t3hjs t1_j6lha1f wrote on January 31, 2023 at 4:01 AM

Reply to comment by wiltyspinach in [WP] Out of all the superpowers out there, you consider yours the most sadistic; you can save any number of innocent people from death in the face of danger, but to gain that ability, you must kill an innocent person. Named after the infamous moral thought experiment, you are... Trolley Man. by MarauderOnReddit

The writing is captivating and quite creepy. But trying to understand the theme, is it that the "hero" with such a power eventually goes psycho?

Or that there is no way to use/obtain such power without being psycho in the first place?

Having said that, are you taking the stance that killing 1 person to save many is not morally correct? Cause it seems to be put in a negative light

wiltyspinach t1_j6li9xy wrote on January 31, 2023 at 4:10 AM

I won’t lie I misread the prompt and thought it was a one for one, so I added the tweak that if you kill this # of people, you can save that # of people at another time. So, he decided to bank them, but in banking them he found himself.

My take on it is that he went psycho after using it. It’s why he questions if anyone is truly innocent, if his powers only work in certain situations. Because what if he saved someone who later turned out to be bad? It’s a lot of guilt and power for one person and it broke him. Flipped the psychopath switch, and he now sees life as a sort of joke or game.

Edit: thanks for the compliment though!

t3hjs t1_j6ll5mh wrote on January 31, 2023 at 4:35 AM

Ah, very interesting take coupled with intriguing writing

mismanaged t1_j6m2c8g wrote on January 31, 2023 at 7:47 AM

Considering this power is the adapted trolley problem, it is easy to frame it as morally wrong.

I really liked this morally black take on it.