# Would you push the red button? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726 "2018-04-19T18:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/21 "2018-04-19T20:17:24Z")
Only if the button in question is sufficiently beeyootiful, shiny, jolly, and/or candy-like. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/22 "2018-04-19T20:21:04Z")
Twice. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/23 "2018-04-19T20:27:30Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Twice. You _are_ optimistic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/24 "2018-04-19T20:34:47Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Reminds me of the bell and little hammer that is discovered in Charn in C.S. Lewis’ “The Magician’s Nephew.” > > There was no time element, just the poem on the stand holding the bell: > > _Make your choice, adventurous Stranger, > Strike the bell and bide the danger, > Or wonder, till it drives you mad, > What would have followed if you had._ Reminds me of Bobbi, in the Stephen King novel The Tommyknockers, asking Gard, “Do you think humans can push away any knowledge once they’ve seen the edge of it?” and his reply, “I had been picketing nuclear power plants on that assumption, yes…” Poor Gard. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/25 "2018-04-19T21:10:17Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I voted yes, but I meant to vote no. I got tricked by the order of the responses. This may have been me. On second thought, I think I’d just walk around it and keep going. I might mutter “what the fuck” as I did so. There ya go. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/26 "2018-04-19T21:23:28Z")
I hastily kick, bat, knock, or throw the box as far away as possible and hide under my desk or behind the nearest makeshift protection/barrier. If it happens to land or bounce button-first… :eek: Oops! :smack: And maybe I’ll survive long enough to see what the countdown brings. –G! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/27 "2018-04-19T21:24:35Z")
No. I would wonder what it does, but I would also think that someone was attempting to make me responsible for their horribleness. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/28 "2018-04-19T21:28:19Z")
I voted yes even though I’m confronted with giant red buttons all day long and never press them. Pressing them without reason means my job. But if there is a countdown, that usually means there is a fire and a halon drop is imminent. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/29 "2018-04-19T21:38:32Z")
Well, I haven’t had this happen to me in real life. However, in the movies, a red button and a synthesized female countdown generally indicates a self-destruct sequence. So, no, I don’t think I’d push it, unless I felt like the button would cancel it? I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/30 "2018-04-19T21:46:58Z")
Can I pee on it? I’m gonna pee on it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/31 "2018-04-19T22:48:02Z")
The button? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LJQ-LZYAMBQ/maxresdefault.jpg "The Button") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJQ-LZYAMBQ) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/32 "2018-04-19T23:03:48Z")
I chuck it [del]into the quarry[/del] out the back door, where it will roll down the hill. Then I throw myself against the floor. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/33 "2018-04-20T00:20:30Z")
_SLAM_… \… Where’s the _KABOOM!_? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/34 "2018-04-20T00:48:14Z")
Nope. Sure, if they wanted to do something bad, they wouldn’t need my help. But the same goes with something good. The main thing is that it means someone has snuck into my house, and they are clearly pressuring me into doing something. I don’t trust them, so I’m going to be defiant. And, yes, I might run away, because they may still be in the house. This is my instinctual reaction to being pressured: angry defiance. Throw in a reason to think that the installer is untrustworthy, and it becomes nearly certain. Plus, if my reaction results in something bad happening or anything good not happening, it’s not really my fault, since I was unaware anything bad could happen. It’s just someone else being a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/35 "2018-04-20T01:06:58Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’ve seen Lost. I’d keep pressing it until I can get some other sucker to take over the job. J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof destroy another good story yet again with their inane “mystery box” theory of entertainment. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/36 "2018-04-20T01:07:43Z")
I hate it whenever I have to change my meds. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/37 "2018-04-20T01:30:57Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof destroy another good story yet again with their inane “mystery box” theory of entertainment. Speaking of mystery boxes, I like the one from [Fargo](https://youtu.be/S7tFSsqJwIo). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/38 "2018-04-20T03:11:00Z")
Does it mean I get to call you **slythe** again? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/39 "2018-04-20T10:21:43Z")
Two more wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/40 "2018-04-20T10:22:09Z")
I think I’d push it. I’m fairly risk averse, but for me, the countdown seems to be the biggest risk, given the mysterious and timely appearance of the button itself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726.md?page=3)