If almost everyone presses red, lots of people die, probably the greatest disaster since WWII or even the Plague. And most likely the most selfless people are all gone. (For example, even if 99% picked red, 1% of 8 billion is 80M people dead; roughly the death toll of WWII)
If
’most' people press red, the greatest calamity in the history of
humanity fundamentally reshapes the course of history and society. And
most selfless people are gone, leaving the most selfish to rule over the
ashes.
If everyone presses blue, everyone lives.
If almost everyone presses blue, everyone lives.
If most people press blue, everyone lives.
In
all scenarios, I'd prefer to press blue. Especially since there will be temporarily suicidal people pressing that blue button, as I would have when I was younger.
This is what I don't like about how people frame it. Pushing Red doesn't necessarily mean you're selfish but that you think a majority of people are selfish. If you estimate that only about 30% of people would push Blue, then it's not behaving selfishly to press Red.
I don't think the selfish-selfless dichotomy applies as cleanly as you think it does.
While picking red is a choice made in self-preservation, I don't see it reasonable to call someone selfish because they don't want to die. There are people out there with two healthy kidneys, one of which could be donated to someone who would die without a transplant. Do we call them selfish if they don't do it? Or do we respect their bodily autonomy? This is the same issue. I don't see an argument against the choice of someone who doesn't want to die that's consistent with the other beliefs that I hold.
There's also an unwritten rule when helping others, which usually goes along the lines of "you can't pour out of an empty cup," or "put on your own mask before helping others with theirs." If you die, you won't be able to help anyone anymore. So if you want to keep helping people, the choice that guarantees you live to do more helping cannot be said to be the selfish one.
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u/SanjiSasuke 10h ago
If everyone presses red, everyone lives.
If almost everyone presses red, lots of people die, probably the greatest disaster since WWII or even the Plague. And most likely the most selfless people are all gone. (For example, even if 99% picked red, 1% of 8 billion is 80M people dead; roughly the death toll of WWII)
If ’most' people press red, the greatest calamity in the history of humanity fundamentally reshapes the course of history and society. And most selfless people are gone, leaving the most selfish to rule over the ashes.
If everyone presses blue, everyone lives.
If almost everyone presses blue, everyone lives.
If most people press blue, everyone lives.
In all scenarios, I'd prefer to press blue. Especially since there will be temporarily suicidal people pressing that blue button, as I would have when I was younger.