What would you do? You are on a boat with several friends. A storm hits and one friend falls overboard. You can’t see them and know if you stay in the storm for much longer, you might not survive. If you leave your friend, they almost definitely won’t make it. Do you wait and search for your friend or get out of the storm?

What would you do? Your local community has a fund made from local taxes and gifted money. It is deciding whether to use the money to pay for expensive treatment for a child you know from school who has terminal cancer, or to give the money to a village in Uganda where it will provide water for dozens of people. Where would you send the money?

What would you do? There is a runaway train carriage speeding down a train track. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The carriage is headed straight for them. You are standing next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the carriage will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track: the president of the USA. Do you let the carriage kill the five people, or pull the lever and let them live but kill the president?

Why is this difficult?