Poll: Would you push the button?

[Lazy Kitty]

I would just keep pressing the button until I die if I, push the button on earth, but if it's possible I'd go to some space station first and the keep pushing the button until there's noone left, then I'd push it again to see what happens. (I'd do it for free too.)

 

[Ciarang]

I'll probably say I would, but if actually faced by this I wouldn't.

 

[hamster mk 4]

And the first person to die is you, evicerated by by a $100 golden sheruken.

 

[Adam]

I would press the button seven times. Seven is my lucky, and fave, number.

 

[Nukey]

Maybe twenty times, hopefully it kills a bunch of terrorists or political figures.

 

[GreeBo]

99.999% of the people here who said they would push it, are liars Just sayin.

 

[historybuff]

No. A mere $100? Not worth it.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

Nobody is worth 100 dollars. That is even less in GBP.
Screw that. I'd dismantle the mechanism.

 

[trelloskilos]

99.999% of the people here who said they would push it, are liars Just sayin.

I'm not. I would push it!

A few reasons why:

1. I do not believe that any scientific setup would ever allow this. I also don't think that a single push of a button would actually kill someone.

2. Let's apply Pascal's theorem to this situation. Draw up a 2x2 grid. On the one side, write: Push & Don't push - On the other axis, write Bluffing & Real. In each box, write the pros & cons of pressing the button according to how the criteria play out. - You will see that in this scenario, anyone would press the button. Someone already applied this to Global warming, and Pascal infamously applied it to the existence of God.

3. Someone has already mentioned the butterfly effect: What if that random person was destined to save your life? Or was your soulmate? - My answer to that is, how many lives have you already affected by your own everyday actions (or inactions)? Are you guilty of turning over the channel whenever there is an appeal for donations to help Ethiopia? Have you ever waved a friend or a relative goodbye as they go off to Iraq or Afghanistan? Did you think about anyone else when you bought that last can of beans from the supermarket? Maybe you pressed the wrong button in an elevator, and as a result, someone was late for work, rushed in the roads & died...The butterfly effect is continuous. You may have already killed someone just because of any decision you made in the past!

4. Finally, here's the main crux of the matter. Let's change a variable. Let's say that if you pressed the button, you'd get a dollar & a random person would die, but if you DIDN'T press the button, a friend or a relative (or you) would be killed instead in their place. What then?

Everyone who has played the moral high ground on this subject has decided to fall hook line & sinker for this scenario. I haven't. I do not think I'm morally reprehensible for saying that I would press the button. Given the situation, I would genuinely press it. - Change the variables though (less money, or that the person who dies would be murdered in front of me), and I probably wouldn't.

 

[Caliostro]

Nobody has mentioned anything about shooting.

I'm guessing you never learned what an analogy is... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy].

Ah..you've introduced a new variable.

People do die all the time...at a rate of 2 per second. These deaths are caused by anything, from still-births to old age, murder, genocide, accidents etc. One thing that is NOT mentioned in the initial argument is how these people will die. Will they be killed by an assasin? Will they simply stop breathing at the press of the button? Is it truly random or predestined?

Nobody has mentioned anything about shooting. If I was told that by pressing the button, an assasin would gun down an innocent somewhere in the world, that puts a slightly different slant on things...but that still would not be me pulling the trigger. It's the moral decision of the assassin if he wants to take part in this experiment, which isn't so much about human morality, but more about whether we are gullible or not.

As I said in the other bit of my post (the one that you didn't quote, or perhaps didn't bother reading), I do not believe that the button would kill anyone. Whether I pressed the button or not, people would still die. I wouldn't be adding to anything in the grand scheme of things. It's a question of whether you actually believe that the button would actually kill anyone, and I have stated without any question, that I don't!

You may disagree with my morals, but then again, I wouldn't send anyone off to war, or put anyone in a dangerous situation where their life was endangered. Politicians, Generals, and fanatics do it all the time! Yet for some reason, we accept their decisions...maybe even applaud them for making those decisions! All I would be doing by pressing the button would be to defy the scientist's criteria, and get some money for applying a bit of sense to the scientific setup.

I'm guessing your problem is comprehension. It's an hypothetical case, unfeasible in real life but proposed for the cheer discussion value. The first post specifies pushing the button would kill someone. Doesn't matter how. You're the cause. You press it someone dies, doesn't matter how. It's not a substitute to someone who would already die, it's an addition. It's not a matter of opinion here, if your logic is "I'd press the button because whomever died would die anyways" then that logic is simply and objectively wrong. You can argue if it's an acceptable price for the 100$, but if you press the button you're the cause of someone's death.

To you maybe. I am personally a religious man

I have a nephew that believed in Santa. That doesn't mean he exists. Edit: Oh why bother... It's futile. Nevermind.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Hey, I saw that thing on Youtube.

OT: Nope, I have easier and less disturbing ways of making money.
Like robbing a fast food Restaurant. With a magnet.
They dont even have guns here in Europe.

 

[nick_knack]

What the hell kind of organization would do such a diabolical thing? I don't know, but don't want to be involved with them, especially for just a hundred each time.

 

[Damien the Pigeon]

Really? Would you really push it, most of the people in this thread? I know that a lot of you guys are joking, but I want to know how many people would really do it.

Think about it, it's $100 for a human life. Some paper in exchange for a person. There's no way.

Of course I'd push it!

Because it WON'T ACTUALLY KILL ANYONE!

It's a scientific experiment that tests morality. No-one gets killed at all, because the button is not actually attatched to a weird lottery/doomsday device.

If scientists were to conduct the experiment in real life, they'd need to factor in whether the subject is gullible enough to believe that the button will work. - It's like urban myths or superstition...believing something that someone else insists is the truth. Ever said "Candyman" in front of the mirror 5 times? I have, and guess what...nothing happens! Yet because of some tacky horror movie, kids were bricking themselves during halloween by stupid dares like that!

Perhaps if the scenario was slightly different....if it wasn't a button, but the trigger of a gun, and the person who was due to die was right in front of me & the gun, then that WOULD be a different matter, but as for the button iteself? Press press press, and claim the money off the idiot who thought I was gullible!!!

That's not the question that is posed in this thread, though. You have added a lot of extra background there. The poll stated that there IS in fact such a button, and it poses the question "would you push it?" That's it. There may actually be an experiment like this, but so far as the OP is concerned, this is not it.

 

[hazabaza1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrKnhOJ-R80

Anyway, probably not. I wouldn't have the heart.

 

[Woodsey]

You know, in that film they get 1 million each time.

And no. Never.

 

[ThreeWords]

To be honest, I would push it, because if I get money in my hand, but I only get told that someone has died, I (in my position of professional cynic) will doubt if anyone has actually died

On the other hand, if I was shown that person dyeing, or there was some kind of proof, then I wouldn't even consider it

 

[zohmbee]

Hm. Since I only care about three people, myself not included...

Yeah. I'd press it. I'd press it three million times.

 

[paragon1]

No, I prefer not to engage in gambling.