Submission 4,276

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lisatomic @lisatomic5 Ø .. Poll question from my 12yo: Everyone responding to this poll chooses between a blue pill or red pill. - if >50% of ppl choose blue pill, everyone lives - if not, red pills live and blue pills die Which do you choose? Blue Red 68,774 votes Final results 64.9% 35.1%

nooooo you HAVE to press blue or else you are LITERALLY A MURDERER who is going to KILL MEEEEEEEE heh.... stupid blues... im pressing red because i only care about myself 34% 34% 68% game theory dictates that there is no downside for pressing red. it is only by pressing blue that you add the risk of death to the game. blue pressers are suicidal, and convincing others to join your suicide pact is deeply immoral. 31 14% 14% 0.1% 2% 2% 95% 0.1% 10 score 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 imgflip.com

Aetius @AetiusRF "Alright Gigachad if you push the blue button all of the third world never hungers again but you die. But if you click the red button the third world disappears a-" *click* "Please let me finish this ethical quandary Gigachad" Serious hat Serious Suit

ULTIMATE DEATH GAMBLE NOTHING HAPPENS. YOU ENTER THE ULTIMATE DEATH GAMBLE: YOU AND EVERYONE WHO PRESSES THIS BUTTON DIES! UNLESS MORE THAN 50% OF PEOPLE CHOSE TO PRESS THIS BUTTON.

RED VS BLUE BUTTON "Everyone picks a button, red or blue. If most people pick red, everyone who picked blue dies If most people pick blue, everyone lives" This framing makes blue seem altruistic, but it's not. Because, stripped of its framing, blue presents a chance of death whereas red doesn't. And everyone can pick red. Reworded, you can simply state: "if you push blue you might die, if you push red you will live." Framed differently everyone will pick red despite being the same situation. Blue is a self-imposed risk, those who pick blue are not being killed by red but by themselves There is no excess benefit to picking blue. In one sense blue may save everyone, in another 49.9% of the population may die because blues miscalculated. And everyone is voting. That is billions. You being the decider is mathmatically almost impossible, and you don't know if you are. On the individual level you have a 1 in several quintillion chance of saving everyone with blue, or a ~50% (likely greater if this situation were real and not a funny hypothetical) chance of dying. Picking blue is only a net gain in value if your life means nothing or you are certainly the tiebreaker. Blue would only be altrusistic if not everyone could pick red. But they can. That doesn't mean they will, but they have the choice, blueness is not intrinsic. People who pick blue are choosing to take a risk that doesn't actually benefit anyone. They think they are protecting others but are actually just risking themselves. Reds would get the same positive outcome without any risk if everyone chose red. And it's the more responsible individual decision. Blue is not saving the world or virtuous. Blue is russian roulette. The original framing is loaded. Saying that it is good to pick blue, or that everyone must pick blue, is saying that everyone is responsible for risks others take. Are you responsible when someone else drinks and drives? Would you die so they can drink and drive? You should not.

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Red Button or Blue Button Question

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Updated Apr 28, 2026 at 04:14PM EDT by Zach.

Added Apr 27, 2026 at 12:27PM EDT by Zach.

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About

Red Button or Blue Button Question or Red vs. Blue Button Moral Dilemma Poll refers to a thought experiment and hypothetical question proposing a philosophical ethical dilemma (similar to the Trolley Problem) in which everyone in the world must take a private vote by pressing either a red or blue button, with the rules being that if more than 50 percent of people press the blue button, everyone survives, but if less than half of people press the blue button, only those who pushed the red one will survive.

The question has been polled in various forms since at least early 2023 on Reddit, with a post by X / Twitter user Tim Urban (waitbutwhy) in late April 2026 becoming significantly viral, with numerous polls, reactions, discussions and memes appearing in the following days as the viral debate spread online.

Origin

On April 20th, 2023, Redditor Deadshot37 posted the earliest known example of the red vs. blue button question on the /r/polls^[2] subreddit, with the post asking:

In front of you appears red and blue button. If more than 50% of the people presses the red button, everybody who pressed the blue button dies. If more than 50% of the people presses the blue button, nobody dies. What button will you press?

The Reddit poll closed with over 4,000 votes, with 1,100 choosing the red button, 2,600 selecting the blue button, and roughly 300 choosing to just see the results. The post itself garnered roughly 120 upvotes and 100 comments in three years.

On August 13th, 2023, X / Twitter^[9] user lisatomic5 tweeted a similar version of the question but replacing the buttons will pills, phrasing it as "Everyone responding to this poll chooses between a blue pill or red pill. If > 50% of ppl choose blue pill, everyone lives. If not, red pills live and blue pills die." The poll received over 5.2 million views, 2,700 likes, 2,300 retweets, 890 replies and 68,774 votes in roughly three years. The final results ended with 64.9 percent choosing blue and 35.1 percent choosing red.

On April 24th, 2026, X / Twitter^[1] user Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) posted another example in a tweet with a poll asking the platform, "Everyone in the world has to take a private vote by pressing a red or blue button. If more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone survives. If less than 50% of people press the blue button, only people who pressed the red button survive. Which button would you press?"

The tweet garnered over 22.5 million views, 11,000 likes, 7,300 retweets and 5,300 replies in three days, with the poll results of over 95,500 votes concluding with 57.9 percent of participants selecting the blue button and 42.1 percent choosing the red button.

Spread

The question and poll posed by X / Twitter user Tim Urban rapidly received viral engagement in late April 2026 as it spread online, prompting numerous users to share their thoughts or post memes referencing it.

For instance, on April 24th, 2026, the same day as the initial post with the poll, Twitter user HunterEKozak replied to the original tweet with a video and the caption, "The correct answer," garnering over 190,000 views, 3,200 likes, 230 retweets and 240 replies in three days.

The correct answer https://t.co/wp2JVEh4yb pic.twitter.com/dlbvROBd7y

— Hunter Kozak 🧦🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@HunterEKozak) April 24, 2026

That same day, Twitter^[3] user ItsRobbAllen shared a tweet about the viral question, stating, "New Trolley problem has arrived, only it's dumber. Pres Red – 100% chance of living. Blue – Non-zero chance of dying. It has nothing to do with empathy for others unless you're stuck on suicidal empathy, which is YOUR fault, not mine. There is ZERO logical reason for ANYONE to press blue. NONE." The tweet received over 633,800 views, 4,100 likes and 925 replies in three days.

Shortly after, Twitter^[4] user fuk65194458 posted a Wojak meme with a Soyjak Award character reacting to the poll, garnering over 142,200 views and 4,500 likes in three days.

VOTED RED! A Tim Urban @waitbutwhy Red: only you live Blue: everyone lives Red Blue 3,775 votes 22 hours left . 43.3% 56.7%

The poll also spread to Reddit in late April 2026, with Redditor Blue_Egg5026 reposting it to the /r/moraldilemmas^[5] subreddit on April 24th, receiving over 510 comments in three days.

On April 25th, 2026, Twitter^[6] user Fat_Electrician replied to the poll in a tweet advocating for the red button option in the moral dilemma, garnering over 167,000 views, 4,800 likes and 280 replies in two days.

The Fat Electrician @Fat_Electrician This is fascinating. Logically the answer is red button: If you push the red button, you survive guaranteed. That applies to everyone. Just press red and go home, everyone lives, the end. The only reason you'd press the blue button is: A. You're a f------ moron. B. You want to die. Q C. You're willing to risk your life to save A&B from the consequences of their own decisions. It's the perfect embodiment of the mentality that society constantly needs to deprioritize itself to cater to the lowest common denominator. To save them from themselves. Now the question is: is that suicidal empathy that will bring about the end of society, or is it a remarkable display of humanity that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom?

Also on April 25th, the tweet and poll were reposted to the /r/fivethirtyeight^[7] subreddit, receiving over 260 upvotes and 1,400 comments in two days.

On April 26th, 2026, Medium^[8] user Jacob Ferus then published an article on the viral poll titled "The Question that is Dividing the Internet — Blue or Red Button?" The post describes the virality behind the poll, as well as breaking down discourse and the choices behind it.

BLUE WINS (>50% BLUE) YOU PRESS BLUE YOU PRESS RED >50% YOU LIVE YOU LIVE BLUE LOSES (<50% BLUE) (☑ <50% YOU DIE YOU LIVE

Various Examples

Nothing happens If you press this button and not enough other people also do, in order to save your stupid ass for pressing this button for no reason, then you all die "Selfless Hero Mouthbreathers

Search Interest

External References

^[1] X / Twitter – waitbutwhy

^[2] Reddit – r/polls

^[3] X / Twitter – ItsRobbAllen

^[4] X / Twitter – fuk65194458

^[5] Reddit – r/moraldilemmas

^[6] X / Twitter – Fat_Electrician

^[7] Reddit – r/fivethirtyeight

^[8] Medium – The Question that is Dividing the Internet -- Blue or Red Button?

^[9] X / Twitter – lisatomic5

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