# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/61 "2018-04-22T11:45:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m turning over the box, getting out my utility tool, and unscrewing the screws in the back. Or if there aren’t any screws, I look for some other means of opening the case, escalating my efforts gradually but surely until I get it open. I might also try slipping a screwdriver in beside the button and prying it off. Boxes instantaneously materializing in front of me are a lot more interesting than countdowns or buttons, and I want to figure out how it works. You remind me of Buzz Aldrin’s response to a reporter who asked him what he would have done if the LM ascent engine had failed to ignite, and he was stranded and doomed to die on the moon. The reporter was fishing for some kind of deeply philosophical insight. Aldrin replied that he’d spend the time trying to fix the damn problem. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/62 "2018-04-24T19:18:49Z")
[Button, Button](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)) > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Arthur and Norma Lewis […]receive a mysterious locked box with a button atop it and a note that says Mr. Steward will come visit. […]He gives Norma the key to the box and explains that if they press the button then two things will happen: they will receive $200,000 but in consequence someone “whom [they] don’t know” will die.[…]Finally, [Norma] decides to push the button much to her husband’s disgust. > > The next day, Mr. Steward returns and takes back the box, giving the shocked couple a briefcase with the $200,000. […]Norma also asks what will happen to the box and Steward ominously replies that the button will be “reprogrammed” and offered to someone else with the same terms and conditions. Steward focuses on Norma and states “I can assure you it will be offered to someone whom you don’t know”. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/63 "2018-04-24T20:13:35Z")
Take it apart, find the tiny temptress whose siren call is trying to seduce me, and make her my pet. Also solve the mystery of how this magical box appeared out of nowhere and use the secret of teleportation to make Grillions, which is like partly a huge amount of money, and partly a huge amount of grilled onions. Both great things. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/64 "2018-04-24T20:15:26Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > [Button, Button](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)) What I always liked about the Button, Button episode is that they gave it a really interesting twist. The couple went through all kinds of debate about who the person that died might be, like ‘are you killing a bad person, or someone already on their deathbed, or is it a kid who’s got a whole life ahead of him, or a scientist about to discover the cure, or just who?’ And IIRC they even hit on the idea of ‘well, if we don’t push it, the next person will, so the target will be dead no matter what we do, so we may as well get the money’. But in all of their talking, they never thought ‘what if the target is just the last person to push the button?’, which completely changes the character of the question of whether to press it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/65 "2018-04-24T20:54:25Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > What I always liked about the Button, Button episode is that they gave it a really interesting twist. The couple went through all kinds of debate about who the person that died might be, like ‘are you killing a bad person, or someone already on their deathbed, or is it a kid who’s got a whole life ahead of him, or a scientist about to discover the cure, or just who?’ And IIRC they even hit on the idea of ‘well, if we don’t push it, the next person will, so the target will be dead no matter what we do, so we may as well get the money’. But in all of their talking, they never thought ‘what if the target is just the last person to push the button?’, which completely changes the character of the question of whether to press it. Button, Button is one of the best revival TZ episodes. And, in response to some of the answers here, they did open it up, and there was nothing in it (IIRC). Just an empty box, that still did what was promised, magically I assume. I still remember that last line… ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/66 "2018-04-24T21:02:18Z")
There’s a scene like that in the first episode of the 10th Dr Who (David Tennant). He pushes the button. Of course he’s also worked out what it’s for in advance… ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/67 "2018-04-25T00:07:39Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I voted yes, but I meant to vote no. I got tricked by the order of the responses. Not qualified to vote in Florida Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/68 "2018-04-25T03:17:20Z")
Count down aloud with box from 8 to 3 in monotone. At 3, throw box in such a way that button may, or may not, be depressed by whatever it hit. Mutter “hmm” regardless of outcome. Wait for next box. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/69 "2018-04-25T15:23:03Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Who the hell wants to push a _green_ button? people that want to go behind the green door 😉 ETA: I’m voting that I wouldn’t press the RED button but would press the GREEN one. Today. Tomorrow I may have voted differently. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/70 "2018-04-28T23:45:31Z")
If I can’t open the box, I assume it is likely to consist of a digital timer, a button, and a box, and nothing else: what else? There’s not even an entertaining lie to go along with it: the box _and_ its supposed mystery are just a boring, empty shell. I give it to a toddler to play with. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726/71 "2018-04-29T02:12:24Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > If I can’t open the box, I assume it is likely to consist of a digital timer, a button, and a box, and nothing else: what else? There’s not even an entertaining lie to go along with it: the box _and_ its supposed mystery are just a boring, empty shell. I give it to a toddler to play with. Don’t forget about the voice. There must be a speaker OR a tiny lady trapped inside. What if pressing the button sets her free? What if it kills her? So much mystery! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-push-the-red-button/812726.md?page=3)