Opinion What percentage of people would press a Doomsday Button?

[LMP]

I was just picturing a button in a big field with no one to stop you. I think theres a lot of crazy fuckers out there but theres a ton of safeguards in play to stop them from doing such a thing but if there wasnt 1 to 5 percent seems a reasonable answer to me

We aren't even think about when people are just having a bad day and are in a "duck ir" mood. Those numbers might be way higher.

 

[Lead]

I think under 1% would do it truly wanting to. And then there would be a number somewhere under 5% of generally stupid and/or angry people doing it without truly considering the consequences..

 

[Thrawn33]

If I knew the ICBMs were coming from the other guys?

In a heartbeat, would smash.

Let's settle this in Hell

 

[Fawlty]

We aren't even think about when people are just having a bad day and are in a "duck ir" mood. Those numbers might be way higher.

Lots of things like this to consider. I was talking about this with a friend, and this person seems to have a special talent for nailing what other people will think about things. I feel like I'm pretty good at it, but this person has kicked my ass in making predictions like this. They think it's 10-25% (low end of the range).

 

[spin]

Edit

 

[spin]

Darn, read the question wrong

 

[Islam Imamate]

More than you would think. I've met plenty of people that would say fuck it and take their chances. Its a scary thought but its also why we try to keep those buttons away from the likes of NK and Iran.

Who is "we"? The US? The only country to have ever used nukes against another?

 

[Trotsky]

What percentage of the population become mass/active shooters or suicide bombers?

I feel it's that same blatant disregard of human life that would result in a person knowingly hitting this button

You're missing the component of responsibility and consequence. Mass shooters have to go to prison, be hated by everyone, and face some sort of karmic justice - and for an expression of hatred or disgust that is ultimately pretty inconsequential.

With that said, 1-5%.

EDIT:

If there is just a button there to push I went with 1-5% I think that it would be easier to do that than actually kill people while looking them in the eye. It's just a damn button right?

Yeah, I think the sterility of it is important too. Kind of like how political leaders can cause horrible, horrible suffering because it's just numbers on a sheet to them: they aren't actually seeing the maimed babies and burnt villages.

 

[splendica]

I'm surprised my excelent first post didn't even get a like. You guys are being hard-core parkour.

 

[sleepwalk]

I think about 5-10%. "Narcicide" (coined recently by Adam Carolla) is becoming increasingly prevalent and the ennui, confusion, and seeming lack of purpose in much of the world (The West, particularly,) makes that seem to be a feasible ball park figure.

 

[Ruprecht]

I can't imagine 1 in 100 people would kill billions of people (including both direct and indirect effects) just because they could.

 

[Michaelangelo]

5 percent of the world, 20 percent of sherdog, 50 percent of 4chan

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Sure there are 1-5/100 people who have the combination of mental illness, anger, bitterness and dogmatic beliefs of an afterlife to push the button.

Or just suicidal and would want to take people out with them.

 

[surrealworlds]

Who is "we"? The US? The only country to have ever used nukes against another?

Yes. Do you not have access google? Or was this supposed to be a point about something?

 

[bushman505]

5 percent of the world, 20 percent of sherdog, 50 percent of 4chan

100% of liberals in 2020 when Trump gets elected for his second term....

 

[Limbo Pete]

Take that, Maynard G. Krebs!

 

[ObamaPhoneLady]

Once you start asking questions like this, it's probably time to see a psychiatrist.

 

[Ruprecht]

You guys that are saying more than 0-1% realise you're saying that people given the option are considerably more likely to kill billions and end life as we know it than they are to commit simple homicide (the current global homicide rate is about 7.6 per 100,000)?

 

[dontsnitch]

Sure there are 1-5/100 people who have the combination of mental illness, anger, bitterness and dogmatic beliefs of an afterlife to push the button.

Or just suicidal and would want to take people out with them.

When you're proposing ending all of humanity, as opposed to say just killing a million people, I would imagine the number of people willing to push the button increases, because in addition to regular nutjobs, the prospect now attracts those who want to end all future suffering, those who think humanity is a plague, that the earth is better without us, etc. Still, I don't think it's more than a few in a hundred.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

I would push it just about any time I’ve been behind Someone buying or checking lottery tickets and scratch offs at a convenience store.