23 Comments
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Kathleen Weber's avatar

Please explain the reference to trolley problems in the title. I didn't see any material about trolley problems in the rest of the post. Thank you.

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Philip's avatar

It's the very last link in the post ("Or have some fun finding out whether other people share your ethical principles.") to an online "game" where you make Tolley Problem choices.

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

Thx

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Colleen's avatar

Thanks! I was hoping it was Daniel and Trolley, from the Neighborhood!

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Philip's avatar

The puppet version of Daniel, right? RIGHT?

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Colleen's avatar

Hahaha! I have learned to embrace both! My childhood AND my youngest's childhood, nicely dovetailed.

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BeNotAfraid78's avatar

Would you guys possibly be interested in doing some projections for what the next conclave may look like?

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Penguin Mom's avatar

I didn't get as far as I suspect I could have in the trolley problem game, but I did see enough to know that I am in the minority for most of the scenarios I encountered. I don't know whether I should be encouraged or discouraged about my moral reasoning!

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Cally C's avatar

I personally want a Pillar Exclusive Camosy deep dive on the Lobsters v Cat trolley

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Bridget's avatar

Are lobsters tied to a trolley track even still alive? How long have they been there? Why not something that can live indefinitely out of water (e.g. giant scorpions: this lever is for backing up the trolley over them a second time to be sure. I once read a newspaper clipping on an experiment conducted with a rubber snake in the road: some drivers swerved to hit the snake, one driver literally did stop and back up to run over it some more.)

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Philip's avatar

I've seen the same sort of study done with fake turtles. I mean, I can see taking action to go after evil-hearted fuzzy tree rats (squirrels), but turtles?

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/its-not-safe-for-turtles-to-cross-the-road-humans-make-sure-of-that-23645/

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Bridget's avatar

Probably people who took Mario Bros too seriously.

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Karen's avatar

Wow! I now know my dad’s namesake! My dad was born about 40 mi from Brescia during WW2, his name is Daniel, he must be named for this saint! And at 82, my dad still does all the yard maintenance for the large lot of my childhood home. Patron of landscapers indeed! Those northern Italians are hardy people!!! Thank you for this!

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Rob McMonigal's avatar

Some of the results from the trolley problem link (i went 21 deep) are very disturbing, to say the least.

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Paul Zummo's avatar

I'm a little concerned about the 22% who wouldn't pull the lever in case their Amazon package arrived late, but I also suspect some people may have been playing around, as I almost did for that question.

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Stephen P. Brown's avatar

The pope is reportedly elevating heterophobic Mr. Timothy Radcliffe to the ranks of Cardinal. What’s next? Hiring Don Lemon as Vatican press secretary?

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Judy Watson's avatar

From the looks at the Baby May, Australia seems to be in trouble.

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Paula's avatar

Thx so much for the Saint story - I love this kind of thing!

On a related note - I have been wanting to put together a ‘Saint of the Week’ for our parish, and hope to cover many of the lesser-known Saints from all around the world. I can and will be doing all manner of googling for info, but if anyone knows a good resource to keep at hand for this kind of thing I would love to hear about it…

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Jo's avatar

Meg Hunter Kilmer’s books are a goldmine for this. She’s published an amazing illustrated one for children (“Saints Around the World” -also now available as board books) and “Pray for Us” for adults (both by Ave Maria press).

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Paula's avatar

Thank you!

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Paul Zummo's avatar

On the cat one - I'm only pulling the lever so I can free the lobsters . . . to cook them. They'd taste terrible all splattered.

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Thunderforge's avatar

I spent some time in South Sudan where there are still Comboni high schools and colleges; my friend attended one.

The country has been through violence in its short lifespan (including a civil war) and I saw a great example of how his mission to "Save Africa Through Africa" is still paying off. At the time I was in the country, the Archbishop was away mediating a peace dispute between two tribes that started killing. It was explained to me that he was the logical choice to mediate. They don't trust a mediator from one side or the other because they would be biased. They don't trust an NGO because they are an outsider. They don't trust the government because they are corrupt and immoral. They don't trust Evangelicals because they have no authority. And so even if they aren't Christian, they trust the Archbishop because he is impartial, a native of their land, moral, and with authority. The Catholic Church comprised of Africans is literally bringing peace to Africa, even among non-Christians.

Also, fun fact: Comboni came up with the idea of "Save Africa Through Africa" while at St. Peter's tomb in Rome. I like to think that it was because of the intercession from Peter that his subsequent mission became so successful.

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Earendel's avatar

The designer of the trolley website clearly doesn't understand double effect as evidenced on the final results page indicating an alleged "kill count." The kill count should only tally the number of human deaths (not counting animals and robots) that resulted in you pulling the lever not the deaths that results from the trolley continuing along its track.

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