Another one of those button questions.

[kiwiMark]

I think those of you who will not push the button for any amount are either full of shit or stupid. There has to be a number, lower than you might think, that is highly plus EV to take, and depending on how the money is used, may even increase your life expectancy to compensate.

I always hated it when, when we were playing the what's your price game, the one friend in high school would name ridiculous full of shit prices like "one million dollars" for, say, taking it up the ass. I say this because I think there are people who, for some reason, are unable/unwilling to take hypotheticals seriously and judge even halfway accurately how they'd behave, and I don't think I fall so strongly into that group (although who can say how well they know themselves, I guess).

I think pressing the button for ten cents has to already be +EV, because (as an atheist or whatever) there is no negative consequence to pushing the button that I can see.

I still maintain that I would not/could not push that button with a 1% chance of death. I guess the only reasoning I can offer up is along the same line as wufwugy's -- clearly we've evolved to have an aversion to risking death or we wouldn't still be here. Maybe a better question for me would be setting a fixed price and lowering the 1% death chance as the variable until there's a small enough chance that I'd be willing to push the button. Thinking about it right now though, I think I find it really really hard to nail down any kind of answer to that.




I'd also say (although maybe I'm not thinking this through clearly enough, it's late) that I don't believe I'm at all at high risk of ever dying from lack of money, nor being forced by lack of money into a job/situation where I'm risking immediate death in exchange for money (as in your solider or highrise construction worker examples), which means that pushing the button wouldn't be a case of same shit different odds for me - I'm not at any point balancing death against life but rather I'm balancing death against (what I hold to be fairly minor) improvements to my quality of life.

[a500lbgorilla]

I always hated it when, when we were playing the what's your price game, the one friend in high school would name ridiculous full of shit prices like "one million dollars" for, say, taking it up the ass. I say this because I think there are people who, for some reason, are unable/unwilling to take hypotheticals seriously and judge even halfway accurately how they'd behave, and I don't think I fall so strongly into that group (although who can say how well they know themselves, I guess).

I think pressing the button for ten cents has to already be +EV, because (as an atheist or whatever) there is no negative consequence to pushing the button that I can see.

I still maintain that I would not/could not push that button with a 1% chance of death. I guess the only reasoning I can offer up is along the same line as wufwugy's -- clearly we've evolved to have an aversion to risking death or we wouldn't still be here. Maybe a better question for me would be setting a fixed price and lowering the 1% death chance as the variable until there's a small enough chance that I'd be willing to push the button. Thinking about it right now though, I think I find it really really hard to nail down any kind of answer to that.




I'd also say (although maybe I'm not thinking this through clearly enough, it's late) that I don't believe I'm at all at high risk of ever dying from lack of money, nor being forced by lack of money into a job/situation where I'm risking immediate death in exchange for money (as in your solider or highrise construction worker examples), which means that pushing the button wouldn't be a case of same shit different odds for me - I'm not at any point balancing death against life but rather I'm balancing death against (what I hold to be fairly minor) improvements to my quality of life.

I think it's more of a social thing with those questions. If people have no fear of judgement or true reprisal for answering the questions, just about everyone will find an honest answer.

But you and I are of a mind on this one.

If I die, I die. All of my houses are in order and even if they weren't, I'd be too dead to care.

But there is much to do and many children to have and that makes me vested in protecting my life against any material cost.

[a500lbgorilla]

I think it's more of a social thing with those questions. If people have no fear of judgement or true reprisal for answering the questions, just about everyone will find an honest answer.

But you and I are of a mind on this one.

If I die, I die. All of my houses are in order and even if they weren't, I'd be too dead to care.

But there is much to do and many children to have and that makes me vested in protecting my life against any material cost.

<@:^)

[BennyLaRue]

I think pressing the button for ten cents has to already be +EV, because (as an atheist or whatever) there is no negative consequence to pushing the button that I can see.

What about living with the knowledge that you were willing to throw it all away for 10 cents?

This is a serious question. I wonder what the impact to one's psyche would be.

[Poker Orifice]

I asked a friend this question but I fk'd up on the wording...
I told them > 99x out of 100 it electrocutes you to death but the 1x out of 100 you get money.
THen asked them > "How much you do it for?"

They answered "One Million"

I said, "Me too!" but then I realized I'd fk'd up on the question, lol.

[NightGizmo]

I think pressing the button for ten cents has to already be +EV, because (as an atheist or whatever) there is no negative consequence to pushing the button that I can see.

Being an atheist does not equate to assigning a value of 0 to your own life. In fact, the reason I wouldn't push the button is because I so highly value my own life relative to money. I can always find more ways to get money -- I can't replace my life. And I'd like to live out the rest of the life I have remaining, not lose it in a bad gamble (imo) for some extra money I don't need.

But I guess I get the luxury of refusing because I already make enough money to cover my needs.

[kiwiMark]

Being an atheist does not equate to assigning a value of 0 to your own life.

You're putting words into my mouth. So far I've said it would be impossible for me to regret pushing the button, and that there would be no negative consequence to pushing the button.

I'm not sure if my logic/reasoning was unclear or if you follow it but don't agree with it. Assuming it was unclear: both regret and consequences are things that, by definition, happen afterwards. In this situation, 99 times out of 100 there is a positive outcome, and the other 1 time there is no outcome, as nothing happens afterwards because there is no afterwards.


benny's question is legit, but I have no good answer for it. Maybe it'd be balanced by "holy shit I'm lucky to be alive I'll cherish every second of it", when you do start reflecting on the decision you made. Probably wouldn't be a good story to tell in job interviews.

[NightGizmo]

I'm not sure if my logic/reasoning was unclear or if you follow it but don't agree with it. Assuming it was unclear: both regret and consequences are things that, by definition, happen afterwards. In this situation, 99 times out of 100 there is a positive outcome, and the other 1 time there is no outcome, as nothing happens afterwards because there is no afterwards.

I get your logic, but I strongly disagree with the bolded part above. Losing your life is a huge negative component of the EV calc. Just because you aren't around to regret your decision doesn't mean that you haven't lost something tangible.

If you use your same logic -- is it OK for someone to kill you for no reason, because you won't be around to care?

In case it's just that I threw the word atheist in there that's messing with people, it doesn't have anything to do with not believing in a god, but the point is the belief/knowledge that when I die the "I" totally ceases to be.

FYI -- I'm an atheist. With no expectation of an afterlife, I value my life very highly.