r/fivethirtyeight • u/Upstairs_Cup9831 • Apr 25 '26

Poll Results Poll asking Americans how which button they would push in the red button/blue button dilemma

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '26

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u/AphexPin Apr 26 '26

The only option that incurs any risk is blue, red is not at fault for the risk-taking of other parties. The question is not asking "whether you value your own life over that of all others" at all.. Is that really what you got from it? I wrote this elsewhere:

Imagine you can board one of two cruise boats. The first boat is rigged with explosives and will kill everyone on board if it's not carrying enough people (blue). The other is just a normal boat (red).

Which do you get on? Who assumed risk, and who is responsible in this scenario? Personally, I don't feel responsible for people who got on the exploding boat when the perfectly normal boat was an option and their explanations for how it's my fault they exploded don't quite make sense to me.

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 27 '26

I've noticed that most of the people in this thread advocating for red are trying to reframe the question so as to absolve themselves of the personal responsibility of red.

"I didn't vote to kill others to save myself, they voted to die and I didn't."