u/Impossible-Fuel-6618

for the ebq source 3

I am specifically referring to this: 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?

The ideal outcome is that no one dies.

• On the red side, everyone has to choose red to survive; it is simply impossible to coordinate 8 billion+ people to do so.
• On the blue side, only 50 percent have to choose blue, which is way more probable. The majority of the world come from collectivist society so I think it is fair to say that blue would gain the majority.

From a purely survival standpoint, red is ideal because you live either way, but you also condemn at least 15% of the world to death, so collective action is needed to prevent those from dying. This is why we recycle, pay taxes, etc. Not because it makes a difference, but because compounded over billions of people, it does.