scenario: Everyone in the world over the age of 18 is given a black box with a small red button. If they press that button within 48 hours someone of their choosing will immediately drop dead.
Now the twist. What do you think your chances of surviving this experiment are?
Somewhere close to 100%. Nobody hates me that much.
On an unrelated note, I should maybe make an apologetic call to an ex.
Or two.
Back before 2015: maybe my odds of surviving were not close to “certain.”
In 2026: I’d say that if the boxes are all delivered at the exact same time and no one knows that other people have one, the odds are excellent that I would survive. Because who is going to use that wish up on me??
People will know either because they were with others when it happened or because they will blab.
Yes, in the scenario you propose, people would know. Or at least they would, what, read the instructions? and thus know what the button purports to do.
Of course I was making the obvious point that after 2015 the world may well have a Most Hated Person (and it isn’t me!) But if everyone knows that there are 7 billion + of these boxes*, they may not all use up their vote on the most-hated person, assuming that others will take care of him.
*a pure guess at the ‘over 18’ world population.
One ex who is much too kind-hearted to wish death on me (but if he wished it for anyone, it could well be me. I’m afraid I was a stinker.)
Other than that, I can’t imagine that I made that much of an impression on anyone else. Oh wait, there’s my husband’s crazy alcoholic niece who thinks I’m keeping him from talking to her. And her crazy alcoholic mother/enabler.
That would be an interesting topic: who would the world’s most-hated person choose to murder? Probably some poor target-of-the-moment who got under his skin 2 minutes before the box arrived. (Sorry, I hope this doesn’t lead to a hi-jack and turn into another you-know-who thread.)
Addendum. The box comes with a little light that stay on until the person you pick is killed by your box. No wasted button pushing on those already dead.
May we assume that these boxes are manufactured by Lucifer LLC?? Or possibly by Meta?
When did they become separate entities?
Great twist. Does everyone get to use it only once? I’d probably survive. If it’s multiple uses, there are a couple of people who’d get to me eventually.
Yes, my apologies for hinting broadly in that direction.
But it would be interesting to know how often in human history there HAS been a ‘most hated’ person. Not too often, maybe, given that world domination hasn’t really been possible until the middle of the 20th century (or so).
Heh.
(I really struggled between Meta, Amazon . com Inc., and whatever Elon is calling his companies these days.)
One time only.
Not too difficult to predict. For practical purposes, these boxes already exist, and are commonly available to anyone in the US. If nobody’s gunned you down yet, they probably won’t box you, either.
That leads to interesting strategy. I wouldn’t choose a famous hated person because someone else would already get to them and it would be a waste. There’s that one woman who threatened to kill me because I was banging her girlfriend even though I didn’t know she was cheating. I have no beef with her even though she called me a “tiny dicked Jew” (as if). Maybe I take her out first for self preservation.
I’d say my chances are excellent. No one alive hates me.
One time only, I’d expect a very high to 100% survival chance. Even among jilted ex-girlfriends, I can’t still be on the top of their list unless they’ve led an exceptionally charmed life.
I assume that I would, like the vast majority of people, be 100% safe.
I think the more interesting question is how many people would be, as in Pluribus, instantly dead. And who would they be? Sure, the obvious candidates would be gone in a flash but I think many, many celebrities would be victim of the one person that really wants to drive home the point about how much they hate them. Many politicians, rich bastards, media darlings, sports stars, criminals and artists would be gone. I imagine the more people that know who you are, the greater the chance that one of them will choose you.
I teach middle school. And not a fun elective class.
All joking aside, I’m just that important to have random enemies and I don’t think my own kids hate me that much.