For several years, 3 or 4 guys (myself being one of them) would meet at the pub regularly to discuss philosophy and religion, and in those discussions a recurring theme of difficult binary choices was put forward in the form of a button. "Press this button and XXX happens, would you press it?"
So here it is, you find yourself in the Philosophy Bunker, a place conveniently built into the foundation of Jim's Cafe, a place with many buttons and room for more. Peruse the buttons at your leisure and consider if you would or should press one, and what the implications of pressing or not pressing one may be. If you have any interesting ideas for your own buttons, feel free to post them (Buttons should raise philosophical questions, not questions of personal preference) and if you simply want to discuss or explore an interesting philosophical topic, feel free to do that too.
Rules of the buttons:
1) No one but you ever knows you pressed the button unless specifically stated in the button's description.
2) You cant undo a button press, once pressed, it is pressed.
3) No combining buttons.
4) Each button constituted a "press or dont press" dilemma, the choice to cause an effect or leave things as they are, unless otherwise stated in the description.
5) All buttons perform their actions on the current world in the present day, not an ideal or fantasy world.
Happy Button: Press the button and you will be happy with however life treats you. No matter how far you fall or how terrible life becomes, you will feel happy and content with your lot.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Trade Button: Press this button and a random person who is objectively a bad guy drops dead, another person, a Good Guy then survives what would have been a fatal illness and lives for as long as the Bad guy would have lived if he had been left alone.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Level Button: Press this button and everyone's skills and abilities get reset to the average for their age bracket, they all know the same information, all have the same training, and all have the same physical fitness, we are all truly equal.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Cupid Button: Press this button and the next (unmarried) person you fall in love with will also feel strong feelings of romantic love for you.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Justice Button: Press this button and every crime or bad deed is instantly and appropriately punished immediately after it is committed forevermore.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Truth Button: Press this button and everyone in the world will know what everyone else thinks of them, good and bad.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Reset Button: Press this button and the population of the world is reduced down to levels the environment can safely sustain, any extras above this number cease to have ever existed and no one remembers them.
Do you press this button? Discuss
Hitler Button: Press this button and any baby which will eventually grow up into a serial killer, a fascist dictator, or any other person who will end up intentionally causing countless deaths for their own ends, immediately dies.
Do you press this button? Discuss