There are a couple stages to this. First, if it's kill one person for you, that means you're at the start of the chain, right? At the beginning, what assurances would you have that the doubling would stop before it starts, were you to choose to kill the single person? It's a 50% chance, basically? Still, for a normal person, they'd probably think it less likely for all the effort involved. If you are starting with one, it is more rational to refuse to kill them than to pass it on. If you start at any higher than 1, especially at two, it might be more rational to kill them.
This isn't even considering other things out of the scenario's scope even more: like relationship to the person, means of killing, etc.
Thrall to the Wire of Self-Excited Circuit.
You might also want to consider that those people come from somewhere, and there will be a limit cap at the world's population. I don't think doubling would take long to reach that. That last person having to choose couldn't pass it on, since the rest of the population would be lying there on trolley tracks or something. (Then there's the question, if, at that point, who ever was enforcing this scenario would also be on the chopping block. Also, you might also end up there again.)
So, yeah.
Thrall to the Wire of Self-Excited Circuit.
last edit on
10/22/2025 10:18:35 PM
Double it and give it to the next person.
Why ?
Keep doing this and no one dies.
The next one down the chain is someone else, with their own reasons for why they do or don't pull the lever.
As a matter of sheer math, it is better to pull the lever and kill however many there are when it comes your turn to pull, rather than it double and double upon that.
It's one first, then two, then four, then eight, then sixteen... Even if the trail were to start over every time the lever is pulled that's still a death rate of one, then two, then three, then four...
Eventually the number of bodies will be unrealistic even for some psycho.
Eventually every known human will be tied on the tracks with no one to pull the lever.
Ę̵̚x̸͎̾i̴͚̽s̵̻͐t̷͐ͅe̷̯͠n̴̤̚t̵̻̅i̵͉̿a̴̮͊l̵͍̂ ̴̹̕D̵̤̀e̸͓͂t̵̢͂e̴͕̓c̸̗̄t̴̗̿ï̶̪v̷̲̍é̵͔
Double it and give it to the next person.
Why ?
Keep doing this and no one dies.
Eventually the number of bodies will be unrealistic even for some psycho.
Wow Spatial, your intellectual superiority really shines here.
Chicken. Said he who's afraid SC would ruin his life or something if he actually proved anything.
last edit on
10/23/2025 12:33:16 PM
For some reference, it takes about 30 doublings to reach 1 billion, 33 to reach 8 billion.
Yeah I just looked that up after reading your previous post.
By 33 people the doublings it would be the whole world, Any rules in this case are unwritten and while we can't hit another double, there are no rules suggesting the 33rd person has no choice. Nor is there a rule for passing it back to someone who already had the misfortune of making this decision.
Double it and give it to the next person.
Why ?
Keep doing this and no one dies.
Eventually the number of bodies will be unrealistic even for some psycho.
Wow Spatial, your intellectual superiority really shines here.
Of course it does.
People die every day. Some days significantly more or less die. Now you could go kill the first person instead of passing it along, but that comes at a heavy burden I'm not having.
You say to the 6th person, you need to kill 32 people, or pass it on. No one has time for that shit.
last edit on
10/23/2025 6:18:19 PM