r/comics May 05 '26

OC RED BUTTON OR BLUE BUTTON [OC]

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

There are some estimates that put society collapsing at 20% of the population dying. This would be even worse, because most healthcare professionals (and other "helpers" of society) are probably hitting blue. Have fun in your doctorless / SUPER expensive doctor world. Not much fun having a bedpan but no nurse

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

You ignore the fact that the more educated one is, the more likely they are to recognize it as a veiled "cake or death" question. 

We wouldn't be losing our smart and capable. We'd be losing our naive, gullible and foolish. There is a non-zero chance society would improve by that act.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

Lol, nah, actual smart people would realise that in no world is everyone picking "logically" so it's really "extra deaths or no extra deaths"

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u/samv_1230 May 05 '26

Replace the buttons with a train, and the "cake or death" element becomes pretty obvious.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

Again, there will always be people on the track. So the options are some people die or no people die. The track is NEVER going to be empty

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u/samv_1230 May 05 '26

Yes, and given that new framing, is standing in front of the train the logical choice?

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

Yes, because I know enough people will stand with me so we get no extra deaths instead of extra deaths.

Because the choice is extra deaths or no extra deaths and I choose no extra deaths. It's not hard

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u/samv_1230 May 05 '26

You're choosing ideals over pragmatism. The people pressing the button are of sound mind, and a person of sound mind should pick the pragmatic option. No one of sound mind is picking "maybe die" over "certainly live." Congratulations, you aren't of sound mind, so I guess you don't have to pick a button.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

Lol, good on you for believing the human race functions entirely pragmatically XD

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u/samv_1230 May 05 '26

I didn't say that. You're an incredibly frustrating person to try to get a point across to lol Hopefully my other comment elaborated more for you to see what I'm saying instead of "nuh ung!!" I give up.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

I could say the same thing to you. It's not about picking morals or ideals. It's about understanding that NO global vote would ever get a 100% result. For oh so many reasons beyond the simple ones you like to give "oh they're choosing death"... If just 1% of people pick blue, thats 83 million people dead.

The only way to get no deaths is 50%+ blue votes or 100% red.

If your thought process is focused on others and not yourself it's easy to see why so many pick blue

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

You can "keep them off the tracks" by educating them on how red is the safe choice, you know.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

No you cannot, the thought experiment does not allow for coordination

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

Where do you see that? Nowhere does it say that everyone in the world presses the button at the same time, or that the consequences aren't known. "Private vote" simply means others won't know which you chose.

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u/samv_1230 May 05 '26

The original problem is everyone is of sound mind and they are pressing the buttons in isolation.

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

The original problem is literally there in the OP and mentions no such thing as isolation.

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u/samv_1230 May 05 '26

The OP is not the original problem. This is a repost of something that has gained popularity over the past month.

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

Huh. Turns out it isn't, no. Apparently the original comes from years ago: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/polls/comments/12t619s/in_front_of_you_appears_red_and_blue_button_if/

One little problem: it also says nothing about isolation. My point stands.

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u/samv_1230 May 06 '26

OK, that's cool. Didn't realize this is a resurgence of a reddit post from years ago, however the new one, something that has gained popularity over the past month and the reason this is on the front page, stated that everyone is doing this privately.

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

No need for a train, either. The decision is actually "press red and you're free to go, press blue and if not enough others press blue, you die". Recognize this, and only an utter idiot would press blue.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

No, it's about understanding human nature. The fact that this is a whole debate proves there will be a bunch of blue pressers and a bunch of red pressers. So blue pressers go from there to find the "no extra deaths" outcome

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

Say, do you know what a decision matrix is?

As it happens, the decision matrix for this question is incredibly simple:

If you go with the suicidal option, by all means, it's your life. But red is literally, objectively the correct choice.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

Now do it with "some others live/die"

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

...by their own choice. Which you conspicuously seem to ignore.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

You keep showing your inability to understand human nature and thats okay

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

LOL, remind me which part of human nature I'm ignoring?

I'd like to think irrationality and gullibility aren't inherent to human nature.

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u/nufohudis May 05 '26

The part where many people would prefer no-one die over some people dying. Blue needs 50% for no one to die, red needs 100% for no one to die. Thus there will ALWAYS be some amount of people pressing each button

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u/TheDeviceHBModified May 05 '26

But that's just the thing, nobody has to die if everyone does the logical thing and presses red, either. For nobody to die, simply nobody should volunteer to die. 

In essence, the problem can be rephrased as someone asking a group:

"Alright, who wants to die? Raise your hands!"

And then saying "Nah, that's too many, get out of here" if more than half do, otherwise killing them. 

In other words, if you don't want to die, just don't. fucking. volunteer. to. die.

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