Talk:Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)

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[I]n the story they are offered $50,000 but in the show they are offered $200,000--70.21.65.79 00:50, 12 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I distinctly remember $200,000. 20K is a lot but that is doubtful it could motivate her to do it. USN1977 (talk) 08:56, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * it's $200,000. 20K may be more of a motivator back in like the early 60s or 50s or something. Then, again, it all depends on the person. Cpesacreta (talk) 23:19, 21 October 2009 (UTC)


 * For reference sake, the $50,000 from 1970 (when the story was written) would be equivalent to $0 today. The $200,000 from 1986 would be equivalent to $0 today.  __209.179.48.225 (talk) 14:22, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Citation on François-René de Chateaubriand source?
The original idea is taken from passage 1.6.2 of Genius of Christianity (1802) by François-René de Chateaubriand, in which the authors asks the reader what he would do if he could get rich by killing a mandarin in China solely by force of will.[citation needed]

http://www.strobertbellarmine.net/books/Chateaubriand%20--Genius.pdf

Part 1, Book 6, Ch 2. Pg 188.

Indeed, it's a hypothetical situation of causing the death of a man in China, and inheriting a fortune in Europe as the only effect. You have supernatural knowledge that this "wish" will be effective in both killing him and getting you a fortune, and also that no one will know you caused it.

Similar, yes, but it could be coincidental. Google isn't getting me anything but verbatim repeats of this Wikipedia claim, with no additional citation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Danny Miller (talk • contribs) 02:15, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

On my edits of 15 May 2017
I started to a add a dubious tag to the lede where it talks about The Genius of Christianity. Aside from the fact it appears to be WP:OR, weasel wording ("The original idea might [have] be[en] taken from..."), it's just pure speculation. I decided to just delete it add the actual reason given by he author himself.

I also removed the now dead circular reference to the short story, as well as added Matheson's pseudonym to the info box.

The story is very reminiscent of a famous ethical question, where a person is given a choice: if you were in the Louvre, and a fire broke out, and you had to choose either saving a little old lady or DaVinci's Mona Lisa, which of those two would you save?


 * The deleted passage from the lede:

"The original idea might be taken from passage 1.6.2 of The Genius of Christianity (1802) by François-René de Chateaubriand, in which the authors asks the reader what he would do if he could get rich by killing a mandarin in China solely by force of will, which had already inspired the novella The Mandarin (O Mandarim) by Portuguese writer Eça de Queirós."

__209.179.48.225 (talk) 04:22, 16 May 2017 (UTC)