You’ve seen the memes, but where does the «trolley problem» come from? The trolley problem is a famous thought experiment in virtue ethics first conceptualized by philosophers Philippa Foot and Judith Jarvis Thomson between 1967 and 1976. There are many variations of the trolley problem, though most share a common dilemma: do you kill one person to save a larger number? Do you kill or let die? 

The simplest form of the trolley problem goes something like this, according to Merriam-Webster: 

«You are riding in a trolley without functioning brakes, headed toward a switch in the tracks. On the current track stand five people who stand to be killed if the trolley continues on its path. You have access to a switch that would make the trolley change to the other track, but another individual stands there. That person is certain to be killed if the switch is activated. So do you switch tracks or not?»

Today, the trolley problem is often dismissed by philosophers and psychologists as an over-abstraction and simplification of real world issues. The internet, however, has fully embraced the trolley problem as an exploitable meme. Illustrations of the dilemma have been used over and over again to depict absurd scenarios with ridiculous moral dilemmas: do you pull the lever to kill 10 Harambes or let the trolley kill 200k babies? 

We’ve rounded up all the best trolley problem memes ranging from genuinely thought-provoking to straight-up shitpost.