Please reflect upon a scene in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight for this discussion. The scenario’s plot in the clip can be described as follows:
Two large ferries are leaving Gotham: one full of criminals, the other occupied by innocent citizens. Imagine that you are on a boat full of innocent citizens. The two ships suddenly lose all power, and it becomes clear that both are wired with deadly explosives. Detonators are discovered on each ferry and will set off the explosives on the other ship. The Joker’s voice comes over the loudspeaker of the ferries, and he announces that he is performing a “social experiment.” One ferry’s passengers must press its detonator’s button and destroy the other boat by midnight, or the Joker will explode both ships.
What should you do as a passenger on a boat full of innocent citizens? What might that say about their character if one were to push the button and blow up the prisoners? Is pressing the button the morally right thing to do in this case?
(USLOs 1.1, 1.3)