Say during some archaelogical dig we find a giant red button. The runes around it, when translated, tell us that an advanced alien species filled the Earth with powerful explosives which pressing the button will set off, destroying the Earth.
We wouldn’t even make it through the translation process. About three minutes into it, some guy would say “I wonder what will happen if I push this?” and those will be the last words spoken by Mankind. Kinda fitting, that.
if there’s a big, shiny red button or lever, it must be inspected/poked/prodded/pulled/pushed.
Obviously, this is a guy thing. I suspect that very few women would ever push it.
I think it’s the same sequence in the genetic code that causes women to yell and scream and push your hand away when you say there’s something that smells funny on your finger.
I work at a large technology company whose name you would all recognize.
In our corporate data center, there is a large red button on the wall. There is no label, and there are no instructions. The button is not protected with a cover or otherwise made inaccessible. It’s just a big red button on the wall.
Everyone assumes the button is an emergency power cutoff, which can be pressed in the event of data center fire, or if V-Ger tries to download our memory core, or whatever. It’s a pretty good guess. Most data centers have something like this.
But here’s the thing: nobody knows for sure. Because we have had total staff turnover from the time the data center was designed and built. There’s nobody still at the company who was there when the button was installed. And there is absolutely no documentation about what the button is connected to.
So while it’s a reasonable assumption that the big red button is a failsafe of some variety, we have no idea exactly what it will do or, more importantly, what would or should be done to reverse its effects in the event it gets pressed.
Needless to say, everybody really, really, really wants to press it.
It’ll convert the two nuclear-tipped interceptors heading straight for you to suddenly and improbaby be transmuted into a sperm whale and a bowl of pentunias several miles above the surface of the Earth.
“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH,’ the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”
–Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
Didn’t we set off our first atomic bomb despite some calculations showing that there was a chance it would ignite the entire atmosphere? I think our hypothetical button would get pressed pretty quick.
But I have empirical evidence: once when I was first to arrive at our warehouse in the morning, I found a problem with our electrically-operated overhead door. Since the switch was not equipped with a lock-out device and I didn’t know where the circuit breaker was, I hung a red tag, with the words DO NOT USE, over the switch until we could get someone to work on it. Not five minutes later I watched as another guy came in, read the words on the tag, then lifted it and flipped the switch.
Oh, and Cervaise, if anyone ever does push that button at your data center, we all want to know what happened. If the Internet is still working after that, of course.