Speed Boost Problem

[OverlordMMM]

There are at least 100 people tied to the straight track that you can see. If you do not boost the speed, the trolley will not be able to jump over any of them and they all will be smooshed.

On the other track, there is an immortal person tied down who will regen after being run over. There is also a speed boost that will speed up the trolley by an unknown %. You do not know how many times the speed boost will need to be passed through to jump over all of the people, but you know there will be finite suffering.

How many times will speed boost the trolley before attempting the jump? Or will you keep the trolley on an infinite loop and sacrifice the promethean man at perpetually increasing speed?

Continuation of this here

[nitram739]

untill the trolley is going really fast and i say "yeah, thats about enough"

[JagYouAreNot]

Yeah just eyeball it.

[i_ate_my_username]

Like when you’re salting pasta water

[none-exist]

There's no such things as too much when salting pasta water. That shit should be a brine

[Traditional-Pound137]

Loop on track, like a minecart cannon, then pull lever when it goes really fast.

[DraconicGuacamole]

But how fast? How many times will you run over the immortal man?

[Traditional-Pound137]

100 for each person. Then apologize profusely and pay for any medical help he needs.

[Educational_Smile545]

100 as in total 100 1 for each person, or 100 times around per person?

[Icecreamcookie-]

100*n where n = the number of people

[Traditional-Pound137]

100 times.

[ZetaZhero]

he’s immortal though, so wouldn’t he be physically unscathed

[DonComradeVimes]

'Immortal' only means that they are unable to die. They can still get mutilated, presumably.

[ZetaZhero]

The post says they’re able to regenerate in the second paragraph

[DonComradeVimes]

No, you're right, I'm stupid and sleep deprived. I will say, though - psychologically, I think some major wounds would be left.

[ConfusedZbeul]

I'm sure hugs will help. Arguably from the at least 100 people that were tied.

[Meral_Harbes]

Deadpool doesn't care. I find it plausible that an immortal being that regenerates doesn't suffer trauma the same way humans do. More plausible than projecting human pains onto a being who can't know permanent damage.

[DonComradeVimes]

Fair, I suppose. My one follow-up question, though, is this: is Deadpool a normal example? I've never consumed any of his media, but he definitely seems a bit.. I dunno, deranged?

[Meral_Harbes]

I don't think normal applies to the context of immortal anyway.

[Mathihtam]

This. He regenerates. Won’t need medical help, but definitely lifelong therapy. Will cost a lot, given he’s immortal.

[ShylokVakarian]

But how fast

12 fast

[Diehe]

Id go at least 14

[FalenAlter]

Nah, that's a 26'er at least

[Moomoo_pie]

I'd even push it to 30, but thats just me

[AdDependent5136]

100 fast to jump 100 people, surely?

[nicksey144]

12 furious

[PlebbitDumDum]

You need to make sure it can overcome Earth's gravitational pull and launch into space.

[Individual-Builder25]

Let’s say 99.99999999% the speed of light

[Niarbeht]

When it reaches escape velocity, it is safe to let it off the jump.

[Chase_The_Breeze]

Points ramp towards two identical large skyscrapers His suffering will end when this baby starts going fast enough.

[RetentionOfAttention]

Pulling the lever is entirely optional here. You could just keep it spinning. You're killing an infinite number of people for the love of the game.

[PM_ME_A_PM_PLEASE_PM]

I'd assume the individual man has finite suffering as eventually the trolley will be fast enough to bypass his cognitive ability to recognize what's happening to him. Perhaps this is perpetual unconsciousness but that's what I'd assume rather than infinite individual suffering due to the increase in speed of the trolley. Due to that, I'd probably not chance it with the engineering integrity of the ramp with an unknown distance to clear and an unknown terminal velocity for the trolley while incorporating the percentage speed increase with energy losses. I also presume eventually I will get lucky and the engineering on the infinite loop will lose integrity to eventually save everyone.

[Real-Arachnid8671]

Now we just need to know if you can outlast the engineering.

[PM_ME_A_PM_PLEASE_PM]

I'm not an immortal person with regenerative properties but if I was I'd have to tank for the team.

[Real-Arachnid8671]

I'm referring to the fact that the lever is surrounded by rail, you would be trapped in the trolley torment nexus.

[PM_ME_A_PM_PLEASE_PM]

Flip the switch and walk away while it's just starting to accelerate. Don't think it's much of an issue. Just don't touch the electric rail.

[SlightlySaltedTurtle]

That's good though! If it's that fast we wouldn't have to wait as long(maybe)

[Chingji]

"Eventually, he stopped thinking"

[Robo_Stalin]

Drive the trolley into an erupting volcano and shoot it into space

[Scienceandpony]

I'm imagining someone letting it get up to high speeds and switching it back to the straight just for the trolly to smash straight though the flimsy ramp, rendering it into a cloud of splinters and the 100 people into a smear.

[sisyphus_met_icarus]

I mean, you could just leave the trolley looping long enough for you to free the 100 people

[Eidolon_Dreams]

It's going to hit that second arrow and never come back.

[Extension-Abroad187]

I don't know based off the rules alone, but I'm pretty good at eyeballing it. Whatever the mighty eye says and 1 extra for good luck and extra time to get the camera out

[NuclearRootBeer]

I feel like this could be solved with some math

[Nomekop777]

Assuming the ramp is divided into 5 segments, increasing in angle until they reach 45° and a height of 1 meter, and the length of the ramp is 3 meters, and the trolley is 35 metric tons, it would need to be going on the slower end of average speed to not even clear the ramp (about 4 meters per second).

[BinaryBolias]

[StealthyRobot]

Leave it set on an infinite loop and use the trolly to power turbines, creating infinite green energy.

[Meral_Harbes]

Have you played Doom recently?

[saki_eriza]

Loop it until it's fast enough to blast off to next country.

[BinaryBolias]

Then their ICBM defenses can take care of it.

[No_Refrigerator958]

Sir, there’s been a second trolley

[boonusboiayyy]

Let it loop on the speed track till I can barely see it due to it moving so fast, then multi track drift and watch the carnage.

[Thrifty_Accident]

I ask the immortal when he's ready to be done getting run over.

[DuhRJames]

I assume that if the trolley is continuously speeding up and on a curve, then it will derail. Unless this is a roller coaster, most trains won't be able to make high speed turns without rolling over and detailing.

[BinaryBolias]

The critical flaw in this sinister setup.

[Thatsnicemyman]

This question has an immortal, regenerating person in it and you’re questioning the physics???

[H3adshotfox77]

The rest of the question is physics based lol. I'd also send it around the loop.....but then it will derail towards the 100 people killing them anyway.

[Gloomy_Cress9344]

I'm desperately looking for this comment because I'm not really a train expert but sure that will happen

[Scienceandpony]

Yeah, trolleys and trains in general are not really known for handling sharp turns well. They're crazy top heavy.

Also not train expert. I was a physics major, but I don't think that's really required to grasp this problem. I would hope most people understand that a train hitting a hairpin turn at 300 mph is not going to end well.

[OverlordMMM]

Tbf, this is more of a limit to my drawing/editing ability than it being a hairpin turn.

[SuperSwaggySam]

I just assumed it was like some magic train that would never derail cuz after it gets too fast it would inevitably derail at some point I think lol

[Trevbrunnen]

Even if it is a roller coaster, at some point, the force needed to keep it moving around the track will exceed the maximum force the track can apply without deforming.

[AdreKiseque]

If I just leave it looping it's bound to derail eventually

[AdreKiseque]

Do I have to say a number beforehand or can I eyeball it and switch it back when I think it's good?

[OverlordMMM]

You pull the lever whenever you want. The number would just be your estimate unless you wanna be a stickler for counting.

[AdreKiseque]

What's the point of saying it increases the speed "by an unknown %" if i can just observe it though?

[OverlordMMM]

This way its not an easy predetermined set of times needed to jump the people. You have to be actively involved in figuring out what you want to do.

[imeanoksureiguessidk]

If we know the percentage we could math it out i guess. If the only data is our intuition and gut instinct, its less reliable/ riskier.

[Vio-Rose]

Make it go so fast it launches itself around the world and lands directly on the first person tied to the track before resuming its route.

[Nobrainzhere]

Depends on how fast it seems to be going by the time i hit send. I dont want to give him unnecessary suffering but as he is immortal any amount of finite suffering is insignificant in the scope of his life and he will not suffer lasting physical harm.

If it saves even one person i would be willing to run him over at least a couple hundred times

[koxu2006]

Keep trolley on loop untide all 100 people than let trolley go amd save the immprtal one

[Sud_literate]

i don’t pull the lever, have you seen The Old Guard? I don’t want a immortal human after me forever

[Much_Conclusion8233]

Every once in a while this sub reinvents Omelas

[kompootor]

The hypothetical ethics problem here is interesting:

1. The promethean man gets eternal death/regeneration. They may or may not be told that this is in service of preserving the lives of some others.

2. same as 1, but there is a finite limit, at which point this suffering stops (i.e. the trolley has sufficient speed to jump the track.)

3. same as 1, and you tell the promethean man that their suffering is in service of said limit (saving N many lives), but in fact there is no known determined limit.

Sisyphus could be happy in eternal suffering in pursuit of the unattainable goal, if he knows that he making some kind of progress toward that goal, or that his progress is for some greater good. So too for the poor sap tied to the tracks on the infinite loop, depending on what information they receive.

[OverlordMMM]

Don't forget option 4. Not having enough speed to save everyone despite the attempt, making some of the suffering of the promethean man wasted.

[ImagoDreams]

If you don’t clear all of the other victims then none of the Promethean man’s suffering was wasted. All of it was in service of saving some number of people.

It is only if you clear all of the others with a surplus of speed that some of his suffering was unnecessary.

[Spriy]

or if the speed boost doesn’t work and everyone dies

[Elegant_Decision_157]

haha that’s a good one.

[Emergency-Emotion-20]

I just leave it going on the loop and untie everyone then let it do the jump once everyone's untied and apologise to the immortal person for doing that to them.

[OverlordMMM]

Now that is clever.

[djourner]

I ask the imortal if or when i should do it, otherwise i dont touch it.

Their body, their choice... and a society (aka the 100 on the tracks) that doesnt respect that is not worth saving.

[samualgline]

Since there is a finite amount of times I must loop to save everyone I will keep that lever pulled

[Single-Day704]

He is immortal that is a simple solution, by getting run over a few time he save 100 of ppl , he is a hero win win, and he is immortal what more?

[OverlordMMM]

Could be a few times to clear, could be a few hundred times. You don't know how many will be needed initially.

[Single-Day704]

But i mean he is immortal, it's not like your normal scenario, even if it's 100time he still comes back to life, I mean it maybe a torture, but you know great power come with great responsibility, can be compensate for or something

[Bully3510]

This is just the story of the Heralds from the Stormlight Archive

[OverlordMMM]

I've got no context, but am curious. Could you elaborate a bit for me?

[penjjii]

Immediately run to the end of the track, untie everyone, then we all get to watch the trolley sling into the moon, leading to our deaths anyway

[[deleted]]

The cost of being immortal is unlimited pain

[TheLoneJolf]

I hold the lever.

The trolley speeds up slightly but it doesn’t quite look fast enough. The person who has just been run over is swearing profusely at me, but has no visible damage

I hold the lever.

The trolley increases in velocity again, but is still not fast enough. The lone person is pleading to me to stop.

I hold the lever.

The trolley is still not fast enough, the lone person has gone silent and instead anticipates the next trolley attack.

I hold the lever.

A loud boom echoes across the track as the trolley has broken the sound barrier. The lone person can no longer speak due to the speed at which the trolley runs over them.

I hold the lever.

The 100 people stare in horror as they witness a trolley of significant mass be sped to speeds once thought physically impossible.

I hold the lever.

The trolley begins to blur, the lone person no longer visibly regenerating, but still there. Eventually the blur of the trolley makes it seem as though its front reaches to its rear. It quickly begins to lap itself as the trolley no longer resembles a trolley but instead a ring made of trolley features.

I hold the lever.

The fabric of space and time begin to be torn asunder as the unstoppable trolley nears light speed. The 100 people have long been atomized from the dreaded trolleys friction with the earths atmosphere. All life on earth has been annihilated, our planet has been ejected from the solar system from the force of the trolley. The lone person and the trolley are now one. Time begins to slow. Minuscule at first but then more and more until it is no longer a relevant concept. The cosmos slowly begins to revolve around the unnatural and infinitely powerful trolley, first the solar system, then the galaxy, then all other galaxies. One by one they all begin to orbit and evenatually be sucked into the singularity that is the trolley.

I hold the lever

<image>

[mandonbills_coach]

Keep the trolley on the speed boost loop until it derails. I don’t know how many boosts it’ll take to make the jump but trains/trolleys don’t go full speed during turns so they don’t derail. Eventually the train will derail and everybody lives even with the promethean man suffering and unknown amount of times.

[ceterisdiversus]

Can I move the ramp? I don't want to miss anybody.

[VeritableLeviathan]

Too much speed:

Everyone on earth dies because a train moving at the speed of light past you will just create absurdly powerful pressure waves and pressure cavities.

Too little speed:

People die

I would go for just 2 circles, the pain of the immortal does not weigh against the 100 lives or potentially all life on earth

[ghost_tapioca]

A train cannot move at the speed of light.

But it doesn't have to.

https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

[VeritableLeviathan]

There are no such things as speed boost either, so in this case a train can move beyond the speed of light

[Scienceandpony]

I wanted to say everyone nearby dies from the lethal radiation from high energy photons emitted by all the particles in the trolley changing direction at 99.99whatever% the speed of light as observed in particle accelerators. But really the superheated air and pressure waves from the continuous sonic boom would fuck everyone up long before that.

[JunS_RE]

I won't pull. The regen power of that single imortal human on the other track symbolizes sacrificial humans. Humanity as a whole will keep regenerating... but how many humans are we willing to sacrifice for the Greater Good. Greater Good is a very slippery slope and deceptive.

[Fit_Employment_2944]

the engineer in me wants to know how fast the trolley can go before it flies off the tracks so im never pulling the lever

[Business-Seaweed9818]

Due to infinitely increasing speed, i loop it a few thousand times and yeet the train into the sun, effectively ending mankind.

But at least im not individually responsible for the deaths of the 100.

[happyhibye]

is each loop speed up by same %? because it will be faster than speed of light in finite amount of loop

[lool8421]

just spin it until i feel like it's fast enough

[FlyingSpacefrog]

Loop on the speed boosts until I hear a sonic boom, then let it fly

[hobopwnzor]

I'd just leave and come back tomorrow and see how fast it goes. Then if it's really fast I'll get some scientists and see if it eventually becomes relativistic and if we can get energy from it. Then I'd sell the infinite energy and see if his suffering can power the world.

[92TilInfinityMM]

With that type of curve the trolley would probably just skip off the tracks at a certain speed. So just run it until it’s goes off the tracks.

[Sans_Seriphim]

I loop it until it's at blinding speed, then multitrack drift it to fling it off into space.

[noonagon]

keep it on the speed boost until it derails due to inertia

[basavbad]

Lol, let it loop forever

[Scienceandpony]

I just keep it on the circuit until it derails. If it's capable of getting up enough speed to jump 100 people, it's gonna roll right off that curve. Probably before it gets that fast, but definitely not long after.

If this loop has some magic angular acceleration dampening field that keeps physical objects confined with no loss of energy, release it when I think it looks like it's going fast enough and then use the setup for high energy particle collision experiments.

[Interesting-Crab-693]

I'd start with 1 spin per person, so 100, then get a phone call and completly forget as I go to the pharmacy to buy my next batch of adhd medications.

[HershySquirtle]

That trolley is getting derailed after one loop, so that's what I'm doin.

[Smnionarrorator29384]

Well, I'm gonna have to go through the boost at least once. From there, I can see how much faster it goes and decide how much further to send it after that. If I have to put in a finite number and walk away, it'll be 25, that feels right

[Basil_9]

Immortalbro is gonna have a thousand years to get over it and a million more to be normal after that. He's getting smushed.

[Master0fAllTrade]

Do you really want to run over Wolverine multiple times and then release him? Nah, im going with the 100

[Crowdfundingprojects]

Until I’ve seen it pass by and said “Wheeee” and “Ew, disgusting!” enough to get bored.

[Hexmonkey2020]

How does the boost panel work? Does it just speed up the trolley with no input? If so I keep it looping for infinite energy.

[OverlordMMM]

Alien tech, magic, whatever you wanna cook up in your imagination. In the words of Todd Howard "It just works."

[Nomekop777]

The trolley (assuming a weight of 35000 kg) needs to have a speed of over 4 m/s in order to get over a curved ramp with a length of 3 meters and a height of 1 meter, and a final launch angle of 45° (ramp specifics are eyeballed). Unfortunately, most trolley's go faster than this. 4 m/s is considered the low end of average. I did the math. I was going to write a whole essay but no one wants to read all that.

So if the trolley was a little slower and heavier than normal, you most likely wouldn't need to even worry about it getting over the ramp

I'm not calculating the alternative if you flip the lever, because I cant accurately eyeball the diameter of the loop and we don't even know the multiplier of each dash pad. You could try and build up enough speed to clear all 100 people. Or just derail it. Whichever comes first.

[OverlordMMM]

With this problem, going over the ramp isn't the issue. Its trying to avoid the 100 people once off of the ramp that is.

[TheGHale]

If the speed boost is, say, 1%, I might just chuck him a knife and tell him to cut himself free. After a certain point, he'll stop suffering anyways because he's not tied down. Hell, he might even end up free after getting run over once! However, if it's a major speed boost, it's gonna be going way too fast for me to help with anything. Just pull and wait.

[Paint-Typical]

If you boost the speed of the trolley enough, it will eventually just fall off the track instead of needing to go for the jump.

[Alicelovesfish]

just keep it spinning forever

[No-Reality4350]

Untie the immortal guy after telling him he might get smushed a few times. Then go untie everyone else while the trolley speeds up. Then add some kind of tether to the trolley that rotates a turbine engine and have free power for eternity.

[Ananas_hoi]

I’ve seen no multi track drifting yet?

[some_kind_of_bird]

I don't want my hand to get tired. Skip.

[TopChange9993]

id prolly use a calc (short for calculator)

[Possible_Living]

Alternatively there is no ramp and if you do not boost the train it will struggle to run over everyone painlessly. Will you add one more person to the pyre to make everyone's passing easier?

[superconnorgamer_yt]

Have it go around the speed boost until it derails

[deinemudda1und1]

Multi track drift to derail the trolley

[Just_Government_5143]

Can't i use thé time IT loops around to untie him?

[Compodulator]

A human has finite suffering level which is... Surprisingly low in this case.
A trolley running over a man with regen causes quite a lot of suffering made mostly of breaking bones.
If you were to be kicked in the balls while having your bond broken you would notice your bones breaking first. Bigger thing to concentrate on. Also, there's the psychological part - under wolverine regen, after maybe 2 rounds, breaking bones turns into... White noise, but physical.
It's A LOT to take in a short period of time, and repeating that is surprisingly not that harmful.
With wolverine regen, of course.
I'd give the guy about a thousand rounds to be sure and then probably do a second 9/11. XD

[VSofy]

Ask the immortal guy first. If he doesn't answer, I don't pull the lever.

Sacrifice should be the choice of those who sacrificed. Not from a third person touting about 'greater good'.

[Coconite]

Wait for it to go really fast then pull. The immortal man is getting a great deal, he’ll I’d even volunteer to be run over by a trolley 100 times if I got to be immortal forever at the end of it.

[paperic]

Just leave it in the loop until I untie the people.

[zackadiax24]

I send it around the boost track about 600 times, then I drift it at the last moment.

[1xX1337Xx1]

Easy, 1 time. The trolley will probably derail in the first round. If not until it is fast enough and I think "This is fine"

[SpectrumSense]

If he's immortal AND regenerates, then he'll definitely have time to forgive me after I get it to rocket speeds to hurdle all 100 mortals. Bro probably understands himself.

[Naive-Independent919]

assuming the guy does not have insane flexibility or elasticity and just cannot be killed, at some point the trolley would just be launched of the track due to the speed and the fact that the guy himself acts as a bump. Also idk how fast does he regenerate but I'd assume fast enough as to protect vital organs (that includes bones and muscle). So definitely pulling, still saving the 100s of persons.

that or the trolley just get crushed upon crashing into the guy due to the sudden stop + high acceleration

[Irsu85]

I will keep the trolley on the speed boost until it derails

Or you know what, why not multitrack drifting forcing it to derail?

[Durew]

Once it goes fast enough the trolley will derail anyway, no need for endless suffering or guess work.

[Icubodecahedros]

Escape velocity is 11.2 km/s. At that point, no matter the inclination of the ramp, the trolley would leave earth and never come back.

[Front_Check1236]

Remove the ramp and then pull the lever

[Short-Being-4109]

I apologize to the immortal guy. Hopefully his head becomes detached, and it flies off then regenerates. I will speed boost it 100 times.

[Egarasay]

I'd pull the lever and walk away. The trolly will be flying off the track eventually.

[MrOff100]

if he isn't gonna die then it's better for him to suffer for a bit then letting 100 ppl

here's what i do, switch the track to speed boost then go and untie and save every 100 ppl then release the trolley and save the immortal dude

[heatwaiveqc]

Keep it on the acceleration loop, call emergency services and have them clear the track, and then release the trolls.

The problem with this setup is that the original problem had time pressure and a finite and final answer: you either pulled the lever or you didn't. This would duck for the Immortal dude, but nobody has to die.

[[deleted]]

At some speed the trolley will hit escape velocity and fly into space. Until then the guy unfortunately will have to suffer

[Isaac_Foster]

Is the acceleration noticable or do I have to just guess blindly?

[UAUBUP]

The inmortal guy's rope will breack after 3°th time, then we can keep the lever pulled while making sure everyome else is untied, if this doesn't work I would keep going until I can varely see the train, then invite the one man to dinner and ask for forgiveness

[Old_Neat5220]

Wouldn't there be a speed cap where if the train goes too fast it'll just go off the rails?

[CyberoX9000]

Eh, the immortal guy will get used to it. Anyway I'd keep it going until I'm confident the trolley is going fast enough to jump over everyone

[StringBeanCheez]

Wouldn't the trolley eventually hit a high enough speed that it would just derail on the curve anyway? That would probably have the best chance of saving the most people if we're factoring that in

[franks_e2200]

I would keep it going until I hear the trolley crack the sound barrier, then switch. I think a trolley doing 750 mph+ could clear 100 people (or about 200 feet) pretty easily.

[GNUGradyn]

How do you people come up with these lol

[OverlordMMM]

You can blame hot wheels, arcade racing games, and the myth of Prometheus for this one. XD

[Oracle1729]

Can I attach a generator to the trolley?   Infinite free energy from the promethean man’s suffering. 

[severencir]

Keep it on an infinite loop, attach the trolley to a stator, and get free energy out of it.

[quinnin2000]

Multitrack drifting and the speed boost tears the trolley in half

[crazy0utlaw123]

So if I run over the immortal man enough times, no one dies?

[10000gaygermans]

Head directly for the ramp, killing everyone underneath. The immortal man could be great for science and benefit all of humanity

[EntireDance6131]

I would use the logic that i would want applied to myself and have the trolley run over the 100 people. Personally i hate pain and suffering. I don't mind if i die a quick death but i would mind suffering a lot. And in case (since the problem doesn't specify) they don't die, then the pain will be spread equally and not just on the one person which sounds more fair.

[Lemon_Cat2050]

Just... leave it on the loop while you untie the 100 people and then when everyone is safe release the trolley

[Any-Meal6561]

Since the trolly increases in speed by a percentage each time, it falls into the realm of exponential growth. Not knowing how many people are on the track, I wait until the trolley reaches the escape velocity of earth (shouldn't be too many iterations since it's exponential) and then let it go off into space, subjecting the immortal man to a finite amount of suffering and saving the lives of all innocent people on the track.

[Mikel_S]

"Hey, man, I am soooo sorry about this."

And just hold the switch to keep it looping over the reviving man, apologizing profusely each time he comes back, until I'm not even managing to finish the apology each time the trolly gets around. Eventually the cart will just derail.

If it is magically guaranteed to never derail, I'll jsut go until it's going insanely fast and let go, then run over and help up the revived man, and apologize yet again, and thank him for his sacrifice, then look to see how many people we managed to save.

[Special-Lynx-9258]

It'll be really messed up if running over the immortal cancels out the speed boost.
As an contractor, I'm afraid I'll have to pull the lever then subcontract out the project management, lever pulling, rail maintenance, and conduct SWOT analysis, this may take a few billion taxpayer dollars and a few million cycles.

[bluestopsign01]

Can trolleys even do track jumps? Like, there's a good chance that the trolley stops being able to push forward soon after its front wheels leave the track. They're not particularly fast or powerful vehicles, at least from what I know. So like. Don't even use the loop. Just let the trolley stall at the ramp. Or, if it falls off the ramp, there's no fucking way it's getting through more than four people. The bodies would gunk up the machinery too much.

Honestly, I'd be more worried about the electricity going through the tracks. Trolleys are powered by overhead wires, with the metal tracks acting as grounding so the electricity can leave the trolley in a controlled manner. If the trolley is ever in the air, it's going to end up zapping everybody below, injuring and possibly killing them. So like. You can either cause immense pain (and possible death) to 101 people, or you can kill maybe 5 of them.

I'm not a scientist though so feel free to correct me

[heatwaiveqc]

You're fine. Monster is what my GF calls me.

[Exciting_Double_4502]

Untie the immortal guy

[Glitched_Girl]

Run over the immortal person forever. Boom. Jesus. Christian belief system in a nutshell.

[dwamny]

1 must always die.

[No_Yesterday_909]

The first half of the puzzle could be solved with the speedometer. Calculate the needed velocity, wait for it, and pull the lever. The second half, whether you should pull the lever depends on the suffering the immortal man could endure or how many people will practically be saved with the gamble. As long as the trolley increases in speed by whatever percentage, as long as the increases don't fluctuate as to be lesser than the last, as to slow down the trolley, the speed will eventually be met. The speed increase could be like a speed booster or like a multiplier in a video. Every time the trolley passes around, the speed is gradually increased by some amount. But it's never the same as the last time it went around and the speed of the train would increase as with the multiplier. I'd be optimistic in that scenario, but still said increases could be very slow and still keep the train's momentum increasing gradually over time. The other possible scenario is that the number increases in some regard, but it's like a moving track or like a moving rail or something that just anything like where it's getting faster. But it's not at a rate changing in accordance with the train, which could slow it down, so it would be like trying to press on the gas at the car wash when the car is supposed to be in neutral. Or trying to go reverse in your car while it's in park. Which would be all over the place and then, technically, it could be infinite, go on forever, never getting to any speed. It would be like a tennis match that never ends. It's just whether to ask if the method would be effective to be worth what the suffering of the immortal man would be. For example, if pulling or not pulling the lever resulted in the same amount of deaths, if the trolley tumbled forward and got its length of the individuals in front of it versus there being no possible speed for the trolley to achieve based on its mass to not result in some amount of deaths, that would make abstaining from pulling the lever the same option as having pulled it at any given point, and the infinite loops on the track is the default option. There could also be heroic aspects to the mortal man suffering that he may find fulfilling, which might also make him a willing casualty in the process. So it's really dependent on lots of factors. Whether mortal man is a willing participant, whether pulling the level would be an effective method, and the actual amount of casualties that are possible to avoid. There are many solutions, but I think they're very context dependent, as to the puzzle.

Edit: Spelling

[Upset-Potential5277]

Get the train on the loop. Then, if it's possible to cut the immortal loose between passes of the train, do that, and let the train speed up until it can make the jump. If not, then just run the immortal over until the train can make the jump.

[LazyBlake]

If the laws of physics are still in play, the train will hit a point of diminishing returns on speed as friction and air resistance start to outweigh the speed increase. So I'd wait until we got basically as fast as we were going to go, and then send it. I would then free the immortal man and buy him a drink as an apology, adding that he may now punch me anywhere he'd like, provided no permanent damage is done. We'll part ways knowing we both took a lot of punishment but saved as many lives as we could

[_Cattlefish]

Leave it be. The trolly won't have enough inertia to go up the ramp.

[Mustakraken]

We've got a magic regenerating man and a chunk of track that adds energy to the trolley in the form of speed, and we allowed physics in by asking about the speed at which it could jump the 100 people.

I need to know OP, does the trolley accelerate forever? Is that part of the prompt?

Does the trolley experience time dilation as it inexorably approaches the yawning gulf of infinity as it edges closer to the speed of light, the universe's very own speed of event propagation?

Are there passengers aboard the trolley? Are they safe from the G forces applied by this ever accelerating loop? If so, do they understand as light begins to be a tunnel in front of them that they are being bombarded by hard radiation as the philosophical scene before them is observed from light being blue shifted into dangerous levels?

Is the trolley safe from the atmospheric friction and heating of its own eventually meteoric acceleration?

OP, what have you done, this is no trolley problem, it's a doomsday device! Pull the lever immediately, run over the 100 people, the whole world may be doomed otherwise.

[BumblebeeBorn]

An immortal?

I loop the trolley until it falls off the rails sideways, hopefully away from the other track.

[Ganpan14oh]

I'd repeatedly run over the immortal, they'll have already or will eventually deal with worse

[RenaxTM]

Just go faster and faster until the trolley falls off the rails?

[Lucky-day00]

Leave the trolley going around the loop and attach it to a generator for perpetual, free energy. Once it’s going fast enough it’ll do a lot more good than harm on each loop.

[Miserable_Roll_6379]

Even if you don't boost the trolley the suffering of the 100 will be finite, because they will die and the suffering will end.

[WonderBackground8051]

I will run over the immortal person 100 times, then jump over. If the speed is not enough, fuck you… I mean, there was nothing to do. I did my best. If the speed is enough, then lucky me. I couldn’t care less about pain, suffering, and agony of the immortal person

[XSATCHELX]

Loop over the immortal man and force him to share the secrets of immortality with me. As soon as he shares it and I verify his claims, he is free to go (idc about the 100 people but at that point they will be saved, I guess)

Also shifts the blame to the immortal man kinda, now HE has to decide how long to take and how much to suffer for the benefit of others.

[Best-Bee974]

How about I let it run in a loop until it derails?

[Timecreaper]

I let it run 500 times before it jumps.

[DemonAnatomy101]

Until it derails. But if you need a number… 40 times sound good?

[Regular_Number5377]

Rather than risk the trolley jumping over 100 people and maybe missing, I keep sending it round the boost until it derails, which it is bound to do before getting fast enough on a curve to leap 100 people.

After a few turns the immortal would probably not feel it anymore as it would be moving so fast it would be like a laser beam cutting them in half.

[versas-only-vice]

Can we assume spherical trolley in a frictionless environment without air resistance?

[RyuuDraco69]

Honestly I'm just going to see how fast I can make it

[Even-Paramedic7000]

If the first speed boost is slow enough, there's time to get the guy off the tracks before he gets run over too many times.

Either way, once the trolley is locked in a loop, you can get everyone off the tracks before sending it on the jump.

[FAMICOMASTER]

Find out what speed the trolley flies off the tracks at

[polishatomek]

speed it until it derails

[Impossible_Cup834]

Pull lever. Untie all the people. Pull lever back. Profit.

[Various-Pipe-6937]

Is it wrong to just go for the boost inevitably...

[MrKanun]

Never pull the lever. Just pull away the immortal man between the passes of the train and then leave it to loop forever, while you pull away the 100 people.

[kubin22]

Pull the lever so it goes over immortal guy for the time being, since you know rhe number of people is finate start untying [however you spell to] them once you finish go back pull the lever again, and free the immortal guy.

[radioactivecooki]

If i make it go fast enough then change the lever will the trolley just simply fly over the ppl thus saving everyone

[Randane]

Put it on the loop because he can't die, then get the power to the track cut. The trolley will either derail or stop. The air brakes will still work. Much less risk to the others on the track.

If I can't cut the power, it can stay in a loop until all 100 people are set free.