"The Box" - Would you press the button?
- Thread starter CygnusX
- Start date
I was having a discussion with a friend in a bar yesterday. He recently watched The Box. For those that don't know the movie, it's a psychological thriller that has Cameron Diaz and James Marsden in the leading roles. They play a young married couple who receive a wooden box on their doorstep. Inside the box is a button. If the button is pushed, they get one million dollars, but someone in the world will die.
My friend said that he would press the button, given the chance. He doesn't know that person, so it wouldn't affect him. I replied that I wouldn't do it, because I wouldn't be able to live with the feeling of having taken someone's life. My friend continued that he thought about it for a while after watching the movie and concluded that at least 90% of the people would push the button, if they think about it long enough. Now I'm wondering what you guys would you.
Would you press the button?
If you do, then ...
1) You get 5 million dollar. "The Box" is set in 1976, so let's make it more interesting
2) Someone in the world dies. Someone you don't know.
the movie sucks, you suck and this thread sucks.
But I leave you with this.
#WINNING
Ya that's a pretty textbook definition of inhumane.
To me, a person that would kill billions of people with no problem is living a pretty shitty life. I'm sorry but you'd have to go.
Positive Carry said:
Come again?
Stupid question.
The people that say they would take the money are just talking right now and will never know if they would man up and hit the button if the opportunity arose.
The people that say they couldn't do it don't have somebody waving a boat load of cash in their faces when they make that claim, people can rationalize all kinds of shit when the opportunity actually presents itself and nobody is watching.
The people that say they would take the money are just talking right now and will never know if they would man up and hit the button if the opportunity arose.
The people that say they couldn't do it don't have somebody waving a boat load of cash in their faces when they make that claim, people can rationalize all kinds of shit when the opportunity actually presents itself and nobody is watching.
Ridiculous easy game. Do you know how many lives you could save with $10,000 let alone 1 million? It's probably a lot. If you wouldn't press the button just realize you're pressing the button everyday when you drive around in your $20,000 car and make a payment on your $300,000 house (when you could easily drive a worse car and a live in a less nice house). I think I could man up and press the button in a heartbeat if that's all there is to it. If one life was what was stopping me, I could easily justify my pressing the button by spending $10,000-999,900 on saving lives every time I press the button.
You are absolutely correct. No one knows themselves quite that well, and really I don't know myself at all anymore. I'd like to think I wouldn't push it, but it would depend on how desperate I was at the time. I'm not very materialistic, but my needs go unmet. Whenever we take any action at the very least we have to justify it to ourselves. However our justifications can also be completely irrational, it doesn't matter so long as it satisfies your brain. Weak state of being, combined with an irrational justification for your action could make you do just about anything, especially if it's easy.
That's the thing, you don't know who it will be. If it was a serial killer or a child rapist, I'd probably do it as well. But it could just as well be a mother of 5 kids.
LOL
As far as what I'd do, I'm really not sure. I guess I wouldn't be able to make such a decision without being in the situation although I'd like to think that I would not press it.
The cool thing would be that the person who pushes the button dies a painful death in front of spectators. NO I wouldn't push the button.
Definitely wouldn't, figuring that there are currently 14 people who would press the button in this thread, 13 of those people would die, since pushing the button automatically kills the last person who pushed it. Screw that shit.
It said the last person. So take my million, destroy the box and fuck the guy before me, problem solved.
Fine Print on the underside: "Destroying this device will result in crashing the earth into the sun."
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Guess I don't need to see it now!
I figured this post would be ignored.