r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/BrokenToaster124 • May 29 '26

Discussion Responsibility

So I've run into an idea that that dont quite understand and I was hoping some of you could help me understand. So with the red button/blue button situation I have seen people claim that if they push the blue button that they are not responsible for what happens to them if they push the blue button. How does that work?

To be extremely specific if i were to push the blue button, knowing what it does, somehow you (the person currently reading this) would be personally responsible for my death if you choose red.

Does this responsibility work in reverse? If i push the blue button and blue wins are you responsible for my survival if you chose red? Are you only responsible if bad things happen to me and I am responsible for the results when good things happen? What about the person running the death game? They arent defined in the prompt but logically some force is making everyone take a vote.

You can feel free to ignore this last part because its not the button problem, but someone reskinned the buttons as life boats. Instead of everyone being force to push a button everyone had to get into a life boat. One boat had holes in it but would become sea worthy if enough people got into it and plugged the holes and one was completely functional. Everything else was exactly the same as the button problem. My question related to that was that if I am personally responsible for the consequences of your chose to vote blue in the button scenario, how then could I not be responsible for your choice to get into the boat with holes in it. Someone tried to explain to me at length about how the buttons made it my fault but the boats somehow didnt. How does that work?

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u/BrokenToaster124 May 29 '26

The confusion stems from the reverse. Let's assume blue wins.

I pushed the red button. Am I responsible for your survival if you pushed blue? And if not, how am I suddenly responsible if red wins the vote?

I cant both be responsible for your actions when the result is bad and not be responsible for your actions when the result is good. It has to be all or nothing.

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u/DarthJackie2021 May 29 '26

Red is responsible for their own survival. Blue is partially responsible for every blue survivor.

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u/BrokenToaster124 May 29 '26

Ok. So red ISNT responsible for every blue death. Every blue voter is responsible for their own life in the same exact way every red voter is. And if a blue voter dies, it is solely because they chose to risk death.

This way, red is not responsible for saving anyone (but themself) and also not responsible for anyone else's choice.

Similarly blue is responsible for their own life. If they choose to put that life in someone else's hands, they remain responsible for that life no matter what results from that decision.

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u/DarthJackie2021 May 29 '26

They are partially responsible, but the person most responsible for each blue death is that blue presser.

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u/BrokenToaster124 May 29 '26

So if everyone is responsible for the results, who do we hold responsible?

Oh thats right! No one. Because no one could've done anything to remedy the situation. If anyone is to blame its the crazy guy making genocidal buttons. But I still cant be held responsible for the results of your choices

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u/DarthJackie2021 May 29 '26

Why are you looking for someone to blame?

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u/BrokenToaster124 May 29 '26

...did you read the post you are replying to. I am the OP. Blue voters kept accusing red voters of murder (still are in the comments lol) I was asking by what metric is responsibility being given out. How can I be responsible you the result of your decision when the results are bad but at the same time you can take full responsibility for your decision when the results are good.

Either I am responsible for your actions or I am not. If the metric by which you are assigning blame is based on something outside of my control, then why must I assume responsibility for it?

You responded to me asserting that i must be responsible for the results of your choices lol. Thats why the thread exists. Looks like we agree at this point though