Welcome to “Free-Rider Friday.” Most of our shows are “topic” driven, where we dive deep into one subject. Free-Rider Fridays are designed to be “event” driven—whatever issues are in the news that we (or you) find worthy of commentary.
In economics, free riding means reaping the benefits from the actions of others and consequently refusing to bear the full costs of those actions. This means Ed and Ron will free ride off of the news, and each other, with no advanced knowledge of the events either will bring up.
The song lyrics for “Free Ride” by The Edgar Winter Group.
Ed’s Topic
The driverless car conundrum: should the car be programmed to swerve and kill 5 people, or to kill the driver? It’s a version of “Trolleyology” that we discussed on our August 22, 2014 show, Everyday Ethics: Doing Well and Doing Good.
It’s a fascinating question, and we discussed the ethics and legal implications of the driverless car.