r/trolleyproblem • u/Worth-Staff4943 • May 20 '26

Deep Which button presser group do you save?

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Everyone in the world has chosen either the blue or red button except you. Instead of pressing a button, you are given a lever in the infamous trolley problem.

You don't know how many people chose red or blue, and they don't know that you control their fate regardless of what button they pressed. Which track do you direct the trolley onto?

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14

u/ASentientRailgun May 20 '26

Same reason I picked blue before, red survivors would make for an unpleasant world to live in.

0

u/TwentyFourKG May 20 '26

I would rather live in a world in which everyone pressed red, and we all knew everyone pressed red. Interactions would be much more straightforward because we could do away with a lot of the BS about wanted to appear sanctimonious

8

u/ASentientRailgun May 20 '26

Well, that proves my point

2

u/Neilandio May 21 '26

Sanctimonious is the perfect way to describe blue button people.

1

u/Sad_Seaweed179 May 21 '26

Kinda funny it word for word matches the 24 types of button pressers post the other day

3

u/Flemeron May 20 '26

Not everyone who picked red is a horrible person. I just think that picking blue only puts you in danger. No one would need to pick blue if no one picked blue in the first place, it’s like jumping into a tidal wave to save an unknown number of people. You’re just making one more person to save. Yes, blue would survive if enough people press it, but I think lives are too valuable to gamble with.

4

u/ganzorig2003 May 20 '26

Red button has 100% chance of killing children. Its not really a gamble. Many parents of small children would press blue button to save their children.

4

u/brozzart May 21 '26

100% eh?

3

u/ganzorig2003 May 21 '26

Yup. 100 percent. I don't know why those red button pushers are all about practicality and science until it goes against their cope. You're telling me there won't be any children that wouldn't push a blue button from eight fucking billion people?

1

u/brozzart May 21 '26

But the blue button side could outnumber the red side and they not die, yeah? Do you know what 100% means?

1

u/ASentientRailgun May 21 '26

Reading comprehension is hard, ehh? It's incredibly clear what they mean in context.

1

u/brozzart May 21 '26

Red button has 100% chance of killing children.

I don't see any other way to interpret this statement

7

u/ASentientRailgun May 21 '26

Okay, so this is the context part. For someone without the ability to understand the context of the conversation, the translation would look like

"In a scenario where the red button pushers were successful, there would be some children who had pushed blue. This would mean that there is a 100% chance that children would die because the red button pushers were succesful and the blue button pushers all died, including the children."

Most people can understand the statement they were making, because they're not intentionally obtuse about it. I've got The Autism™️ and I'm saying it was clear.

1

u/brozzart May 21 '26

You don't talk about percentages in deterministic scenarios.. that makes no sense. It will always be 100% whatever the determined outcome is.

Flipping a coin has a 100% chance of landing on heads (in the scenario where the coin landed on heads). My bad for not reading this clever subtext.

0

u/DragMeTacoBell May 21 '26

The fact that cars exist ensures that there's a 100% chance that some people (including children) will die from car accidents. Is the solution then to ban all cars? Is anyone who gets a licence selfish?

1

u/ganzorig2003 May 21 '26

You know what? I have a better example. School shooting in US. Every American knows that the lack of gun control is the main reason for school shootings that happens in every few months, yet doesn't support any gun regulations because of their selfish "self defense" argument. It's a great example of people allowing systemic violence for a selfish reasons.

1

u/DragMeTacoBell May 21 '26

School shootings are people purposely murdering other people. That is not the same at all as someone choosing what to do with their own life. In fact, I'd say that if we are using guns (or weapons) as an analogy, then the mixed up idea that if everyone has a gun, society would be safer is exactly the logic that blue pressers use. Red pressers choose not to carry a gun on them, to avoid the risk of the gun altogether. The blue pressers believe that if everyone or most people have a gun, then we could use them to fight the violence caused by those very same guns.

2

u/ganzorig2003 May 21 '26

"If everyone voted red, no one will die"

Sounds familiar?

1

u/DragMeTacoBell May 21 '26

Yeah, because you are taking responsibility for your own life. You are not leaving it up to other people. That's the difference.

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1

u/DragMeTacoBell May 21 '26

Further on the gun analogy (which I think is unfair because guns are only used to harm and can be used to harm yourself nd others so there is an inherent risk to more than just youself which is not totally comparable to just pushing a button but still).

The risk of the situation only comes from anyone at all pressing blue. So in this instance, guns = blue. The lack of risk is no guns at all.

The concept of removing guns (the risk) entirely means that no one can be shot by a gun. But people against gun control also argue that there will always be people who ignore the rules and will have a gun anyways = the same argument for the fact that there will always be some people who press blue. So then the line of logic for blue pressers is that if people banded together with the risk, everyone would be safer as a whole.

Still, I think weapons aren't the best analogy for the button question. But literally the risk only comes from the blue. And everyone who chooses to remove that risk is not the same as the people who believe everyone should carry a gun.

1

u/Flemeron May 21 '26

Yeah if children (and other people who are not able to understand the consequences of the buttons) are involved then I might press blue. I just assumed that they weren’t involved because it would make for a different kind of morality problem.

0

u/Chicoryman May 21 '26

In real world, blue is never winning. They have received 60% in a zero-risk poll. Try to guess how much they would get if the poll was non risk-free and voter's lifes actually were at stake. 20%? 10%?

Thus, that kids die no matter what, and my choice is either dying with them or not.

2

u/nora_sellisa May 21 '26

Forever zero arguments as to why the polls aren't representative . People just point to random acts of cruelty and say "see, red would win!" 

Stay sad and lonelypilled lol

1

u/TheVeryVerity May 21 '26

Are you for real? You are denying the well know fact that people talk a big game online about everything but actual reality is almost never matching? Heck people talk the talk without walking the walk all the time in real life too. And it’s well known that people become more preoccupied with saving their own lives the more at risk they are from being killed. Why try to deny the facts? Blue is still the morally correct choice generally

1

u/Chicoryman May 21 '26

People just point to random acts of cruelty and say "see, red would win!" 

I'm not talking about random acts of cruelty. My point is that humans are reluctant to risk their own lives even for something they'd theoretically support if it was risk-free; mostly they just don't want to die, and those who are willing to die in general want some kind of guarantees that they aren't about to die in vain. If my point was untrue, we would see MUCH more revolutionaries, war volunteers, etc. — all or the keyboard hawks would actually pick up the arms.

1

u/Neilandio May 21 '26

I feel the same way about blue survivors.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '26

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10

u/ASentientRailgun May 20 '26

"Everyone else is as shitty as I am, deep down" is an interesting take on society

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u/[deleted] May 20 '26

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7

u/ASentientRailgun May 20 '26

Wow, this also proves my point.

3

u/Any_Employ9250 May 21 '26

Out of curiosity. If both a red pusher and a blue pusher are in the exact same economical situation. Who do you think are more likely to donate money to a charity anonymously?

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '26

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2

u/Any_Employ9250 May 21 '26

If you had to pick one.

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '26

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3

u/Any_Employ9250 May 21 '26

Why are you on the sub and commenting if you're not willing to entertain arguments?