Thread: You could be Phineas Gage, minus the massive brain injury

Originally Posted by gwahir

I don't find it strong enough, because the moment I press that button I don't care about any guarantees of not hurting friends and family.

Right, but it's a reason not to push the button in the first place. When you are standing there debating whether to push it, you obviously can't view the decision in the way you'd view it after pushing the button. Because you haven't yet. You necessarily have to view it as the person you are before pushing the button. While the post-button person may not care about hurting friends and family, the pre-button person does (at least pre-button Syme does) and THAT is the person who has to make the call. So the button doesn't get pushed. I'm not saying you should join me in refraining from pushing that button, but it doesn't make any sense to say that you--pre-button Gwahir--would be willing to push the button because of the attitude that you would only attain after pushing the button. That almost seems to be skirting Catch-22 territory.