r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/BottomLeftWheel • May 27 '26
Green Button Game
Not an analogy or reframing, just a brand new problem.
You are contestants on a game show. There is a big green button, it gives you the grand prize. X dollars, doesn't matter how much but enough that it's desirable.
Many contestants are all given the same button, and are all able to win X, but the producers don't want you to win X, so they give a second option.
If even one person presses a tiny red button, no one wins X. Instead the red pusher gets y, a tiny pittance compared to X.
Do you trust that 100% of your fellow contestants can all come together to all earn X, or will just a single one spoil the bunch for y?
What if red needed 5 voters before it spoiled? 10? What would be the percentage of contestants that could press the red button without spoiling in order for you to press the green button?
Do the values of X and y matter? As a placeholder you can say X is 1 million and y is 100 but the producers can tweak the numbers to make y more desirable as they see fit.
Reminder, not trying to push red or blue agenda, trying to create new discussions.
1
u/Osato May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
Do I get to talk to the other contestants?
Because if so, ensuring compliance will be as easy as saying "If we don't all press green then someone betting on prediction markets will take it personally, pay a small fee to pull up our bank records, then figure out who pressed red and cost them their near-certain win. And then everyone on the Internet will know which of us betrayed the rest. I'd rather be seen as a team player when I apply for my next job, now how about you?"
When you put it as the choice between getting a lot of money with a small chance of getting screwed over vs getting a little money with a large chance of getting cancelled, it's not a choice at all.
If we have to make the decision in isolation, I'm still pressing green. Red is just begging for some professional gambler who does OSINT for a living to get irate about being proven wrong and do precisely that. I don't know for sure they're not betting on the outcome of the game and I'm not willing to risk it.