Red > Blue

Alright, so my main point is the phrasing of the question. My hypothesis is that that the phrasing of the question makes it sound like you can save lives and peals to emotion when in reality your just creating a problem that doesn’t need to be there.

Let’s rephrase into a identical situation:

500 hundred people are lined up blindfolded along train tracks, no one is allowed to communicate/talk. On the count of three you can jump onto the train tracks or stay where you are. If 250 people jump, the trains weight sensor will stop the train. 

Everybody is safe, the only reason why anyone is in danger is if you deliberately jump onto the tracks blindly praying that 250 people jump with you, now let’s change that to 4.5 Billion people. Who in the world would trust their life with that many strangers. As humans we are sinful and selfish. Everyone has greed in their heart. 

If you were randomly teleported to a room and say you can either save yourself or this random stranger from this random place on earth. Unless you’re suicidal, majority of people would choose to save themselves. It’s not about empathy it’s about survival.