So the responsible thing to do is to refrain, right? Cause if everybody did nobody would have the ability to destroy the site, and what would you do with such an ability anyway except not use it?
The problem is it feels like a game/exercise, and a game/exercise is something I want to opt in to, even if just to challenge myself.
That said, I think twice before pressing any big red button, and as of yet I haven’t pressed this one.
Edit: Following Dagon’s comment (published 8 hours after this post), which confirmed it’s framed as a game, I decided to press the button and opt in.
I pressed the button, and it asked me to confirm that I want to participate in a “social deception game”, which I did. I’m somewhat ambivalent that this event does anything except raise awareness of a specific thing that happened during the cold war (and presumably has been patched away in current response procedures), but it’s interesting to see people taking it seriously.
Depending on the framing, I will or will not press it if I’m chosen. I’ll try to play along with the rules and guidelines as published, including the in-game motivations specified.
Thanks for posting this—I never look at the front page, so would have missed it.
If ‘Opt into Petrov Day’ was aside something other than a big red ominous button, I would think the obvious answer is that it’s a free choice and I’d be positively inclined towards it. Petrov Day is a good thing with good side effects, quite unlike launching nuclear weapons.
It is confusing to me that it is beside a big red ominous button. On the one hand, Petrov’s story is about the value of caution. To quote a top comment from an older Petrov Day,
Petrov thought the message looked legit, but noticed there were clues that it wasn’t.
On the other hand, risk-taking is good, opting in to good things is good, and if one is taking Petrov Day to mean ‘don’t take risks if they look scary’ I think one is taking an almost diametrically wrong message from the story.
All that said, for now I am going to fall for my own criticism and not press the big red ominous button around Petrov Day.
If I didn’t remember discussion from previous Petrov Days here, I’d probably have skipped it, on the heuristic that big red buttons on public websites are usually advertisements, which i’d rather not deal with. I doubt there’s any visual that could, without a LOT of explanation, make it seem like an ominous thing, rather than an annoying attention-grab. With the context of what petrov day is, and what LW has done in the past, it’s neither—just an interesting view into what the admins think is worth doing and what users weirdly extrapolate from.
that’s a good point.
i decided to press so that I can test myself. hopefully testing myself not to end the world on lower stakes means I improve at doing it if ever the stakes are larger.
the only change i can see is the button ui (see screenshot). i assume that it only signs me up for a game which is going to happen tomorrow on petrov day.
That sounds like a terrible strategy. Your threat won’t be credible because your goal is to make the world better, not destroy it. And anything you do to make the threat credible (like some sort of precomitment mechanism) will risk the world actually getting destroyed.
It could work as a precautionary measure against existential risk. If someone is planning on doing something that also risks the world getting destroyed, then the threat could be credible.
(I am not endorsing humans actually using this strategy in the real world, obviously).
I was thinking the same thing this morning! My main thought was, “this is a trap. ain’t no way I’m pressing a big red button especially not so near to petrov day”
So the responsible thing to do is to refrain, right? Cause if everybody did nobody would have the ability to destroy the site, and what would you do with such an ability anyway except not use it?
The problem is it feels like a game/exercise, and a game/exercise is something I want to opt in to, even if just to challenge myself.
That said, I think twice before pressing any big red button, and as of yet I haven’t pressed this one.
Edit: Following Dagon’s comment (published 8 hours after this post), which confirmed it’s framed as a game, I decided to press the button and opt in.
I pressed the button, and it asked me to confirm that I want to participate in a “social deception game”, which I did. I’m somewhat ambivalent that this event does anything except raise awareness of a specific thing that happened during the cold war (and presumably has been patched away in current response procedures), but it’s interesting to see people taking it seriously.
Depending on the framing, I will or will not press it if I’m chosen. I’ll try to play along with the rules and guidelines as published, including the in-game motivations specified.
Thanks for posting this—I never look at the front page, so would have missed it.
Thanks. If it’s indeed framed as a game then I would like to participate as well. So I pressed the button and opted in.
If ‘Opt into Petrov Day’ was aside something other than a big red ominous button, I would think the obvious answer is that it’s a free choice and I’d be positively inclined towards it. Petrov Day is a good thing with good side effects, quite unlike launching nuclear weapons.
It is confusing to me that it is beside a big red ominous button. On the one hand, Petrov’s story is about the value of caution. To quote a top comment from an older Petrov Day,
On the other hand, risk-taking is good, opting in to good things is good, and if one is taking Petrov Day to mean ‘don’t take risks if they look scary’ I think one is taking an almost diametrically wrong message from the story.
All that said, for now I am going to fall for my own criticism and not press the big red ominous button around Petrov Day.
If I didn’t remember discussion from previous Petrov Days here, I’d probably have skipped it, on the heuristic that big red buttons on public websites are usually advertisements, which i’d rather not deal with. I doubt there’s any visual that could, without a LOT of explanation, make it seem like an ominous thing, rather than an annoying attention-grab. With the context of what petrov day is, and what LW has done in the past, it’s neither—just an interesting view into what the admins think is worth doing and what users weirdly extrapolate from.
that’s a good point. i decided to press so that I can test myself. hopefully testing myself not to end the world on lower stakes means I improve at doing it if ever the stakes are larger.
Did anything happen after you pressed it?
the only change i can see is the button ui (see screenshot). i assume that it only signs me up for a game which is going to happen tomorrow on petrov day.
Leverage it to create a better world. (Well, this button doesn’t really do much, but y’know, pretend it’s the ability to destroy the world.)
How would you leverage a button that destroys the world to make the world better?
By blackmailing powerful people into doing good, I assume.
That sounds like a terrible strategy. Your threat won’t be credible because your goal is to make the world better, not destroy it. And anything you do to make the threat credible (like some sort of precomitment mechanism) will risk the world actually getting destroyed.
It could work as a precautionary measure against existential risk. If someone is planning on doing something that also risks the world getting destroyed, then the threat could be credible.
(I am not endorsing humans actually using this strategy in the real world, obviously).
I agree.
I was thinking the same thing this morning! My main thought was, “this is a trap. ain’t no way I’m pressing a big red button especially not so near to petrov day”
The funniest possible outcome is that no one opts in and so the world is saved but the blog post is ruined.
I would hate to remove the possibility of a funny outcome. No opt in!
Button is very intimidating, indeed.
for people that didn’t see it yet, the following post explains today’s petrov day game: The 2024 Petrov Day Scenario
Seems to me that the only winning move is not to play.