Imagine that you are an engineer hired to give your opinion about a new mode of transportation called “Zip.” Zip will be able to transport citizens from one place to another much more quickly than currently available modes of transportation. However, predictive analyses have shown that it is likely that, while Zip will make travel faster, saving many people time (and perhaps lives, as emergency crews can get to their destination much more quickly), it will also undoubtedly cause more deaths and injuries to people who use it than do older modes of transportation. Suppose current modes of transportation are responsible for 1/1000 deaths. Zip’s numbers will likely be double that. 1. What does utilitarian theory advise is the morally right thing to do in ANY ethical scenario? What makes something the morally wrong thing?
2. If you were a utilitarian in this scenario, what considerations would you ask if trying to determine whether it would be morally correct to build the Zip?
3. What would you have to advise? Should Zip be built or not? Explain why (your explanation should include a discussion of how this advice ties back to utilitarian theory).
4. What would you advise based on your own intuitions? Does your advice from #2 agree with your intuitions? Explain your reasoning for the advice you would give based on your own intuitions.