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PaperclipPerfector  13hr ago (text post)   658 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 1, 2026

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This has resurfaced and been trending for a while

Everyone in the world has to take a private vote by pressing a red or blue button. If more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone survives. If less than 50% of people press the blue button, only people who pressed the red button survive. Which button would you press?

Currently at 42.1% red and 57.9% blue.

What would you choose? (See also r/slatestarcodex discussion)

I was motivated to post because I have a convincing argument for blue:

  1. Stupid people will choose blue. You may not care about the disabled, elderly, generally moronic, etc. but this includes children and people who are "too generous": nice, but emotional, and devote their lives to charity

  2. Thanos snapping a decent amount of the population (including random children, and biased towards selflessness) will probably overall negatively affect society

  3. I probably won't die because most people choose blue, as evidenced by the poll. Even if I do, it may be preferable to living with the survivors (point #2)

The obvious reason to choose blue is that many of your closest friends, family, people you love will choose blue, and do you really want to be a survivor in a world populated entirely by people who choose red?

The obvious reason to choose red is that many of your closest friends, family, people you love will choose red, and do you really want to be a survivor in a world populated entirely by people who choose blue?

If everyone commits to pressing red, everyone lives. If you leave it to "push blue?" then there's a good chance people die. If you want to maximise your own chances of survival, push red.

do you really want to be a survivor in a world populated entirely by people who choose blue?

There is no world populated entirely by people who chose blue.

Obviously this is a coordination problem that presupposes that everyone is presented with the problem and must choose instantly without speaking to everyone they know and love (otherwise we could obviously all agree, as the human race, to choose red, and all definitely live).

It only works if you don’t know what your parents, children, spouse and friends have picked or will pick.

It's more that I was trying to point out that if you are a blue, then yeah you'll think reds are bad, just because they're red. But if you're a red, then you'll think blues are bad, for the same reason: just because they're blues. You need more of a convincing reason than "ugh, those people, do you really want to be in the same hemisphere as those stinky losers?"

If the majority of the population are going to be blue, maybe I would prefer to be dead!

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