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[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 12 points 2 days ago

Was the lady told what would happen if she pressed the button?

[-] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

Yes it was clear that someone somewhere in the world “who you don’t even know” would die. The characters have a debate:

“Maybe it’ll be just some Chinese peasant.”

“What if it’s someone’s newborn baby!”

More than anything I’m shocked at the casual dismissal of the Chinese peasant. WTF?

Anyway at the very end of the show the same guy who brought them this dilemma comes to collect the device and he very pointedly uses the same language to say “now it will go to someone new that you don’t even know.”

[-] MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)

Yes, that somewhere in the world, someone she doesnt know will die.

When Mr. Steward returns to collect the button box after the button is pressed, the lady asks what happens to the box next. She is told it will go to someone else with the same offer, with assurances that the new recipient will not know who she is. As the previous commenter said, the wording deeply implies she would be the certain "someone" targeted by the next button press.

[-] Emotional_Engi@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

But what would happen if she didn't press it? Would the button be offered to someone else again? In that case, she would be targeted regardless of her choice.

[-] katkit@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

That's not revealed, but I would think it just targets the last person who pushed the button. If you don't, you succeed the test and get skipped. .

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

If there are no other rules, you break the cycle. That's incredibility dark because who knows how long this has been going on with no one refusing the offer.

[-] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

The dilemma is "would you push a button for money" not "would you push a button knowing what it did for money"

[-] kartoffelsaft@programming.dev 13 points 2 days ago

"Would you push a button for money", on its own, is barely a dilemma. If you've been given no good reason not to press it then you don't have a reason not to press it. I'd be curious to see this Twilight Zone episode because, if it really is presented that way to her, then it's not her morals that are comprimised and instead that of whoever distributed that button.

[-] TeddE@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

She's told that someone on earth would die and she doesn't know them. The twist is that while it's implied that it's a random person, it's revealed at the end that it's the last person to press the button.

[-] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Some people are actually paid to press buttons.

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago
[-] Folstar@lemmus.org 1 points 2 days ago

There's this cool new thing where you can search for stuff on the Internet. You should check it out. To answer your question, yes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago

Heaven forbid I try to have a conversation

[-] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

There’s this cool thing called linking, too.

this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
654 points (100.0% liked)

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