Trolley Truths

A Passenger's View of The Trolley Problem

Tyler Gooch | McSweeney's | 18th May 2022

Should you let the trolley race ahead and kill five people? Or should you switch the points and have the trolley hit somebody else? The philosophers cannot agree, and the passengers on the trolley are getting perplexed. "It’s not just that we ran over the guy; but on the return trip, and every subsequent trip on that trolley, there is always a slightly different combination of people tied to the tracks" (680 words)

Half-Truths Are Lies Too

Max Nelson | Baffler | 16th May 2022

The diaries of Brigitte Reimann reveal the experience of working and loving in the GDR; they also document her gradual disillusionment with the cause of state socialism. Above all, they are worth exploring as a meditation on objectivity. Reimann fretted that her journals had no "documentary value" because fact co-existed with her "endless love stories". Her doubts kept her honest (3,161 words)

If half-truths are lies, we confess,
That this small half-The-Browser (Nay! Less!)
Must be suspect at best
So sign up for the rest
For the Truth - or at least, our best guess.