Julia Carle, Chapter 1, Question #6

One passage that particularly stood out to me is when Wheelan describes that Wesley Autrey, a fifty year old New Yorker, saved a stranger's life by shielding him/her from a train. Wheelan tells the reader this powerful anecdote to prove a point that "we all make altruistic decisions" (Wheelan 9), and that it is an example of utility that isn't a  selfish act the way some people depict it to be. Reading this passage really made me understand what point Wheelan was trying to prove to the readers. "Maximizing utility is not synonymous with acting selfishly" (Wheelan 8). In the example Wheelan provided, he shows that Autrey wasn't looking in a self-interest point of view of the situation, if he was he probably would've let the train run over the stranger. It was the most memorable passage of the first chapter for me because the point Wheelan was making made crystal clear sense to me, and it's nice to know that someone would sacrifice his life for a stranger, that they don't even know.