Suppose you were abducted in your sleep and you woke up in a room, and all there is in the room is the chair you woke up on and a window in front of you. It is an interrogation window: you can see what is on the other side, but the other side is not able to see you.

In the other room is a person, like you, who is in a chair.

A voice in the intercom speaks: “In your hand is a button. You have an hour to push the button; the button will kill the person in the room in front of you. The person does not have a similar button and does not know the situation. If you do not push the button in one hour, you will die.”

“There will be a new person after every person you kill, and you will begin a new hour after every push of the button. There is an end, but I will not disclose to you when or how far the end is.”

Do you think you would push the button? How many times do you think you could push the button before submitting to the end-or your own death?