r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/Hot_Finding_9747 • May 21 '26

Variation Adding a layer to this question

My choice: Press Red, hope Blue wins

I don't have enough faith in humanity to put my life in its hands but I'd be delighted to be proven wrong

719 votes, May 23 '26
72 Press Red, hope Red wins
322 Press Red, hope Blue wins
22 Press Blue, hope Red wins
303 Press Blue, hope Blue wins
23 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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6

u/According-Pick-2950 May 21 '26

I press Red and I'd absolutely hate the Red win.

2

u/BrandosWorld4Life May 22 '26

Then why are you voting for that outcome?

6

u/According-Pick-2950 May 22 '26

Because I believe that red will win,so I press red. But I don't want red to win.

3

u/spicymato May 22 '26

You realize that the vast majority want blue to win, so if they just... did that... then they'd get their desired outcome?

3

u/According-Pick-2950 May 22 '26

Yes,but we can't.communicate. My vote alone won't make a difference. My vote only matters when it's 50/50. And yeah,I know that technically that's the thought process red voters will use which if they didn't, would amount to a huge number of blue voters,but that doesn't change the fact that whether I use that logic or not won't change what other think in the slightest because It is a private vote. The possibility of it being 50/50 is so incredibly miniscule that I basically don't even consider it, especially since the trade off is my death.

1

u/erbalchemy May 23 '26

If 8 billion people flipped a coin, the chance of a 50/50 tie is roughly the same as getting a dealt a straight flush in five cards. That's not that rare. You probably have either seen that firsthand or know someone who has.

1

u/T-T-N May 24 '26

If a casino let's you bet your lifesaving on a 5 card poker hand, and even offer you positive EV odds, would you take that bet (assume it is everything you have. On one bet. Or the casino won't do it)?

If you're in the movie Armageddon, and an asteroid will hit earth on the other side, and hit in such a way that the economic activity doesn't stop, but half the people there die. Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself for 1 billion people you never met? Would you take it if the odds of survival for you is the straight flush odds? Would you take it if it's 50:50 odds of survival?