16 Personalities on the Red Button vs Blue Button Dilemma

Indexado: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]It's the debate taking the internet by storm. The concept is simple. Everyone in the world must take a secret vote by pressing either a red button or a blue button. If blue wins, everybody lives.

[00:00:11]If red wins, only those who voted red live. We asked 16 people which one they would choose, the red button or the blue button. I would press red. Interesting.

[00:00:23]Then I'd place a bet on blue so I'd feel like I won either way. Okay. Wow. I'd choose blue. No hesitation. Why? It's the right thing to do. Do you think most people would be so dedicated to doing the right thing? All I know is this. You got to choose blue. It's the right thing to do. And if you pick red, there's something wrong with your head. Oh. Uh, I like that. I just made it up off the top of my dome. Okay. Want to hear more?

[00:00:44]Sorry. We got to move on. Red. Why red?

[00:00:47]If blue wins, no harm, no foul. If red wins, I'll survive. And hopefully it'll be easier to get a seat when I go to the coffee shop.

[00:00:55]What? That's your incentive? A seat at the coffee shop? It's always crowded. It takes forever to get my drink cuz all these high school students are mobbing the place. And then I have to sit at the big communal table with the peanut gallery. Then people try to talk to me even though I'm clearly on my laptop watching YouTube. It's terrible.

[00:01:12]Well, my brother and his wife said they'd press the red button. But what about you? My friend Jimmy said he'd press blue. So did my neighbor Mrs. Yamamoto. But what about you? Well, my mom's old hairdresser said. No, stop.

[00:01:23]Not what someone else said. What do you choose? Um, the red button is what Mr. Kenny the janitor said.

[00:01:30]>> No. This is quite an interesting scenario when one applies Emanuel Kant's categorical imperative. Sir, this is a YouTube video. You just lost 99.9999999% of the audience. It's simple really.

[00:01:43]Basically, the way to figure out if an action is moral is to imagine if everyone made the same decision all the time, would it cause society to fall apart? Of course, in this scenario, if everyone voted the same way, everyone would live, whether red or blue won.

[00:01:55]Exactly. So, Kant's categorical imperative is of no help. So, did you just bring it up to sound smart? Uh, yeah. Great. There are only two ways in this scenario to prevent the deaths of innocent people. For 100% of people to press red or for 50% plus one person to press blue. I believe most people will see it the way I see it and press blue.

[00:02:17]You think that they would choose to risk their lives in the belief that most other people would do the same? Uh, I hadn't thought about it that way. And most people won't think of it that way either, which proves my point. Sure it does. Red is the only way to be sure you survive. Logically, everyone should just press red. But many won't. If they're dumb enough to press blue, knowing it's the only choice that could kill them, that's on them. But your vote would be sealing the fate of billions of people.

[00:02:43]Look, red won't win. How do you know? Uh again, society at scale is too dumb to think about this logically. Ah, people should think about it this way. If you vote red, someone might end up dead. If you vote blue, that someone might be you. Oh, I I like that. I just made it up off the top of my dome. Okay. Want to hear more? I do not. So, everyone has to choose a button. Yes, including my six-month old daughter, who can't sit up, much less understand the premise of this vote. Okay. Well, obviously babies wouldn't vote. Is it obvious? You said everyone. Everyone above the age of 18.

[00:03:13]What about my aunt Hilda? What about her? She's in a coma. Oh. Uh, I'm I'm sorry to hear that. Has been for 20 years. Ever since her trombone accident.

[00:03:22]Clearly, there's a story there. And I'm not going to ask. Let's say coma patients are out. What about my friend Jimmy?

[00:03:30]Okay. What about Jimmy? He's color blind. How's he going to tell the buttons apart? It'll have the words red and blue written on it. He can't read.

[00:03:36]Then the buttons will be explained by a short video. Oh, let me guess. Jimmy is blind and deaf and has no arms or legs and cannot speak. That's right. This video was a bad idea. And with the dark subject matter, it's going to be a miracle if it doesn't get demonetized.

[00:03:50]Support the channel and smack that like button, subscribe, dingdong the bell, leave a comment, buy merch, become a member, pray for us. So, if Red wins, it would be like Thanos snapping his fingers. What are you talking about? You know, Thanos saying his name again is not going to make me suddenly know who he is. The purple guy from the Avengers movies.

[00:04:08]He puts on some fancy gloves and snaps his fingers and half of all living things just disappear. Sure, it would be just like Thanos. But which button would you push? I guess blue. Cuz if Red wins, the Avengers can just do like in the movie and go back in time and undo it.

[00:04:21]Oh, come on. Spoiler alert. You had no idea who Thanos was. I figured you wouldn't care. Well, you got me interested in seeing the movie, but then you ruined it, so now there's no point.

[00:04:30]Depends on how I'm feeling that day.

[00:04:32]Really? Some days I love everyone. Some days humanity just ticks me off. You'd vote to possibly wipe out millions of people just because you're in a bad mood. Maybe if people were nicer to me, Brian, they wouldn't have to worry about me voting to take out their blue button pressing butts. Okay, take that to the bank and smoke it. Where do we find these people? I'd choose blue and hope red wins. Dark. We're talking about a world where everyone is forced to participate in this ghastly ritual. For all I know, there could be another vote just like it the very next day. I'd honestly rather live in the Hunger Games. At least then I'd have a shot at winning the Hunger Games. No, of getting a date with Katniss Everdine.

[00:05:12]>> What? You'd honestly have a better shot of winning the Hunger Games. Okay, just saying. I just have to wonder who has the most to gain from this whole scenario. To me, the answer is clear.

[00:05:22]Big button. Big button. To pull this off, you'd need hundreds of millions of buttons. The companies making them would make a fortune. Okay, but what button would you press? Not to mention the companies hosting the servers to count the votes and then the cyber security companies protecting the data. Those contracts would be astronom astronomical. It's all done with magic.

[00:05:39]The buttons appear magically. The votes are counted magically. Nobody is making any money. Now, what button do you choose? So, an evil wizard is behind it.

[00:05:46]Stop thinking about this so much. I choose green. That's not an option.

[00:05:50]Well, it should be. That's not the question. I am sick of this twob button system. That's great, but there are only two. We need a viable third button. It's never going to happen. In Europe, they have three buttons. Sometimes even four or five. Fine. You can have a stupid green button if it'll make you stop asking for it. Thank you. So, now that you have this pointless third option, which do you choose? Uh, well, what happens if green wins? It doesn't matter cuz it will never win in a million years. You're throwing away your vote.

[00:06:16]>> Oh, yeah. So, with that in mind, which will you >> Green? Okay. I'd refuse to vote. The penalty for refusing is death. They'd have to catch me first. There are cameras everywhere. Well, I'll have constructed a series of underground tunnels. There are tracking devices embedded in everyone's brains. I'll figure out how to remove it. You'd figure out how to remove an object from your brain. Yeah, I've done it before.

[00:06:37]Okay, clearly there's a story there and I'm not going to ask. I would probably press the blue button. Why blue? Well, that's the right thing to do. Plus, I get the feeling most people would pick blue. So, if you thought red would win, you'd choose red. No. You sure about that? Uh, yes. If you got the strong vibe that everyone was going to press red and you might be literally the only person in the world to choose blue, you'd still choose it. Well, you said the vote's secret, right?

[00:07:07]>> Yes. Then for the record, I would press blue. Of course, if you pick red and red wins, everyone will know that's how you voted.

[00:07:14]>> Yeah, I'd choose red. Interesting. I'd pray my coworker Timmy chose blue. So, you'd potentially sacrifice half the population just to kill Timmy.

[00:07:26]Okay, thanks for watching.

[00:07:30]>> Call him Mr.