Something that has recently started to interest me more is what I’ll call the “red button” moral dilemma. It’s the one where they ask “there’s a big red button in a room. If you press it, you get a million dollars, but a random person you don’t know dies. Do you press it?”
Whenever I’ve heard people talk about it, it wasn’t seriously considered with much thought. However, I would say more people said yes rather than no. I have to admit, I said yes when I first heard the question.
I don’t think most people consider the implications of their decision since they know they’ll never actually be faced with this decision. I know I didn’t. People nowadays would say they are against slavery, but saying yes to the red button question is practically the same as slavery; you’re trading the life of a person for money.
As I was thinking about it, I realized this is something that parallels the current-day world. We hate the billionaires who hoard money for only their benefit, and who sacrifice others that they’ll never know in order to benefit themselves. But all they’ve really done is press the “red button.” They decided their comfort and money were more important than faceless people they’d never interact with. We all rightfully see these people’s actions and lives as cruel and evil, but are we really much better when we so quickly would trade a life for a fraction of what they do?
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