Assume that you’re the only person who can pull the lever in time, and it wouldn’t be difficult or costly for you to do so. If your answer still depends on whether or not you work for the trolley company, you are different from most (WEIRD) people, and should explain both cases explicitly.
If I don’t work for the trolley company then I shouldn’t touch the equipment because uninvited non-specialists messing with heavy machinery is dangerous (some special circumstances excepted) and disruptive. It makes the world less safe. Since I’m not pulling the lever, I have my hands free to film the trolley crash. This is my most likely path to systemic change. It causes the least harm and protects the most people.
If I do work for the trolley company then I should pull the lever because my obligation to protect the many passengers in the trolley doing exactly what they’re supposed to outweighs my obligation to protect a single idiot playing on the tracks. (He’s probably not a worker who’s supposed to be there because if he was I would know who he is and you specified that I don’t.)
If I don’t work for the trolley company then I shouldn’t touch the equipment because uninvited non-specialists messing with heavy machinery is dangerous (some special circumstances excepted) and disruptive. It makes the world less safe. Since I’m not pulling the lever, I have my hands free to film the trolley crash. This is my most likely path to systemic change. It causes the least harm and protects the most people.
If I do work for the trolley company then I should pull the lever because my obligation to protect the many passengers in the trolley doing exactly what they’re supposed to outweighs my obligation to protect a single idiot playing on the tracks. (He’s probably not a worker who’s supposed to be there because if he was I would know who he is and you specified that I don’t.)
In most formulations, the five people are on the track ahead, not in the trolley.
I took a look at the course you mentioned:
It looks like I got some of the answers wrong.
In the trolley. You, personally, are not in immediate danger.
A trolley driver.
You are. No one in the trolley is in danger.
Five workers ahead, one to the right.
Yes.
The problem was not as poorly specified as you implied it to be.