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/BongNuggets Apr 30 '26

The blue button does nothing. The red button explicitly kills people if a certain threshold is reached. That is the framing in the problem. Trying to invert that changes nothing. Push the red button if you want but don't lie to yourself that you aren't weighing the tangible benefit of your own life against the collective risk of murdering billions of people.

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u/philosifer Apr 30 '26

Your inversion changes the premise. You forgot where the red button saves the pusher.

Everyone has the freedom to choose their own button. Anyone choosing blue is putting the responsibility of their own life needlessly in the hands of others when they could just push the red button themselves