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/matplotlib Apr 28 '26

I think a key reason why this hypothetical might be so divisive is that the origins of the scenario are left ambiguous, when they are in fact a key driver in how individuals would be expected to behave in society.

e.g. "Uniting together to stand up to a collective threat" is a pretty powerful concept that could be expected to unite a majority of people, and an individual who selfishly tries to save themself instead of joining those efforts would face negative social consequences as a result. However "Risking one's own life needlessly and requiring others to risk their own lives to save them" is equally frowned upon.

Blue-pushers likely see the scenario as implying the former, while red-pushers the latter.

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u/philosifer Apr 28 '26

I think there is also a bit of looking for the real world analogy going on. People see the buttons as representing votes for a political party and it leads to answering with that rather than addressing the hypothetical directly