[amohn9]

There's a version of the problem that tries to highlight this:

A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five workers who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Next to you is a stranger who happens to be very large. The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to push this stranger onto the tracks where his large body will stop the trolley. The stranger will die if you do this, but the five workers will be saved.

Does the act of physically pushing a person onto the tracks make it different than pulling a lever?

[tshaddox]

To me, that version just highlights how far-fetched it is to actually find yourself in this situation with all the provided knowledge about the situation and confidence that you're not mistaken about or missing any important details.

[partdavid]

It's so far-fetched that it's intended to be a thought experiment rather than a role play, which I think people miss. The <i>entire point</i> is to factor out all those innumerable details which complicate every real-life situation to see if there are underlying principles that can be illuminated. It's not about whether it's a trolley switch or a gun or a baby-grinding machine, it's about if there's an answer to how many babies you're willing to grind up and for what.

[tshaddox]

But it’s reasonable to question the usefulness of any supposed insights gained from thinking through one’s answers to the trolley problem. It’s quite conceivable that no insights can be extended at all to any scenario in the real world.