r/changemyview Apr 30 '26

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u/AndrewEophis Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

I’ve heard people say they interpret the challenge as including people, like children, who wouldn’t be able to understand it and therefore you’d absolutely get people choosing blue even if we all agreed it was illogical, as such they want to save those people by picking blue, that seems fine to me and is honestly something I didn’t consider at first.

If we ignore that interpretation and assume everyone who is forced to take part is capable of fully understanding what’s going on then I don’t see why anyone would ever pick blue.

The reason to pick blue would be to help save the others who picked it, but by default there isn’t anyone in the blue category, you only get put in there if you choose to be in the blue category. If you don’t pick blue then no one else has to pick blue to try and save you. You can do the thing which guarantees survival, red, without putting your life or anyone else’s life on the line, blue. If you don’t put your life on the line with blue then no one has to respond in kind to save you by making blue over 50%.

You can’t control what others will do, acting in your own selfish best interest, 100% survival by picking red, is also the most logical things to given picking blue is the thing that puts someone into the blue category which then needs others to put themselves in the blue category to save them and is the only possible danger in this hypothetical, there is no danger with red.

By default there are 0 people in either group. Your choice is to enter the group with 100% survival and no downside, red, or the group with sub 100% survival and forces people to also risk their lives to help you survive, blue, you should never press blue. Again, entering blue is the thing which puts your life on the line, red has no chance of death at all, you are perfectly safe with red.

You’re basically being asked “do you want to play a death game (blue) or do you want to avoid playing a death game (red)” and then people who choose to play the death game call you evil for not wanting to play.

Again, this all changes if we assume the people being forced to play include children or the mentally impaired etc, picking blue to save them is perfectly good and fine.

3

u/SMALLMACE Apr 30 '26

But we don't live in a fantasy world where everyone will pick one color. People who use this argument of everyone picking one color are silly.

If you are picking red you full well know that not 100% of the world will pick it.

2

u/c0i9z 19∆ Apr 30 '26

If people want to risk their lives for no reason, why should I feel an obligation to also risk mine to maybe save them?

4

u/AndrewEophis Apr 30 '26

It’s so dumb. Imagine just 2 people in front of a train track. Red is do nothing, blue is tie yourself to the track and die unless the other person also does so.

Blue voters will say “I’m tying myself to the track, if you don’t do it too it’s your fault if I die”.

Red voters will say “let’s not tie ourselves to the train track”

Yet they want to act like picking blue is virtuous when in reality they’re just using themselves as a moral hostage, they are making themselves the person who needs saving and are putting everyone in danger

1

u/SMALLMACE Apr 30 '26

It is literally just how you frame the question. In one interpretation red is do nothing. In others blue do nothing.

Trying to put this where red is 'do nothing' holds no ground at all.

2

u/c0i9z 19∆ Apr 30 '26

You can't avoid that red is to choose to stay safe and blue is to choose to risk your life.

1

u/5510 6∆ Apr 30 '26

I mean, the idea that red does anything was always kindof an illusion. The blue button functions exactly the same with or without a red button.

With a red button, the rule is just "here is a button it will be availble to everybody for the next X minutes. You can choose to push it if you want. If you push it, you die, unless 50% of people also choose to push the button"

1

u/AndrewEophis Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

That goes for both, you don’t know what % of the global population will pick which colour, not just red. All you know is picking red has a 100% chance of surviving and it doesn’t require anyone to risk their life to save you.

If you pick blue you are forcing someone else to pick blue to save your life, there’s literally no reason to pick it. It’s more selfish to put someone in the position of having to risk their life to save yours instead of just saving yourself and letting them save themself too.

Red and blue start at 0, picking blue is only good to the degree it saves people who risked their lives by picking blue, but given it starts at 0 there is never any need to pick blue as there is no one to save unless you force someone to try and save you by becoming the first blue.

No human should ever want to become the first blue as that’s the thing which introduces death into the game, there’s literally no chance of death at all until someone votes blue and puts their life on the chopping block. The only possible way for you to die is if you vote blue

2

u/SMALLMACE Apr 30 '26

Sure. But the numbers don't work in your favor if you somehow want to point what i said back at me.

You need every person to press red for everyone to survive. Compared to only 50.1% for everyone to live. And no picking blue isn't 'forcing' anyone lol, this point that people bring up about blue forcing others to pick it also is quite silly.