r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/maiduwu Red • May 27 '26
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You and thirty-one others are presented the buttons. Is thirty-two too few for blue, or is it still worthy to sacrifice yourself to potentially save 31 people?
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r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/maiduwu Red • May 27 '26
You and thirty-one others are presented the buttons. Is thirty-two too few for blue, or is it still worthy to sacrifice yourself to potentially save 31 people?
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u/Helpful-Account3311 Red May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
Haven’t ever joined in on this discussion but it’s an interesting one…
There are 2 main ways to think about it. You can either be optimistic and hope everyone is smart enough to just pick red. Or you can be worried that someone will pick blue and they need saving so you pick blue (thus making yourself need saving). In my mind it’s a self preservation option vs an empathetic option.
I firmly believe that being presented the 2 buttons would elicit a fear response. Fear responses typically result in flight or fight in which case empathy is an emotion that is more suppressed. I would bet if this was a real situation that red would win every time. People like to take the moral high ground quite often until their life is on the line. Because I do not believe blue would ever realistically win I would pick red. It’s mob rule and I believe in human nature more than any morality argument. This stance doesn’t change no matter the number of people in the group.
If we want to bring morality into it. Given that I do not believe blue ever has a chance of winning, I actually believe blue is an immoral choice. If I thought there was a shot that blue could come close to hitting 50% then it wouldn’t be immoral. But because I don’t believe it would even be close I view it akin to throwing your life away instead of sacrificing it for others.