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 Holoverse
Abres Los Ojos
Registered: 06/06/10
Posts: 341
Last seen: 6 years, 3 months
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 Would you push the button?? 
#13288999 - 10/04/10 02:55 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hey,
Just watched the movie "The Box" where the choice is to push a button for a million dollars, and someone you dont know will die.
I got into a huge argument with my sister about whether or not we would push the button or not.
She said she could not do it, and was shocked when I said I could.
She was doubly shocked when I said that even without the reward of money, I think I could push it.
But I thought my reasoning was pretty sound and wanted to see if anyone here sees it my way as well......or maybe Im just sick in the head.
But heres my reasoning...
The world is run by chaos, the butterfly effect is constantly in motion.
Every 1 second about 3 people die.
Therefore, when I push the button, and someone dies.
There really is no difference if I dont push the button.
3 people still die.
Every second.
So when I push it, this second, BIG DEAL....right??
So thats also why I could push it for no cash as well, because I still dont see it as having done anything in the grand scheme of things.
Is this flawed reasoning??
What would you do???
Edited by Holoverse (10/04/10 02:57 PM)
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 Diploid
Cuban
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Holoverse]
#13289441 - 10/04/10 04:32 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I agree with you in theory, but in practice, my psyche would be corroded by the knowledge that I deprived someone of their life, even if in the end it doesn't matter.
But like I've said before. I don't think that's because I'm a "good person". I think it's simply because evolution wired my neurons to be a social animal.
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Republican Values:
1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.
4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Diploid]
#13289464 - 10/04/10 04:37 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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You're weak that's all.
I'd push the button for a cool million because odds are it would be someone who believes in God.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Space Elf
Registered: 07/29/10
Posts: 3,371
Last seen: 7 years, 5 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Holoverse]
#13289471 - 10/04/10 04:37 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Perhaps in her eyes, admitting to pushing the button and killing someone is almost as bad as actually doing it. After all that's basically admitting that you would be willing to murder someone for money.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Space Elf]
#13289481 - 10/04/10 04:39 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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You say it like it's a bad thing.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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NetDiver
Wandering Mindfuck
Registered: 08/24/09
Posts: 6,024
Loc: Everywhere and Nowhere
Last seen: 1 year, 8 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Diploid]
#13289566 - 10/04/10 04:54 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Nope, I wouldn't do it. Whatever the reason (brain chemistry, etc.) I consider myself a decent person, with a sense of compassion.
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Holoverse
Abres Los Ojos
Registered: 06/06/10
Posts: 341
Last seen: 6 years, 3 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Space Elf]
#13289580 - 10/04/10 04:57 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Space Elf said:
Perhaps in her eyes, admitting to pushing the button and killing someone is almost as bad as actually doing it. After all that's basically admitting that you would be willing to murder someone for money.
See this is where I have a double-standard moral dilemma. 
I would push the button, for money or no money, only because I know that 4 people die every second.
So because the person dying is far away from me, its inconsequential.
But then when you say that its basically the same as murdering someone for money.
Im torn....
Because basically...
THere is no possible way I could ever murder someone I didnt know in cold blood, for money. No matter how much money was up for grabs.
I just couldnt live with myself afterwards.
But yet Im willing to push the button.
So then why does the "distance factor" change the way I think about this. Anybody got any ideas??
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Diploid
Cuban
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Icelander]
#13289604 - 10/04/10 05:00 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I'd push the button for a cool million because odds are it would be someone who believes in God.
Good point. You'd be giving them paradise and you'd be getting a million bucks.
Win-Win FTW! 
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Republican Values:
1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.
4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Diploid]
#13289637 - 10/04/10 05:06 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Sometimes I think you're the only one who appreciates what a great guy I really am.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Sventington
am what I am what I am what I am
Registered: 01/17/09
Posts: 532
Last seen: 12 years, 8 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Icelander]
#13289880 - 10/04/10 05:54 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I wouldn't. A million dollars would be nice, but as I live a fairly comfortable life as it is, I don't feel the need to murder anyone to improve it.
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Poid
Shroomery's #1 Spellir
Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 40,372
Loc: SF Bay Area 
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Sventington]
#13290018 - 10/04/10 06:24 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sventington said:
...I live a fairly comfortable life as it is, I don't feel the need to murder anyone to improve it.
The implication being that you would push the button if your life sucked ass?
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Well I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them. -- Bob Dylan   fireworks_god said:It's one thing to simply enjoy a style of life that one enjoys, but it's another thing altogether to refer to another person's choice as "wrong" or to rationalize their behavior as being pathological or resulting from some sort of inadequacy or failing so as to create a sense of superiority or separation as yet another projection of a personal fear or control issue.
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jivJaN
yes
Registered: 08/09/08
Posts: 4,245
Last seen: 11 years, 9 days
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Holoverse]
#13290060 - 10/04/10 06:33 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Cool Movie.
Watched it a few months back i believe..
Quote:
Is this flawed reasoning??
wouldn't call it 'flawed' , but its stupid imo , yes.
its like saying throwing this trash on the street is ok , because so many people do it , it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
its like making fun of somebody.. just because a lot of people already do it..
Quote:
What would you do???
i wouldn't push the button.
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All my posts in this forum are strictly fictional.
They are derived from an acute mental illness , from which i am forced to lie compulsively.
I have never induced any kind of mind altering substance in my life and i have no intentions whatsoever of doing anything illegal.
If I have ever suggested such a thing it would have most likely been , due to my personality disorder and i probably do not remember it at all..
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Sventington]
#13290215 - 10/04/10 07:12 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sventington said:
I wouldn't. A million dollars would be nice, but as I live a fairly comfortable life as it is, I don't feel the need to murder anyone to improve it.
You could give it to charity. One tiny murder and you could help hundreds to live a better life. Don't be selfish.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Cynosure
allow me to be your guide.
Registered: 10/06/09
Posts: 4,228
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Icelander]
#13290331 - 10/04/10 07:37 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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If the person you kill turns out to be someone you love..
..is it still worth a million big ones?
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"You can peel it [language] off the ceiling and make it dance in front of you" - McKenna
<3 .
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Cynosure]
#13290349 - 10/04/10 07:41 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I will drink a toast to their memory secure in the knowledge I spared them old age and suffering.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Diploid
Cuban
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Icelander]
#13290413 - 10/04/10 07:53 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I see little wrong with death/killing so long as there is no suffering caused by it. We'll all die anyway. The timing in the grand scheme of eternity is meaningless.
I have killed quite a few animals who I found suffering. I felt no remorse because I believe I was helping them.
--------------------
Republican Values:
1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.
4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Sventington
am what I am what I am what I am
Registered: 01/17/09
Posts: 532
Last seen: 12 years, 8 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Poid]
#13290544 - 10/04/10 08:21 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Poid said:
Quote:
Sventington said:
...I live a fairly comfortable life as it is, I don't feel the need to murder anyone to improve it.
The implication being that you would push the button if your life sucked ass?
Not as far as I know.
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Sventington
am what I am what I am what I am
Registered: 01/17/09
Posts: 532
Last seen: 12 years, 8 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Icelander]
#13290552 - 10/04/10 08:23 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said:
Quote:
Sventington said:
I wouldn't. A million dollars would be nice, but as I live a fairly comfortable life as it is, I don't feel the need to murder anyone to improve it.
You could give it to charity. One tiny murder and you could help hundreds to live a better life. Don't be selfish.
Can't help you with that one. The people will have to get by some other way, I'm not doing a dirty deed to assist them.
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Cynosure
allow me to be your guide.
Registered: 10/06/09
Posts: 4,228
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Icelander]
#13290584 - 10/04/10 08:31 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said:
I will drink a toast to their memory secure in the knowledge I spared them old age and suffering.
--------------------
"You can peel it [language] off the ceiling and make it dance in front of you" - McKenna
<3 .
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Would you push the button?? [Re: Sventington]
#13290871 - 10/04/10 09:28 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sventington said:
Quote:
Icelander said:
Quote:
Sventington said:
I wouldn't. A million dollars would be nice, but as I live a fairly comfortable life as it is, I don't feel the need to murder anyone to improve it.
You could give it to charity. One tiny murder and you could help hundreds to live a better life. Don't be selfish.
Can't help you with that one. The people will have to get by some other way, I'm not doing a dirty deed to assist them.
People just don't seem to care anymore.
--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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