Why would you need all 5? It’s enough when one of them is in that position. That’s five times as likely when it’s 5 people versus only one. Maybe next time you’re on the other side and make the person pull the lever even harder when they know you but not the single person. You might say, why would they return the favor when they know you didn’t, but you just killed the one person who knew.
But that’s the problem about consequentialism. It’s easy to say, just choose the best option, when in reality you never know all the variables.
Why would you need all 5? It’s enough when one of them is in that position. That’s five times as likely when it’s 5 people versus only one. Maybe next time you’re on the other side and make the person pull the lever even harder when they know you but not the single person. You might say, why would they return the favor when they know you didn’t, but you just killed the one person who knew.
But that’s the problem about consequentialism. It’s easy to say, just choose the best option, when in reality you never know all the variables.