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Would you sacrifice one person to save five? - Eleanor Nelsen

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TEDEd Animation

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Imagine you’re watching a runaway trolley barreling down the tracks, straight towards five workers. You happen to be standing next to a switch that will divert the trolley onto a second track. Here’s the problem: that track has a worker on it, too — but just one. What do you do? Do you sacrifice one person to save five? Eleanor Nelsen details the ethical dilemma that is the trolley problem.


The classic and bridge versions of the problem both activate regions of the brain associated with:

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Eleanor Nelsen
  • Director Eoin Duffy
  • Animator Tyler Morgan, Super Dasil, Mahesh, Hovsepyan Karen, Cooper Custom
  • Sound Designer David Kamp
  • Associate Producer Jessica Ruby
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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