Yes, I think this is a serious problem. All the ways I can think of to give you a very high chance of shoving the guy off mean that you don’t have to actually touch him, just (say) cut a rope, and that wouldn’t just make it more likely you’d succeed but introduce a counfounding effect of making it slightly less personal for you.
This is in part because I don’t really believe the explanation for non-shoving that says it has to do with not using people to an end; I think it’s just squeamishness about shoving someone with your own hands who was right next to you. If you were dropping them onto the tracks from a great distance by pulling a lever, I think people would pull the lever a lot more often. I haven’t tested this, of course.
Yes, I think this is a serious problem. All the ways I can think of to give you a very high chance of shoving the guy off mean that you don’t have to actually touch him, just (say) cut a rope, and that wouldn’t just make it more likely you’d succeed but introduce a counfounding effect of making it slightly less personal for you.
This is in part because I don’t really believe the explanation for non-shoving that says it has to do with not using people to an end; I think it’s just squeamishness about shoving someone with your own hands who was right next to you. If you were dropping them onto the tracks from a great distance by pulling a lever, I think people would pull the lever a lot more often. I haven’t tested this, of course.