Culture, memes, viral ideas. It's so freaking interesting. It's crazy how quickly ideas can spread now with the internet as it is today.

I spend a good bit more time than I would like on X, and over the last few days there's been a post that's been going super viral.

It was by author Tim Urban, who has a popular site called "Wait But Why"; and he posed this:

"Everyone in the world has to take a private vote by pressing a red or blue button. If more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone survives. If fewer than 50% of people press the blue button, only people who pressed the red button survive. Which button would you press?"

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One thing that has been particularly interesting about it has been how committed to their choice most people are, and how people seem completely incapable of understanding why somebody else would choose differently. And there's a constant attempt to reframe the question in ways that validate one's original choice. It actually points to a similar split in the red vs blue political dynamics.

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However, what I find even more interesting is not just this question. This question is an age-old one around game theory. But what's really interesting is how viral it became, how it has come to pretty much dominate the cultural conversation on X over the last few days.

And it leads me to think, what kinds of questions might we pose that can also stick with people in a profound way, but that might lead to some genuinely novel insights about humanity and some convergence? I think part of what has led this question to be so sticky is that it is so polarizing, and that polarity tends to capture us.

But I wonder... Can a question become viral like this that is not so polarizing? Or is there something about the polarizing nature of this that is essential to capture humans' attention? And if that's the case, might there be a way to utilize polarity while still moving towards unity and harmony?

I'm not quite sure what I'm going for here, just wondering aloud. But this idea of viral ideas has been of interest to me for quite some time, and witnessing this question going viral has really re-stoked the flames of that fire. Because to me, if we can find a way for an idea such as a genuine understanding of what it means to be alive, and our mutual interdependency and interbeing here on planet earth, to go viral, then we just might be able to chart out a much more beautiful and beneficial course for ourselves...