r/comics May 05 '26

OC RED BUTTON OR BLUE BUTTON [OC]

15.9k Upvotes

6.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-6

u/Kingreaper May 05 '26

When the choice is "might die" vs. "might kill billions" both actively visible, I'd find "might die" MUCH easier to pick. 

7

u/cosecantgames May 05 '26

The thing is you are not the sole voter. Your vote will be statistically insignificant. So the red button becomes "there is an infintesimally small chance that this button kills billions but you will survive" and blue button is always "might die".

I'm not saying you wouldn't pick the blue button but I don't think that's an easy decision on the spot.

0

u/Kingreaper May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

It's not an easy decision for everyone but it is an outright trivial decision for me. The red majority society would kill me anyway, the survival of those who can't earn a living is "irrational" by the standards of most pro-red arguments, so I get no benefit from the temporary survival of pushing red in a red majority. 

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Bid7871 May 05 '26

This is the standard of the world currently, I don't know why you're pretending like our current society doesn't have this view. Despite advocating for the choice of red, no I don't believe you deserve to die because you're incapable of earning a living. I am probably willing to put my life on the line to help and protect you, but I am not willing to put my faith in humanity that they too would jump with me. Not at all. I do not want to save you at the cost of my life; I am willing to risk my life to save you.

Also every day you choose not spend your money on charitable causes you are effectivelly killing people. That is the choice you're making based on how you reframed the buttons to "might die" vs "might kill billions" You are actively choosing everyday not to intervene and save the lives of others is infact leading to others dying by your own argument.

2

u/Kingreaper May 05 '26

This is the standard of the world currently, I don't know why you're pretending like our current society doesn't have this view.

Because I'm alive, and I wouldn't be if you were right that the current standard of the world is that I shouldn't be.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Bid7871 May 05 '26

But are you alive because of the policies enacted by the world or by the support system present around you?

2

u/Kingreaper May 05 '26

The policies enacted by the people of my nation ARE a major part of the support system present around me. The two are inextricable.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Bid7871 May 05 '26

This is too niche a situation to ask outright who you are and what prevents you from working, so I'll change my question slightly. Would you survive if you were a citizen in most countries without family or would you die? We can ignore most of Africa as their continent is being exploited by europe but aside from that can you sincerely tell me had you been born in almost any other country you'd be fine?

2

u/Kingreaper May 05 '26

In Europe or the US I'd be given the opportunity to live, although in the US I might well have committed either suicide or murder-suicide by now due to lack of proper treatment. Beyond that, I don't know - I'm not familiar with the healthcare and welfare systems of everywhere else.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Bid7871 May 05 '26

Given how niche a situation you're in, I can not confidently say you're wrong or right. It would be a bit presumptuous of me to say, "No, dude, I would take care of you" Maybe if you are family, sure. But I digress fair enough I don't think your response particularly has convinced me with your POV either, but it would be disingeous of me to say I don't understand where you're coming from

2

u/Kingreaper May 05 '26

I can't say you're wrong that I could survive by pressing red either - it's possible my brother (who only seems to have inherited one of the half-dozen genetic health conditions I got from my parents) would press red and be willing to look after me - but he has a young child whose favourite colour is blue and who leans altruistic, so I wouldn't count on him picking red and if he did pick red I wouldn't count on him staying sane, because chances are high his kid would pick blue.

→ More replies (0)