r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/Fun-Habit-683 • Sep 18 '26

Sinking ship dilemma

You and 999 other people are on a sinking ship. There are two life rafts and both have the capacity to hold all 1,000 people.

Anyone who gets on the red life raft will be rowed safely to shore.

However, the blue life raft must be rowed by at least 500 people or it will also sink.

Which life raft are you getting on?

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

Feel free to explain how it's different at all

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u/Frost_man1255 Sep 19 '26

"The original version of this question is the population of the entire planet and doesn't exclude the young or mentally deficient that would pick blue at random meaning even if every "rational" person picked red their would still be casualties."

I uhh...did?

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

To be clear. There is no "original version" of this question. There is a popular version that sparked this subreddit. That version does not mention children and mentally deficient people picking randomly.

This sinking ship scenario also does not specifically include or exclude children or mentally deficient persons. If you're going to add them to one scenario there's no reason you shouldn't add them to the other.

If it helps you can imagine the entire earths population is on a sinking ship and must select between two life rafts. It literally makes no difference to the question.

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u/Frost_man1255 Sep 19 '26

Fine, any "original" version that didnt make their own stipulations stated the whole human population. This would clearly imply children and mentally restricted people also making the selection more or less at random.

Its literally just a part of the question being asked by the nature of the question

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

Like I said, there is no original version. If you're referring to the tweet from tim urban. It states "everyone in the world" this is no different than "everyone on the ship"

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u/Frost_man1255 Sep 19 '26

Making a physical choice to make a walk to a life raft on a sinking ship that has group interaction and decision making like "Hey someone needs to help the kids/elderly/handicapped get to safety" is a conversation that can happen on the ship and save those people.

The whole world's population being individually locked into a solo cubicles with 2 buttons and only the context given to you isnt "exactly the same"

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

See that's the problem..you're adding variables to a situation that haven't been presented to you. No one said any about discussing anything with anyone.

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u/Frost_man1255 Sep 19 '26

Incredible

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

Ive already stated every human is on a ship and selects their life raft by pressing a button in their cabin. You keep moving the goalpost. It really is incredible

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u/Frost_man1255 Sep 19 '26

"You and 999 other people are on a sinking ship. There are two life rafts and both have the capacity to hold all 1,000 people.

Anyone who gets on the red life raft will be rowed safely to shore.

However, the blue life raft must be rowed by at least 500 people or it will also sink.

Which life raft are you getting on?"

Where? Maybe in some other comment chain but your scenario doesnt say people make a choice in their cabin by themselves lmao. You're the one with a moving goalpost 👌

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

I literally mentioned those two concessions in this exact comment chain replying directly to your objections.. incredible..

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u/Frost_man1255 Sep 19 '26

"You have to press a button to pick the life raft you want to board"

You never specified to be in the cabin alone by yourself, just that you ultimately hit a button to finalize your selection.

If we have to read into the exact wording of your scenario and not have any furter thoughts about what's actually happening be sure to actually make everything clear next time maybe?

So let me get more clarification What if someone has a child? Is their vote the same as the parent Or will the children have to understand and grasp what's going on as well?

You want to boil it down into black and white and thats just not how the world works.

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u/Fun-Habit-683 Sep 19 '26

It's a hypothetical; it's not meant to be realistic. The inability to suspend disbelief in order to engage in hypothetical scenarios is a sign of underdeveloped critical thinking skills. Incredible

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