules lead to worse outcomes, then they're in fact NOT "for the greater good", so working by the greater good principle, none of that would happen.