# The hypothetical morals question about the mystery box with the death button **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518 "2012-04-12T00:50:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/1 "2012-04-12T00:50:56Z")
Where did this originate from? I know it was the plotline of a movie made about three or four years ago, the name of which completely escapes me. In case you’re unfamiliar, it goes something like this: a mysterious person presents you with a box that has a button on it. If you push the button, somebody you don’t know will die, and you will be given a very large sum of money. Do you push the button or not? I know the question predates the movie, because I clearly remember reading a short story in elementary school which presented this exact scenario. This would have probably been about 1971 or 1972, or thereabouts. It was in a children’s magazine aimed at an older elementary-aged audience. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure the magazine was named _The Reader_ or _The Weekly Reader_. Does anybody know the name of the story and its author, and if so, is that story the source of the hypothetical question, or does the question predate that story and originate from an even older source? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/2 "2012-04-12T00:57:59Z")
Well, the one I know was printed in [Playboy in 1970](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29#Short_story) :eek: but it’s possible both versions have a common “ancestor” that’s closer to that plot than the [one listed in the Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9nie_du_christianisme) (which involves killing by just thinking about it, apparently, and without mention of the “and you’re next” possibility). ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/3 "2012-04-12T01:56:17Z")
It was the plot of one of the episodes of the revived 80s Twilight Zone, one of the few good ones. “Oh well we will give it to someone else…someone you don’t know.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/4 "2012-04-12T02:15:53Z")
I think Jack Lemmon in “How to Murder Your Wife” presented the idea of a magic button that would kill someone when he was on trial for trying to murder Virna Lisa (so it was though). ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/5 "2012-04-12T02:37:47Z")
The recent movie you’re thinking of, by the way, is [The Box](http://www.avclub.com/articles/what-the-holy-living-fuck-case-file-157-the-box,38738/). The director was Richard Kelly, better known as the director of “Donnie Darko”. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/6 "2012-04-12T03:25:59Z")
The concept was used in an old Agatha Christie story, whose name I cannot find. The plot of the story revolved around killing a person unrelated to the killer in any way in order to achieve what the killer wanted, which I no longer remember. But the dilemma was described as “[Killing a Mandarin in China](https://www.google.com/search?q=killing+a+Mandarin+in+China)”: would you kill a random unknown person across the world somewhere if it would give you riches. ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/7 "2012-04-12T04:05:01Z")
From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)): > [@](#): > > “Button, Button” was first published in Playboy, June 1970, a short story written by Richard Matheson. The story was republished as part of a collection of Matheson’s short stories. > > In the original short story, the plot is resolved differently. Norma presses the button, and receives the money—after her husband dies in a train incident where Arthur is pushed onto the tracks (the money was the no-fault insurance settlement, which is $50,000 instead of the $200,000 in the Twilight Zone episode). A despondent Norma asks the stranger why her husband was the one who was killed. The stranger replies, “Did you really think you knew your husband?” > > Matheson strongly disapproved of the Twilight Zone version, especially the new ending, and used his pseudonym Logan Swanson for the teleplay. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/8 "2012-04-12T13:23:30Z")
I remember seeing a different version: a guy stumbles into an office and is offered the button by the person behind the desk for a large amount of money. Or he can leave the room. He eventually presses the button whereon the person is revealed to be the Devil, the floor underneath the guy collapses, and the guy goes to Hell, where, of course, the money is useless. The Devil, musing to himself, reveals that behind the door was Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/9 "2012-04-12T15:24:47Z")
_Button, Button_, as well as many of the other short stories featured in the 80’s incarnation of _The Twilight Zone_, were anthologized in a single paperback volume – IIRC, its title had the word “tomorrow” in it. We used it as a text in my high school freshman English class, ca. 1977. I watched the 80’s TZ during my college years – every episode I saw had a story from that anthology I read in the 9th grade. I’m convinced the show’s producers had a copy of that book. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/10 "2012-04-12T15:38:15Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I remember seeing a different version: a guy stumbles into an office and is offered the button by the person behind the desk for a large amount of money. Or he can leave the room. He eventually presses the button whereon the person is revealed to be the Devil, the floor underneath the guy collapses, and the guy goes to Hell, where, of course, the money is useless. The Devil, musing to himself, reveals that behind the door was Heaven. Probably [**Black Button**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=426924). Another [earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536632) on the subject, including talk about the **Twilight Zone** episode. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/11 "2012-04-12T16:01:59Z")
“Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving, for ever? If I offered you £20,000 for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/12 "2012-04-12T16:47:40Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Probably [**Black Button**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=426924). That’s the one. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/13 "2012-04-12T17:44:39Z")
[Comic](http://www.fishingtonpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/500x_click_click_click_comic.jpg) version. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/14 "2012-04-12T18:18:49Z")
This is interesting; I’m scrolling through a list on [tv.com](http://tv.com) of all first-season episodes of the 1980s reincarnation of _The Twilight Zone_. Another episode named _Examination Day_ aired that season. The plot involved a 12-year-old child undergoing a government-administered IQ test, with the plot twist being that examinees who score too high are euthanized by the totalitarian state. I also read that story in the same children’s magazine, at around the same time. I wonder if they were the original stories, or if they were rewritten to be ‘dumbed down’ for an elementary school-aged audience. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/15 "2012-04-12T18:50:32Z")
> [@3waygeek](#): > > _Button, Button_, as well as many of the other short stories featured in the 80’s incarnation of _The Twilight Zone_, were anthologized in a single paperback volume – IIRC, its title had the word “tomorrow” in it. We used it as a text in my high school freshman English class, ca. 1977. > > I watched the 80’s TZ during my college years – every episode I saw had a story from that anthology I read in the 9th grade. I’m convinced the show’s producers had a copy of that book. Looks like _[The Weekly Reader](http://www.weeklyreader.com/)_ is still very much [in existence and thriving](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Reader). I’m guessing that they also published your high school text. I’ll see if I can pinpoint that one as confirmation. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/16 "2012-04-12T19:17:32Z")
[I think I found it.](http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Tomorrow-Roger-Elwood/dp/0394824687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334258080&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/17 "2012-04-12T23:42:06Z")
This one probably belongs in Cafe Society rather than General Questions. Moved. **samclem** , Moderator ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/18 "2012-04-12T23:51:30Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > [Comic](http://www.fishingtonpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/500x_click_click_click_comic.jpg) version. That comic kinda reminds me of this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0y5dHmVRIc) that the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal guys did. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/19 "2012-04-13T01:33:26Z")
I remember hearing this story as an episode of [Radio Mystery Theater](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Radio_Mystery_Theater). Checking Wikipedia, I see it was “The Chinaman Button” written by Henry Slesar and broadcast on January 20, 1974. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518/20 "2012-04-13T16:14:55Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > [I think I found it.](http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Tomorrow-Roger-Elwood/dp/0394824687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334258080&sr=1-1) Maybe; however, our text was a paperback. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hypothetical-morals-question-about-the-mystery-box-with-the-death-button/618518.md?page=2)