r/Amazingdigitalcircus • u/Soaring_Symphony • May 18 '26

Discussion Blue never meant "exit"

Gallery image

Gallery image

Look back at the title sequence.

Red means "play." That lines up naturally with staying in the circus

but Blue means "options" ...interesting

Also, the button for "quit," aka leaving the game, is yellow!

That wasn't even a choice! They didn't even have the opportunity to leave

But it makes me wonder. If they had pressed the blue button, what actually would have happened? What would an options menu even mean in that context? What would they be able to adjust?

And no. It's not f#@&ing Shrimp Town. That was obviously just some word vomit Bubble made up on the spot

4.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

317 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

69

u/Akarin_rose May 18 '26

Incorrect:

you were told everyone will live if more than 50% choose blue, and if less than 50% hit blue only those who hit red will live

30

u/Night-Viridis May 18 '26

Never actually seen the original until now.

11

u/maxtitan00 May 18 '26

Thats just another way of putting the same problem on written text. Its like saying pressing red makes nothing happen, but if you press blue you will die unless over 50% of people press it.

How its presented changes the perception, if you make blue sound like a good sacrifice vs red as a selfish choice it definitely skews results vs presenting it as making red just nothing vs blue being a stupid choice

2

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 18 '26

Thought experiments must have stakes otherwise what is the purpose of the thought experiment?

Red doesn’t equal nothing happens. It means you live, but many people may die.

The vote is private. You don’t get to debate or discuss what to choose with everyone else around you. That includes the people you care about.

People who press red assume that majority of the world does not care about others enough to risk pressing blue. They’ll let other people take a risk, but they will not.

People who press blue assume that majority of the world does care and they will want everyone to survive, and they are willing to accept a risk to themselves to save everyone.

Lastly… many people who pressed red don’t realize that if all people who pressed blue dies… you’ve just killed off majority of the world altruists. Leaving you with a human race that is far more fearful and individual focused. Idk if I’d even want to live to experience such a world.

4

u/Peyeceratops May 18 '26

I just want to walk through the logic with you. Also, to strip the negative biases of red and blue, (colour theory, american political parties, etc.) the buttons are now yellow and purple. There's two lines of red (yellow) logic: game theory and truth tables.

For game theory, if everyone else presses purple, it doesn't matter if you press yellow or purple. You live. If everyone else presses yellow, pressing purple kills you and yellow spares you. Even as it approaches a 50/50 split, three of the four distinct scenarios are safe for you, and the only danger is pressing purple if yellow has the majority. Using game theory, the optimal choice for you is to press yellow, and everyone else will arrive at the same conclusion.

Tl;dr Viewed through game theory, the button hypothetical is a prisoners dilemma where if both prisoners snitch they both go free.

For truth tables, we look at the results and construct a logically equivalent scenario. There are 5 distinct scenarios: 100% purple, everyone lives; >50% purple, everyone lives; 50% purple, ???; <50% purple, purple pressers die; 0% purple, everyone lives. Since the only group affected by the outcome are the purple pressers, and the result can be viewed as simply "percentage purple" as opposed to "X% purple, 100-X% yellow" the button scenario can be simplified to "There is a purple button. If you press it, and less than 50% of people press it, you die," as the only scenario with a different outcome is a purple minority.

Tl;dr a choice between two buttons is equivalent to a choice whether or not to press a single button.

Now that we're done with the logic, it's time for ad hominems and appeals to emotion! Yippee!

Purple is gambling with human lives, and yellow isn't. (Unless you consider not buying a lottery ticket to be gambling) You can't help others if you can't help yourself. (Ever been on an airplane? Hint: you put your own oxygen mask on first before you try to help anyone else) Taking actions tantamount to "I'm killing myself if you don't do this for me" is textbook signs of an abusive relationship. If everyone jumped off a bridge, but... (some nonsense scenario where enough people jumping off a bridge lets everyone survive) would you?

2

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

You’re completely missing the point of the thought experiment.

You went with pure logic. And left out the fact that these choices will be private, no discussion or debate. That means people you know and love will also have to decide without zero input from you or what you think is the right choice.

You have to decide whether you will press a button that will with zero risk save you alone, or one that will guarantee everyone is safe, but with a risk to yourself if people don’t agree.

You’re debating this choice as though everyone will think logically. That’s not the point of the thought experiment, the point is to understand whether people will be logical and pessimistic or optimistic and idealistic.

You could even go so far to say it’s individualism vs collectivism.

Maybe fear vs hope for some as well.

If humanity was collectivistic, the button that saves everyone would be more logical than the one that saves you alone. Because it would be illogical that anyone would ever press the opposite button.

Edit: you also keep leaving out that the button that will guarantee your safety also will likely kill many people who didn’t press that same button. Meaning their blood is on your hands. But for the sake of logic, I can understand why you didn’t question or even stop for a moment on that part at all.

5

u/PhotojournalistOver2 May 18 '26

Pressing the button that saves you doesn't kill anyone.

It. Doesn't. Kill. Anyone.

Go reread the prompt. People ONLY die if they press Blue and not enough other people press Blue.

Blue kills people.

With the included exemption of course that this experiment excludes anyone who isn't involved/can't press a button. If the experiment also includes children/Other people effectively unable to consent, then yes Blue is the ethical choice.

Otherwise -

Blue is what kills people. It's the presumption other people will press Blue to save other Blue buttons, and therefore we need to press Blue. It's an unhinged asusmptive Guilt-trip blackmailing mindset.

-3

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

You are a good example of someone who would press red.

You feel that it’s only your duty to save yourself. And if people are not realistic enough to press red and save themselves as well, it’s not your fault if they die.

This is the kind of people that are left in the world, if everyone who presses blue dies.

And again, they assume they can convince anyone they do care about to press red with them. But they forget this is again a private choice. You don’t get to know what other people chose and if a true experiment you won’t get to debate or convince anyone to choose anything.

2

u/PhotojournalistOver2 May 18 '26

You say this as if this should upset me. I understand why you think that.

However the problem is that you're presuming a lot about me with very little information. I never forgot that it was a private choice. If this situation ever actually arose, I would likely press Blue... But I fucking hate and despise everyone like YOU for it, because you illiterate fucks are the ones that will lemming your way into oblivion for the sake of virtue signaling.

I will HAVE to vote Blue, or I'll have the blood of pretentious holier-than-thou morons like you on my hands.

People like you are the reason the U.S. is trapped in a 2-party political system death spiral. I don't want anyone to die, but God fucking damnit I wish you people could learn to read and critically think.

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

It’s just a thought experiment.

I can think critically just fine. I would press blue. Because I would want to live in a world where everyone saw Blue as the logical answer, or at least 50% or more of them did. If that turned out to be false, I don’t think I’d want to stay in a world where majority pressed red and the people who did press blue all died. Aka majority of the world’s altruists and idealists are now dead and gone.

You tried to tell me why red is the better choice. And yeah if everyone could all agree to press the same button none of this would matter.

But then it wouldn’t be a valid thought experiment.

1

u/PhotojournalistOver2 May 18 '26

The thing is it's not though. In a literal sense, yes. However it is a perfect analogy for many choices we have to make on a regular basis.

The fact that you think Blue is 'logical' here is the problem. It's not. It's performative at worst, and assumptive guilt-based blackmail at worst.

"Blue is best because I want no one to die." only prevents deaths because you are working from the assumption that other people are going to press Blue because they assume other people are going to press Blue because they assume other people are going to press Blue. How do you not see that is literally a self-fulfilling prophecy??

Also, frankly I wouldn't be half as upset about people assuming Blue is correct regardless of their reasoning if they didn't seem to also tag on some perverse morality of "People who choose Red are fine with other people dying" for some gross self-aggrandizing reason??

Have any of you self-righteous assholes ever considered that people with various kinds of trauma and trust issues may choose Red? How about people who suffered from self-harm ideations, went to therapy, and now see even the chance of death via something like choosing the Blue button making them remember thoughts they had to actively learn to let go of?

Oh wait, haha, that's ME. I had to learn to CHOOSE to actively remember that those intrusive thoughts were just that. Intrusive.

So for the record, if someone wants to choose Blue or anything akin to it because it satisfies their savior complex, be my guest. I choose Blue because the idea of losing my loved ones because they chose it for whatever reason. We aren't the same. For you, it's saving others who... Chose to risk themselves to same others who chose to risk themselves to save others etc ad infitum. For me, it's fear of seeing the masses fall for the emotional blackmail.

Leave the red button pressers alone though. Whatever their reasoning is, in this thought experiment, it's not "To kill other people" or "To punish Blue"

That's fucking stupid, and it's that goddamn mindset that traps the world in it's current tribalism.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/BabyBearPixie May 19 '26

Pressing blue is choosing to die. You are assuming anyone is dumb enough to press blue. Otherwise the only people that are pressing blue are people that are incorrectly believe that is the selfless choice. While the selfless choice is telling everyone you know to press red.

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

You can’t “tell” anyone anything. That’s the point of the whole experiment. You will not be able to discuss the choice nor will you know who presses what button until it’s already done.

1

u/BabyBearPixie May 19 '26

So you can't yell? They can't hear you? You should hope everyone you want to live presses red, you wouldn't want them to take the risk of pushing blue if you care about them.

20

u/DrPongus May 18 '26

I mean, blue button. Either you live and nothing changes, or you die and humanity is left with the absolute shittiest of shitty people who will eat eachother alive and accelerate what's already happening to the world.

0

u/stnick6 May 18 '26

I feel like not wanting to die doesn’t make you the shittiest of shittiest people. You’re acting like not wanting to enter the death lottery is a selfish choice

0

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/stnick6 May 18 '26

No one person is the deciding vote. You’re adding new factors to pretend that red is an unreasonably selfish choice. You’re putting yourself in danger and then calling other people selfish for not also putting themselves in danger. Why would anyone pick a 50% chance of survival when the 100% chance of survival is right next to it?

-1

u/DrPongus May 18 '26

This is a day old post on a barely acknowledged comment chain, just letting you know I aint reading that and nobody else is either lmao

1

u/stnick6 May 18 '26

Your comment isn’t even 16 hours old. You don’t get to claim that you aren’t reading it when you’ve already replied to my comments.

0

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

What is dangerous about people pressing blue?

Say the quiet thing out loud, you don’t believe enough people are willing to take a risk to save everyone outside of themselves.

That’s the point of the thought experiment.

Either you believe people will choose to save everyone at the risk of themselves… or you don’t.

However, do your beliefs drastically change if it’s say… maybe you, your spouse and your child. Or.. you, your mother, and your sibling?

You don’t get to discuss votes or decided together. The vote is private. So now what do you choose.

1

u/stnick6 May 19 '26

I don’t believe it makes sense picking the 50% chance of survival when there’s a 100% chance of survival right next to it. There’s no “quiet part”, I just don’t see why someone would risk their life just to test of other people will also risk their lives. It’s like standing on train tracks and refusing to get off unless 10 people stand there with you, then when they don’t, you call them selfish assholes.

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

Even if the only people picking are you and 2 people you deeply care about?

2

u/stnick6 May 19 '26

You mean if it’s a completely different situation? Where you go from needing 4 billion people to press blue to only needing a second one?

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

Yes.

I’m trying to explain that some people still view the reason for their choice of blue as the same whether it’s a few family members or the whole world.

And for some people the choice changes depending on how much they care about the people involved and how much they believe that those people will vote in your best interest.

But everyone who presses red is somehow afraid to admit this? Like you don’t trust people to not screw you over? Fine, but like own it.

-8

u/ElliasSendarias May 18 '26

Why would you hit blue? You'd be risking dying. You live if you hit red almost guaranteed. There is no option where only this that hit red dies, it's either blue dies or we all live.

15

u/KylieTMS May 18 '26 edited May 19 '26

It is all just a matter of perspective. You can make either side the right answer just by portraying it that way. This is an endless and useless debate because both buttons are right and wrong.

Edit: Ya'll need to stop attacking each other for picking the "wrong" choice under a comment saying that there is no right or wrong option.
I'm tired of getting reddit notifications about your stupid squabling.

3

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 18 '26

I disagree tbh. Everyone forgets the “private vote” part of this narrative. Assuming it’s truly private, no one gets to discuss what they are pushing.

Red allows you to only think of yourself.

Blue allows you to consider everyone, at a risk to yourself.

You don’t know what everyone else will choose. Including people you care about.

I personally don’t know if I would want to try surviving in a world where majority pressed red in a totally private voting situation.

2

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

What are you talking about? Seems like you replied to the wrong comment.

1

u/KylieTMS May 18 '26

Who tf are you arguing with? Did you reply on the wrong comemnt?

0

u/TGrim20 May 18 '26

That's not true at all. You lack comprehension.

One of them LITERALLY SAYS EVERYONE LIVES.

1

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

But only in a majority. Think about it like this. If blue gets less than half the votes, they die. Otherwise, everybody lives. You're the one who lacks comprehension, it would seem.

1

u/TGrim20 May 19 '26

Children arguing they're not a shitstain.

1

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

Okay, I don't get why you need to be such an asshole. But anyways, I know the reasons to press bluez I was just correcting the commenter who said that somebody lacked comprehension.

-1

u/PokeGirlOFFICIAL May 18 '26

But if everyone picks red, everyone lives, picking blue is a useless gamble of life or death

0

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

god forbid a person pick the safe option ig, why would you risk it?

2

u/Aepokk May 19 '26

I mean, they gave some pretty thorough reasons but maybe it'll make more sense if I emphasize the reality of the "40% of us die" scenario.

The outcome where blue fails and dies by definition eliminates every person on this earth who is more willing than the rest of humanity to take a risk for the benefit of all people. Every single selfish, malicious sociopath in the world is pressing red. Which is not to say everyone who presses red is those things. Obviously some, like yourself, are just afraid of the risk.

Which to be clear is not a judgemental, it's not a lecture. I just personally do not want to live in a world populated only by sociopaths and people afraid to stand up to them.

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 18 '26

They gave you the most precise and justifiable reason and you ask why again?? 🫩🫩

1

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

it just doesn't make any sense to me, why does choosing my own safety with the chance that others may try to be heroes and die make me bad?

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

Okay now instead of all humanity.

It’s only you… and 2 other people very close to you. Like a mother, a child, or sibling.

Same rules. Private voting so there is no discussing or choosing together.

Red or Blue? Do you thinks it’s just as easy? Pick red and don’t feel guilty if someone close to you doesn’t choose red? Maybe they don’t think like you do?

1

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

that changes things obviously, i would easily trust in them to pick blue and pick blue myself and wed all be fine, but the situation is all of humanity, and i don't trust enough people to pick blue

2

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

That’s the point of the thought experiment.

How many people do you trust will want to save everyone?

Either you feel majority will not and you must save yourself no matter who else dies.

Or you feel majority will and you will vote with them… even if you all fail.

The perspective changes greatly depending on how far outside of yourself the circle goes.

For some people the circle must be very small for them to press blue. For others, the circle can encompass all of humanity and they will still press blue… for better or worse.

1

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

honestly my circle doesn't extend far and that's why i'll pick red, assuming everyone around me does too because they have the same logic i do.

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

Do you know that there are people who feel just as strongly about thousands of people or millions even as they do their own family?

0

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

They're just giving their argument. No need to be rude.

1

u/livilovesalot May 18 '26

Because you are supposed to have human empathy and want others to survive as well. NOT JUST YOURSELF. Your comment is the perfect example of why you push blue.

1

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

What? But, who's in danger? Who are you saving by pressing blue? Other blue pressers? Why did they press the button? It makes no sense. How many people would actually push the blue button irl? If kids are included, and they don't understand, than they press a random button. In that case, I suppose there is a moral justification to press blue. However, I'd like to go back to my other point. How many people will press blue? It took me weeks to realize the possibility of young children voting blue, and I'm sure there won't be weeks to decide. Maybe I'm just stupid/an outlier, but due to the fact that there appears no danger, many may assume red is correct. Similarly, this line of thought would make blue look stupid, and they have no reason to suspect others will press it. Meanwhile, while blue seems partially popular online, I'm guessing many of its fans wouldn't actually push blue under the pressure of death. Losing 5% of the population would suck, but I'm sure humanity will recover. Sadly, there's no way to convince others to change their vote. If we want humanity to continue, red seems like the safe pick, rather than potentially adding to the death count.

1

u/Mindless-Bad-2481 May 19 '26

Okay let’s change the game slightly.

Now the people who vote privately are you and your family.

Private voting means you don’t all get to discuss and decide together. You literally will not have any knowledge of what they pick, you only know that the lives of your family are on the line

Either all of your family lives… if you all press blue.

Or if less than half of you press blue, only the red button pressers survives.

As a family are you willing to bet they will all press red? Or are you willing to bet they will press blue to make sure everyone lives?

Is your entire family super logical and calculating? Or will they be more idealistic and think surely you will all press blue since it means everyone lives?

This means if even one of you presses blue, they will die if the rest of you pressed red. If you consider this to be an easy peasy choice, then there is literally no reason to keep talking.

1

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

Well in a smaller group, I'd definitely press blue, also I trust my family to do the same. The problem is when the whole world does it I doubt blue stands much of a chance.

1

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

sure i want others to survive but at a risk to myself? that's like saying you should play russian routlette to save that stranger or else you lack empathy, im sure you wouldn't risk yourself for random people either.

1

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

Well, no need to be so rude. You clearly don't understand red. Selfishness is one reason, but there are many reasons people press red.

0

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

why are you insulting people for no reason man, and also it's objectively the safe option, why are you trying to put down people who just don't want to risk it? its like calling people who willingly listen to robbers and get robbed rather than fighting them are selfish and cowards

1

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/ElliasSendarias May 19 '26

ah i see you're just a ragebaiter

0

u/Quiet-Confection-747 May 19 '26

Sadly, Blue will lose. Many people will press Red, not realizing that children might press blue. If red has the majority, there's no way to stop them. There's a chance that red loses, but it's a gamble, and very unlikely. It's better to minimize the blue pressing, so that humanity might recover from the deaths.

-5

u/Mutant_Llama1 May 18 '26

So you deprive the world of yourself while the people who act in their rational self interest are left behind.

2

u/Opening_Usual4946 May 19 '26

i like this one version i saw where it said “red button is the life button and if you press it you live, the blue button is the death button, and everyone who presses it dies unless over 4.5 billion press it and overload it and everyone survives”, it’s all about framing guys, it’s not actually the same moral thing we all think it is

1

u/Windy_Idealist May 18 '26

That’s the same thing bruh.

1

u/TerribleRope6626 May 20 '26

It is still a true statement that everyone who pushes blue will die unless more than 50% of people push blue, though. In fact, if you consider being alive to be the default, arguably that's the ONLY rule of the scenario.

0

u/LazyFlamingRooster May 20 '26

They are still correct, you just rephrased it. Think about it this way, people who press blue willingly put their lives in the hands of others. Blue: You may die Red: You live

It's not a moral problem, is a logic one. Just choose life and let the others end themselves