This reminds me of the Trolley Problem [1]. It could be argued it is the difference between utilitarianism and value ethics. Or around a recent dinner table,

This reminds me of the Trolley Problem [1]. It could be argued it is the difference between utilitarianism and value ethics. Or around a recent dinner table, the star trek metaphor was "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the view" versus the "Prime Directive". The former would actively choose whatever crash would do the least damage by some utility function, while the latter would see that a crash would happen either way and thereby turn off any guidance technology since it could then be argued to not be responsible for an active choice in either direction. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem