trolley-3
Original: trolley-3 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (narration): You're in a trolley with no brakes, hurtling toward five people.
[A bald figure stands at a trolley's controls; to the right, five people of varying sizes wait on the track.]
Panel 2 (narration): You have the option to pull a lever to steer the trolley toward just one person.
[The figure now wears a blue suit jacket, with a small orange cat's face peeking out of the coat's collar.]
Panel 3 (narration): Do you choose to kill fewer peo... hey, wait, is that...
[The figure stares blankly; the orange cat's face is more clearly visible nestled in the coat.]
Panel 4 (narration): Oh my god, the one guy has a kitty in his coat?
[Close-up: the orange cat tucked into the suit jacket, looking up.]
Panel 5 (narration): Look! Ohhhh, it's just snuggled under the coat like a baby kangaroo!
Cat: mew
[Close-up of the contented cat poking out of the coat.]
Panel 6:
[The trolley has crashed/derailed; the bald figure grins from the driver's seat amid wreckage, having plowed into the people while distracted by the cat.]
Votey:
Speech bubble (the cat): It's for the greater good!
[The cat, mouth open, screams from inside the coat; below, a man's hands clutch the edge of the toppling trolley.]
[A bald figure stands at a trolley's controls; to the right, five people of varying sizes wait on the track.]
Panel 2 (narration): You have the option to pull a lever to steer the trolley toward just one person.
[The figure now wears a blue suit jacket, with a small orange cat's face peeking out of the coat's collar.]
Panel 3 (narration): Do you choose to kill fewer peo... hey, wait, is that...
[The figure stares blankly; the orange cat's face is more clearly visible nestled in the coat.]
Panel 4 (narration): Oh my god, the one guy has a kitty in his coat?
[Close-up: the orange cat tucked into the suit jacket, looking up.]
Panel 5 (narration): Look! Ohhhh, it's just snuggled under the coat like a baby kangaroo!
Cat: mew
[Close-up of the contented cat poking out of the coat.]
Panel 6:
[The trolley has crashed/derailed; the bald figure grins from the driver's seat amid wreckage, having plowed into the people while distracted by the cat.]
Votey:
Speech bubble (the cat): It's for the greater good!
[The cat, mouth open, screams from inside the coat; below, a man's hands clutch the edge of the toppling trolley.]
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic restaging the trolley problem. Panel 1, narration: "You're in a trolley with no brakes, hurtling toward five people." A bald figure mans the trolley controls while five people of varying sizes stand on the track. Panel 2: "You have the option to pull a lever to steer the trolley toward just one person." The figure now wears a blue suit, and a small orange cat's face peeks out of its coat collar. Panel 3: "Do you choose to kill fewer peo... hey, wait, is that..." Panel 4: "Oh my god, the one guy has a kitty in his coat?" showing the orange cat tucked in the jacket. Panel 5: "Look! Ohhhh, it's just snuggled under the coat like a baby kangaroo!" The cat says "mew." Panel 6: distracted by cooing over the cat, the narrator never makes the choice and the trolley crashes; the grinning driver sits amid the wreckage. The joke: the moral dilemma collapses because everyone gets distracted by the adorable cat. Votey: a close-up of the cat screaming from inside the coat, speech bubble reading "It's for the greater good!" as a man clutches the tipping trolley.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.