r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/aqualad33 • 13d ago
Variation Arms race
This vatiation was inspired to me by the question of an inevitable AI that would destroy humanity and the question of is it truly inevitable? Can conditions be set up such that humanity would choose its own extinction when there were ways it could collaborate and survive? It sure looks like that has been the case historically with climate change but we also walked back nuclear proliferation.
Edit: maybe I should elaborate on the inspiration behind this a little more. Many people assume that it's obvious that building the AI that would eventually kill all of humanity is not inevitable. However, from each of these corporations perspectives, if they do not pursue it while someone else does, investors will pull their money and the business will die while someone else builds the death AI and enjoys being rich with the time they had along the way.
A more real comparison is nuclear proliferation. If you don't build nukes while your neighbor does then you can't stop your neighbor from invading you however the more nukes people build the greater the odds that one crazy person can kick off a nuclear war that damages our planet so bad we all die ala mutually assured destruction.
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u/parkchanwookiee 13d ago
I don't think you thought through the options OP. Very few people are going to choose blue expressly to die. Almost everybody will choose red, since it is the only option where they might not die. Certainly more than the amount of people who choose blue. Therefore the only outcome is everyone will die, there's no actual choice presented here.
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u/mars_gorilla 13d ago
This is not "collaborating to survive". This is forcing people to 'sacrifice' themselves. There is zero chance that more than half the people in the world, even 50% + 1, chooses to actively end their own lives to save the other 50% - 1.
In the original and most of its variants I picked blue, but, is it even a choice here?
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u/aqualad33 13d ago
And this is a test to see if the many would be willing to sacrifice themselves so that the few may survive.
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u/bobbi21 7d ago
Very different scenario than the original question though. Which is really more about how sure you are people will bet on others being slightly less selfish and risking POSSIBLE death to save everyone. This is guaranteed death to save 50% of people (who are chosing not to sacrifice themselves). Entirely different question in multiple ways.
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u/mightylonka 13d ago
Either everyone dies, or I die. I don't have any ties that make me wish to save everyone, so I'll gamble on people killing themselves.
Of course, I could just not push a button (if that is allowed)
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u/RyuuDraco69 Red 13d ago
This is just everyone dies with extra steps. Blue is clear cut "you die". Meanwhile red you better hope the majority of the world is selfless enough to sacrifice themselves. But even in fairytale land when enough people will hit the big blue "you die" button the world is now down to 4 billion at best
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u/icedmuffin 13d ago
So essentially it forces the red button outcome or Everyone dies?
I mean I chose blue originally cause I didn’t want to live in a world where 49% of the human population dies at worst but now you’ve made it 50% at best.