Yeah, I was reading the comments and wondering why people were arguing about this.
Maybe I'm missing something, but in the first question, the conditions are as follows:
Red Button = if you press it you survive
Blue Button = if you press it you die, unless the majority presses it, then absolutely everyone survives.
Sure, if you press the red button you're guaranteed to survive, no strings attached, but what about everyone else? Everyone else who didn't press it dies, period, the end.
Meanwhile, pressing the blue button has a risks, but if the majority presses it (NOT EVERYONE, just >50%) then EVERYONE survives; both the people who pressed the red button and the people who pressed the blue button.
If you're seeking out a situation where EVERYONE survives, then collaborating to press the blue button to save EVERYONE is the best option. That's the logic that most people are having. Contributing to the number = better chance of everyone surviving. You just have to trust that other people will have that empathy.
Sure, you could argue that everyone can collaborate press the red button and it'll be fine, the blue button doesn't even need to exist, but that'd be impossible; the majority choosing something is much more achievable than absolutely everyone, especially if we're taking a sample from thousands of people.
Now the second question. The conditions are as follows:
Red Button = If you press it you survive, UNLESS the majority presses it, then EVERYONE ELSE DIES.
2. Blue Button = Like last time, if the majority press it, everyone else survives--except the people who press the green button. We can assume that if the minority presses it, then everyone who presses it dies.
3. Green Button = You get one dollar. There are no other listed conditions. It's ominously vague.
The mere existence of the green button significantly complicates the problem because there doesn't seem to be any way for everyone to survive. If the majority presses the blue button, then you can save both the people who press the red button and the blue button--but all the people who press the green button will die.
Which the begs the question of why the green button exists in the first place. You get one dollar from it. That's it. Do you live? Do you die? There are no other conditions stated.
Which might make you ask-- why would you risk pressing it?
It practically guarantees your death. Sure, there may be some secret twist where if you press the green button everyone magically survives, but it could just as easily cause everyone to die. Can you really risk it?
But you know someone will press the green button. Someone always will want to take that chance.
Unfortunately, you can't save them. But you can still try to save everyone else. And so, you press the blue button again, to save as many people as you can.
This poll isn't about just saving yourself, it's about saving as many people as you possibly can--including yourself-- within reason, even if it's risky or you can't save everyone. Though it is interesting watching people arguing in the comments and reblogs and seeing whether or not their instinct is "I want to survive" or "I want everyone to survive"
