Continuing the series on real-life versions of the trolley problem. Today I posit the trolley problem around government hostage negotiations.
A terrorist group has taken a group of five American tourists as hostages in a foreign country. They will kill them unless the US provides a cache of military weapons as ransom. These weapons will be used against a village of 60 local residents. You are the US president, and you must make a decision. You have two options:
- Do nothing, and the hostages will die. The local residents will live.
- Trade the weapons for the hostages, and they will live. The local residents will now die at the hands of the terrorist group.
What is the right thing to do?
Let’s add nuance.
What if one of the hostages was your brother?
What if the hostages weren’t tourists but government representatives?
What if the local residents were religious fundamentalists?
What if the local residents were democratic and American-friendly?
What if one of the local residents was famous in that country?
What if one of the hostages was famous in America?
What if the village population included 30 children?
What if the village population included American missionaries?
What if you had a friendly relationship with the terrorist group leader?
What if you could trade the weapons, and nobody would find out?
What if the hostage group contained members of the competing political party?
What if you had to personally deliver the cache of weapons?
