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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 14, 2023

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absolutely not. blue is the obvious one because if anyone errs, they die if everyone picks red and they pick blue, but someone erring with picking red doesn't cause a negative effect in blueworld.

the Lizardman Constant of people (+ some others who have genuine mental issues or are very young) don't die if everyone picks blue

If you run a “pick red” campaign, the equilibrium is self-reinforcing. There is no reason for anyone to “defect” to blue. It would be obviously a stupid decision.

If you run a “pick blue” campaign, how would you enforce that? How would you know it’s working? There is an obvious advantage to defecting. How much fear would you have awaiting the results? Do you have any beloved family members you secretly hope pick red just for the extra safety?

Roko is right, seeing people continue in their blue delusion is blackpilling. It’s like watching someone who is unable to understand the Monty Hall problem even after having it explained to them multiple times.

at 100% cooperation between all parties, there is no difference between blue and red. chug them both if you want and wash it down with a chaser.

I think it is a given that some people will either:

  • misread the question and choose the option they don't intend to
  • be transiently suicidal and would be helped by not encouraging someone towards suicide
  • have unironic mental retardation (in the clinical sense) or be mentally disturbed in some other way (schizophrenia, etc)
  • be incredibly young and do not understand the effects of either option
  • have someone they know and care about that fits in the above 4 groups
  • have someone they know and care about that might fit into the last option

if any of these are the case, it is almost certain for there not be 100% coordination to pick one or the other. it is not only probable, but imo extremely likely for someone to pick blue based on the last 2 or more uncommonly the first 4. therefore, untold numbers will die if red wins. you don't need to be unintelligent for the first to occur (even highly intelligent people make mistakes). therefore, we want to reduce the number who die. and the only way to do that is to get 50%+1 to pick blue.

it is much more attainable for 50%+1 to do something than for 100% to do something. and so, we should be focusing all of our effort on getting 50%+1 to do something by encouraging everyone to do something, because 50%+1 blue or 65% blue or 84.25% blue or 100% blue has the same outcome as 100% red, but the inverse is not true.

are you sure all of the people you care about will pick red? would you bet their life on it?

The original question does not assume campaigning. How many beloved family members will you be afraid for as you sit in safety having picked red?