Tim Urban
8.2K posts
George Washington died in 1799. The first dinosaur fossil was discovered in 1864. George Washington never knew dinosaurs existed
This single-celled protozoan passing though another one under a microscope
it was interesting that the comments for both of these were full of people saying "see everyone, this OBVIOUSLY clarifies the original problem!!!" not realizing the other poll with the opposite result existed too
Everyone in the world has to take a private vote by pressing a red or blue button. If more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone survives. If less than 50% of people press the blue button, only people who pressed the red button survive. Which button would you press?
We're doing the "Blender" game again There is a large blender. Everyone in the world has to decide whether to step into the blender. If at least 50% of the people do step into the blender, it will be unable to overcome their inertia to get started, and everyone survives. If less than 50% of the people step into the blender, then they all get blended up into paste and die. People who do not step into the blender suffer no adverse effects. Would you step into the blender? (Blue=step into the blender, Red= don't do that)
Suddenly standing alone in the room, I begin by imagining humanity banding together and blue winning in a landslide, and I feel a rush of pride. Red is the genocide button. Blue is the “save humanity from this nightmare” button. I know what kind of person I am. As my hand hovers over the blue button, I can’t help but imagine a gun pointing at my head with a bullet in one of the chambers. I feel a surge of fear shoot through my body. Then I think about all the other people staring at the blue button and thinking the same thing. Surely some of those who initially decided to press blue will succumb to the fear. It starts to feel like a gun with two loaded chambers. A stronger pulse of terror. The more I think about it, the more I worry about other people thinking about it. My heart races. Then I look at the red button—a gun with no bullets in it. A glorious feeling of relief washes over me. Will I hate myself forever if blue wins because enough others were better and braver than me? But don’t I owe it to my family to protect myself? One vote won’t change anything anyway, right? It’s all irrelevant because the mammal I live in has already made up its mind. I wince and press red.
everyone in the world has to take a private vote by pressing a red or blue button if more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone dies if less than 50% of people press the blue button, only people who pressed the red button die which button would you press?
We asked this to a large sample of nationally representative Americans - blue wins by a 3:1 margin!
The Trump administration is waging a vindictive campaign against the organizations that safeguard our democracy. Weaponizing the DOJ to indict long-standing watchdogs is a message: if you defend voting rights, fight white supremacy, or protect civil rights, you’re next. This is an assault on the institutions that make freedom real for everyone. They will not succeed.
