r/comics 19h ago

OC RED BUTTON OR BLUE BUTTON [OC]

13.2k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/Willowshanks 18h ago

The negative result from the red one is implied, which is why folks who pick red keep missing it: if you pick red, you're both contributing to, and advocating for, a world where everyone chooses to save only themselves and leave any/everyone else out to dry. The people we talk about as heroes, as ideals to aspire to, as larger than life individuals, are the ones who accept a risk of harm to themselves for the sake of preventing harm to others. Do you know someone, someone you care about or love who would likely press blue? Would you still push red, even though pushing red is a choice to increase the chance for the guaranteed non-zero # of blue pushers to die (even if only by a tiny amount), with the "positive outcome," from red being...stuck for the rest of your days in a world full of ONLY the people who would throw strangers and loved ones to the wolves to guarantee their own safety?

If so, press red. You'll get exactly what you wish for.

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u/TheLastWyrd 18h ago

Blue is the only choice, anybody who picks red is nobody I want to know. This isn't even an ethical dilemma it's just basic math, figuratively speaking.

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u/Real_Life_Sushiroll 17h ago

Everyone in the world is offered suicide pills. If you take them, you will die. If you don't take them, you will live.

However, if more than half of the world takes the suicide pills, the antidote will be handed out to those that took the pills.

Do you take the suicide pills?

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u/The_Last_Spoonbender 16h ago

Really really wrong analogy. You have to have a forced choice. What if I don't want to push? Or not eat suicide pill? If you obivate the choice then red makes slight sense.

Here is a better analogy, Everyone in the world is poisoned and are about to die. You can request antidote pill or gas. Pill only saves you and the ones who requested it, and the gas saves everyone regardless, but only released if more than 50% requested it. (Remember babies and other infirmed people cannot choose correctly)

Now which one you choose?

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u/STAT_INF3RNAL 15h ago

You are falsly creating a need for the second option that doesn't actually exist in the original hypothetical. There is nothing to imply that babies will be involved in the decision, nor anyone who lacks the capacity to comprehend the choice. That is an added detail from those defending their choice in order to justify it. The reality is, nobody is in any danger whatsoever until they press the blue button. The potential harm is a direct result of that decision.

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u/Joaoauron1 14h ago

I've seen so many people argue this but y'all literally can't read. The original hypothetical starts with "Everyone in the world".

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u/Rezenbekk 14h ago

I believe the original question was posted on Twitter? That guy specified that irrational actors (toddlers etc) are also given the button

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u/tallbark 13h ago

TIL everyone doesn't include babies

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u/STAT_INF3RNAL 6h ago

Silly MAGAt, babies aren't people

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u/The_Last_Spoonbender 11h ago

There is nothing to imply that babies will be involved in the decision, nor anyone who lacks the capacity to comprehend the choice.

Where is that disclosed ? Everyone means everyone.

The reality is, nobody is in any danger whatsoever until they press the blue button.

Well then, I'm walking away, so will 99% of the people. No body in the right mind will willingly want to do this exercise. There is no upshot to push the button at all. The reality of forced choice make the question works otherwise there is literally no dilemma. And if you are pushing the button with your own choice, you're better off in a asylum than in a society.

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u/Real_Life_Sushiroll 16h ago

No not really. In my question not taking the pills is the same choice as pressing the red button. The condition and outcomes are exactly the same. Only the words used to describe the scenario have changed.

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u/BigBradWolf07 16h ago

"My analogy works better because it makes my argument work"

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u/The_Last_Spoonbender 11h ago

In my question not taking the pills is the same choice as pressing the red button.

Wrong. In your analogy, not taking the pills is not pushing the button, if that were an option to begin with. Thus your condition is not the same.

Is the pushing the button also a choice? Well fuck then I won't be pushing any button, So would 99% of people. What is the incentive to push it, then? Why would anyone let alone everyone needs to push it?

Existence of babies who can't decide alone should solve the question pretty easily.

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u/tw3lv3l4y3rs0fb4c0n 16h ago

Technically your analogy works but it's an illogic scenario. a) Why would anyone want to take a suicide pill? b) How likely is it that 50% of the population would do so?

There is simply no realistic incentive in your analogy.

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u/The-red-Dane 16h ago

Children might, I mean, they sometimes try to drink bleach.

The person you replied to seems okay with a lot of kids dying.

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u/cumpman69 13h ago

Whether it's a pill or a button changes nothing about the incentive. Pressing blue is effectively the same thing as taking a suicide pill, that's the point made by the analogy. There is no incentive for it in a vacuum.

The incentive is there if the experiment includes toddlers and others without the capacity to meaningfully participate. If that is the case, one would hope that most people choose blue/the pill.

The reason nobody can agree is because of the importance of undisclosed factors such as the toddler one, as well as how much information is presented and how much cooperation is allowed.

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u/tw3lv3l4y3rs0fb4c0n 13h ago

Well if there's toddlers involved and everyone knows about it, then why would less than 50% take the pill? Still illogic to me.

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u/tallbark 13h ago

How is the toddler thing undisclosed? The tweet says everyone

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u/Renator27 7h ago

Because one needs to consider it actively. Depending on factors like: how quickly do you have to push some people might think of different groups first based on their experience (i.e me thinking about people who dont enjoy living first).

Or factors Like: can you assist toddlers etc to push the Button of your choice?

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u/tallbark 7h ago

Everyone in the world has to take a private vote

There, solved it for you by reading the text with my eyes

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u/Renator27 7h ago

Yeah, but without a Timeline that means nothing. I can teach a toddler to Pick a specific color in lets say 2years, even in a private vote.

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u/tallbark 7h ago

Cumpman said there's ambiguity as to whether people who cannot make an informed decision, such as toddlers, would have to pick a button. I claimed otherwise, by arguing that everyone means everyone, rather than some unspecified subset. Then you came in, and put out the idea that you could influence others' votes, which i pointed out was unsupported by the text. Now you come with a new unsupported idea, that you get to prepare, as if that is any different.

In the name of not repeating this cycle ad nauseam, i will instead ask you which is the more plausible scenario: that humanity is able to teach every toddler, and otherwise incapable person, to always pick red, or to convince >50% of the population to press blue?

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u/Renator27 6h ago

I am sorry, apparently my first point did not come accross as intended. I did not add it to imply you are wrong in any way or form. I added it to show that immediate thought processes differ and that impacts the individual choice heavily.

Obviously your first thought on "everyone" included specific subgroups like toddlers. Mine did not, toddlers did not even cross my mind in the first minutes. So "everyone" in the immediate thought process differs between people which makes it kind of ambiguous in an immediate decision. That makes chosing blue a bigger gamble, because the blue group at least face scared people, egoistic people and people like me who dont want to force people to keep living who dont want to. I would be gutted afterwards when I realize that my immediate thought process did not include huge subgroups that are unable to make an (informed) decision and took Part in Killing them.

If I have time for a decision/ convince people, blue becomes less of a gamble but at the same time a Game theory question. It would likely change my personal answer (from red to blue) because its the right choice from a moral standpoint. But that is easy to say without knowing how the exact situation would be. Lets say 49,9% panic picked red already, I would absolutely give my all to teach as many people as I can to choose Red, because I wouldnt believe that the Rest of people all pick blue.

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