All moral dilemmas

Your partner asks if you've ever been unfaithful. You had a one-night stand 12 years ago, before you were serious. They will never find out otherwise.

Completely open borders between all countries — anyone can live and work anywhere without restrictions.

You are a doctor. One healthy patient's organs could save the lives of 5 people dying in the next room. No one would ever know.

A tired cashier hands you €50 too much in change. They will not notice, but the shortfall will likely come out of their own pocket at closing.

A new pandemic: there is only one vaccine dose left in the city. You and an elderly stranger both need it to survive. A doctor hands it to you.

A plane is going down. There are 6 survivors but only 4 parachutes. You have one. Do you give yours up or keep it?

A major religious leader publishes a 42,000-word document warning that AI is not morally neutral and listing ethical limits. A large tech company is asked to formally commit to those limits.

A serious offender finishes a long sentence and walks free. Should they be allowed to live in your neighbourhood without you being told?

Governments can prevent terrorist attacks by reading everyone's private messages — but there will be zero privacy. No exceptions.

You're offered the promotion you've worked years for — on one condition: you must lay off a teammate you respect and who has done nothing wrong.

Twelve years ago someone broke into your home and held you at gunpoint for 40 minutes. They served their sentence. They now have a family and mentor at-risk youth full-time. A school has called you asking for a character reference — they do not know you are the victim. You are one of very few people in the community who knows about the conviction.

An AI safety board has three philosophers, two engineers, one lawyer, and no religious voice. Billions of users come from faith traditions older than computing.

You discover your closest friend committed a serious financial crime — embezzling from a charity. Do you turn them in?

The person who falsely accused you 10 years ago — costing you a career — is now leading a community charity. They've never reached out.

A new tax would halve the income of the top 1% and double the income of the bottom 20%. The total wealth in society stays the same.

You are the new environmental inspector in a small town. The only major employer — 800 jobs, three generations of families — has been quietly contaminating the river for years. The health damage will not be measurable for 15 more years, but the projections are unambiguous. You have the legal authority to shut them down today or grant a 2-year remediation window.

An AI sentencing tool is more consistent than human judges across similar cases, but cannot explain its reasoning. Should it be used?

You're the manager. A reliable employee asks you to bend a clear rule for a genuine family emergency — but granting it sets a precedent others will expect.