Stop the flapdoodle - The question is: Would YOU push the button?

I would not push "That" button, Not after I have seen the movie :)
and know that somebody else will receive the same offer.


The real kicker here is that every day most of us are pushing the button.
Pushing the button to order the newest androidish iThingy, thus potentially killing some poor soul in an african mine or on the factory floor in Taiwan.
Pushing the off button on the television so we don't have to see people starving or dying in some war.

Everyday the button is beeing pushed to better ones own life, it does not feel as dramatic as in the movie, but it kinda is.

Have a good day :)

I wouldn't push the button after seeing the movie, of course not. In the position they were in I don't think I'd push it, because someone needs to take a stand and not give in to the money by putting others first. So I wouldn't push it because it's not right that someone you [edit: don't] know gets killed.

IF you had a choice of who dies, and if pushing the button meant that I was then excluded from being killed by another it would seem obvious that you would have to push the button to preserver yourself against someone else.

That's the thing, you don't get a choice who dies, and you don't get excluded from dying yourself. It requires everyone to not push the button for the betterment of mankind.

That's really what the whole movie is about. Weather mankind should be brought to an end.


I've often thought about this stuff myself:

If someone would give you a million dollars to never see your partner again would you take it?

If someone gave you a million dollars to kill your partner would you do it?

If someone gave you a million dollars to kill your ex-partner who was a total and utter user and abuser would you do it?

If you could kill that ex without anyone else ever knowing, guaranteed would you do it for no money?

The thing about murder is you are likely to be caught rather than not. Because most murderers are known to their victims.

It's all great stuff to think about and ultimately my conclusion is I won't murder my ex because I'll be caught. Better to live well without them than have your life ruined by worrying about being caught for killing them.

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In this specific situation, I wouldn't push the button because too many things point to specific strings attached--if I had the same information as the narrative implies.

I'd love to say in real life I wouldn't push the button--but I've ruined others' lives for the sheer sake of money before, so I don't think this would be any different. It's a gun-to-your-head question in which no one could really ever know unless they were there.

I wouldn't because I couldn't live and enjoy the money, knowing that someone had died because of me and thinking of that person's family and friends, wondering if they had children or elderly parents who had depended on them... etc

"There is no need to come back tomorrow. Take the box and the money now. Goodbye and thank you." That's what I would say....

Of course not, no decent person would, not even on the utilitarian/consequentialist calculation that if one person died and you used that money to save many more from dying (via charitable giving). Willfully/knowingly causing the death of one person is still wrong even if many more are saved because of it. Not hard stuff here (very basic Ethics 101 material in fact).

The one thing that is overlooked by many in these thought experiment scenarios (as they are referred to in philosophic literature) is that you have no reason to trust anyone offering such a anomalous offer. He/she is likely to be a) insane b) lying c) a combo of both. They are not to be trusted and therefore the offer is not to be taken seriously by default. There is nothing to guarantee that even if part of the offer is upheld all of it will be. When an extraordinary offer is presented, one needs extraordinary proof it is real, not just someone's word or guarantee.

This is similar to many movie situations in which some criminal is holding one or many people hostage and promises to release him/her or them upon gaining the agreed ransom/demands. Such a person is obviously not to be trusted as he/she is of no moral character so there is no reason to bargain with them. We often see some guy holding a gun to someone demanding another guy drop his and he'll let the person he is holding go unharmed once he gets away. No way should anyone drop their gun in such a situation, they'll both end up dead.

Trusting any of the above characters is tantamount to extreme nativity/gullibility. If some idiot showed up with a box like that and gave me the whole spiel I'd laugh in his face and call the cops after I threw him and box out right at him. There is nothing more to be done and there will be no consequences except for him.

The question that should be asked first, before this question, should be: will you be able to live with the knowledge that someone died because of you? Then we can move on to this question.