If we take away the whole effect of the trolley problem and only talk about values, I would say that given the choice of 2 human life against the last 2 of a species of some insect, I would choose not to extinct that species.
I agree on the comparison of a higher consciousness than humans visiting earth. I would in most normal cases protect my own humans instead of a bear or alien.
But if a human where about to kill a defenceless alien without cause, I would save that alien.
Some parts are different.
One thing that put me off was that the boss wasn't an insane lunatic that did random things.
The boss is the US version was a more collected, planning and evil character.
Like the scene where he called back after firing an entire department to say "I was just keeping the IT-department in line", suggesting that he knew what they where up to all along.
The UK boss wouldn't do that.
He would keep doing things that only made sense to his insane brain, until something went down hill enough that he just jumped out of a window in the middle of a meeting.
That single unnecessary addition after the "team" scene completely diffused Reynholm's character, I don't understand why they would do that. I guess they're going for the evil boss kind of thing but it doesn't seem to fit the format at all.
I think this remake could've gone well if they changed up the script a bit and maybe alter the characters some more. Except for the views and some change of wording, this felt like a fan remake featuring Richard Ayoade more than it felt like a serious attempt to get the show to America.
Wouldn't you say that ADHD affects the person, and therefore the type of personality would change the outcome?
(In contrast to ADHD defining the person)
But it might be something that is subjectively felt, and people then attributed it to be something that depletes.
Even if the depletion is invalidated, the subjective feeling might however still be valid.
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If I should suggest another possibility on the spot, I would suggest mental fatigue.
You get tired of denying yourself things the same way you get tired of denying your kid pestering you for a treat.
It's not directly depletion, but I could subjectively describe it as a resource getting depleted.
It might be worth thinking about what it is that is being depleted, exactly. When I "run out of willpower" it doesn't really feel the same as when I "simply cannot do it anymore". If I lift a weight enough times, eventually I simply can't anymore, no matter how much I will it. It's not a decision, like a decision to stop working on a problem. That would be a lack of willpower to continue...?
Is there really a mental equivalent to physical exhaustion that leaves us beyond the ability to make a decision? Is that what running out of willpower would be?
Believe it or not, even something like physical exertion has hard-to-define limitations. The amount of reps that you can do of an exercise is more based on how forcefully your brain drives your nerves to activate your muscles and keep going. If you have a habit of sticking to sets of 10 reps, odds are you will feel exhausted at 10 reps, and this is because once you hit your magic goal, you're no longer applying the same concentrated mental energy, and you suddenly feel tired and stop there. But if you did that set like as if it were the last set of your life, or like you were at the olympics trying to break records, you'd be able to push 15 or 20 reps, rather than just the 10 that you do as your comfortable limit. You have the physical ability to keep doing something until the moment that your muscles lock up from lactic acid buildup and you just drop. But people rarely ever reach that state. They stop much sooner because pushing further requires more concentrated brain input which they don't want to dedicate. Maintaining your current routine is effortless, and we tend to favor the easy, comfortable. Pushing your limits is uncomfortable, and in a world where we have become so accustomed to prioritizing indulgence and comfort it becomes hard to break out of our safe zones.
Reading your comment made me realize that you're right, there really isn't such a hard rule even with physical exertion. Even putting some motivating music on might make you push for an extra rep or two. If a gun was to your head maybe you'd do even more. The extreme end might be phenomena like "dead man's grip" where inhuman strength is shown while on death's door.
If it wasn't for the article being posted on HN, I would never have clicked on the title, as it includes something like "Scientists are flabbergasted".
I live in the arctic, and black out curtains in the summer is a must have (as it's daylight 24/7 for a month).
And around december it's dark 24/7, so a sunrise lamp helps a lot to wake up naturally and not feel like total crap every morning.
If we take away the whole effect of the trolley problem and only talk about values, I would say that given the choice of 2 human life against the last 2 of a species of some insect, I would choose not to extinct that species.
I agree on the comparison of a higher consciousness than humans visiting earth. I would in most normal cases protect my own humans instead of a bear or alien. But if a human where about to kill a defenceless alien without cause, I would save that alien.