It's a trap

[Pic: Trolley problem]

Several anomalies indicate this scenario is a trap:

• No terrorist is guarding the hostages; they might escape or be rescued.
• No trolley passengers are mentioned, even a driver. It seems empty.
• The operator is making this decision unaided except by sparse info, suggesting a diversion has occupied emergency response forces.

Conclusion: A terrorist organization that values its personnel has aimed a sabotaged empty trolley at a clump of hostages bound to the tracks. The terrorists obviously intend the operator to switch tracks to the less-lethal option. The question is why?

One infers that the trolley traveling down the secondary track will serve the terrorist objective better. The absence of terrorist personnel suggests a WMD is aboard the trolley.

The only kind of WMD that needs a trolley delivery system is a nuke. Cities have radiation scanners and halt suspicious vehicles, but a trolley can plow through.

Derailing the narrative

The operator should immediately inform the relevant authorities of his nuke theory.

The trolley must be stopped ASAP so bomb disposal can board, and to prevent it from penetrating further into the city. Ideally, it should be driven out of the city.

The switch appears to be mechanical, which might allow a halfway position that derails the trolley. If there is no halfway position, careful timing might cause derailment, for example by flipping the switch once the front wheels are passed, to put the back wheels on a different track.

However, derailment is not the optimal solution. Ideally, the trolley nuke exits the city.

This is not the last chance to stop the trolley. Others may be able to derail it using vehicles or obstacles. Alternatively, they can deactivate the power lines that propel it.

Counter-attack

Therefore, the operator should not touch the switch. Instead he should grab some tools and sprint to board the trolley. The switch must be close to the track, so he can catch up.

Trolleys are relatively easy to board even while moving. The trolley's speed must be slow enough to navigate turns without derailing. It is unlikely there is a driver, since he would be vulnerable to gunfire through the windows. The trolley is probably set to a fixed speed suitable for plowing through intersections.

Once the operator boards the trolley, he can attempt to disassemble the autopilot and regain manual control. Then he can reverse out of the city, ideally into a tunnel. He can coordinate via cell phone until relieved, jammed or vaporized.

A successful counter-attack achieves tactical surprise by exceeding enemy expectations. The terrorists do not expect the switch operator to display this level of intuition, initiative and execution. They rely on their diversion to confuse and delay elite units until it is too late.

Even if there is a gunman hiding in the trolley, the outbreak of gunfire from the trolley will elevate its priority to armed response teams, cutting through the diversionary noise.

Art of WW3

It is generally useless to charge machine-gun nests in modern warfare. Nevertheless, lone mass shooters are regularly stopped by surprise tackles.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

– Sun Tzu

The mind is the main weapon of war. Socrates taught that soldiers must be philosophers, and philosophers soldiers. Otherwise…

Terrorist win | YouTube

The USA is like a trolley careening towards WW3 with Russia and China. Voters have a switch that votes for either Red or Blue. It is questionable whether the switch does anything.

You can walk into an ambush, as the protesters did on J6. Or you can counterattack from an unexpected direction. We speak freely here on scored.co, and the Feds can't touch us.

America was founded by fed-up Whites who fled European tyranny. Eventually, those refugees sent the British bullets instead of taxes.

Vote with your feet, and take your prosperity with you. Change your job, county, and country until you receive respect.

Only stupid fighters always walk forward predictably. It's not retreating if you're strategically repositioning to launch a counterattack.