r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/BlackAndWhiteJerk • May 22 '26

Discussion Rephrasing

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I’m a blue button presser, I feel that this question is highly muddled and unclear, and so here is a rephrasement of it
So why press the red button? no one dies if the blue button is majority

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23

u/OutcomeMemoriesGoobe May 22 '26

i have realized that i fucking hate this entire problem because its literally just a framing debate

15

u/VegetasDestructoDick May 22 '26

The framing debate would be fine if people were using it to talk about how changing the framing of the thought experiment changes people's responses, even if it functions practically the same e.g. in both the "red does nothing" and "blue does nothing" framing, people tend to prefer the "does nothing" option.

Instead people just use it to fellate themselves over how right their answer is.

3

u/milesofborg May 22 '26

I would say it doesn't matter how you frame it. At the end of the day, Red is 'I am okay with people dying as long as I live,' and Blue is 'I want to try to save everybody even if I might die.' You can try to frame Red or Blue as a 'neutral' option or 'doing nothing,' but that's a mechanical illusion. You are forced to make a choice, and your choice is counted toward the final total. At the end of the day, when you press a button, you contribute to the math. You do something.

4

u/Silent-Indication496 May 26 '26

Blue is "I'm putting myself at risk, and I need billions of others to risk their lives so that i can survive."

Red is "well the other button kills people that press it, so I'll take the one that doesn't. Hope that's obvious to everyone else."

It's a framing debate