system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: If the boat social experiment in the Dark Knight (2008) happened in real life, one boat would explode before 12:00.

Now, I think the Dark Knight trilogy was excellent, and the boat scene works great and is believable the way it's presented in the movie. But, if the scene was to act out in real life, it would go a lot differently. One boat would be exploded by the button being pressed by the other.

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Note: Everything I say below is a generalization.

I think that humans are naturally selfish, and think of themselves as better than others. Self-preservation is strong within us as an evolutionary defense mechanism. That's not to say that humans can't be rational and objective, but when it comes to it being either us or them, we choose them.

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Reasons why a boat might not blow up and why I think it wouldn't happen:

* No one at the boat wants to blow up the other boat.
   * This would definitely not happen. Let's say there are \~500 in each boat, and examine them separately:
      * Prisoners' Boat: Not every prisoner is a heartless monster, but within a pool of 500, I think it's reasonably to assume that some sort of riot would quickly start and the people who want to blow up the other boat (of which I think there would be plenty in there) would soon get the better of the people who don't and blow the other boat up.
      * Civilian Boat: Even if the people in this boat aren't generally "killy", they would realize and understand that it's not even their own life that they're protecting, but the children in that boat as well. I think there would be at least multiple people willing to blow up the other boat, and I think that they wouldn't be stopped by the others.
* Some people at the boat wants to blow the boat up, but the other's try to stop them
   * I don't think in either boat, that people would actively try to have themselves die and be willing to fight to keep the other boat alive, even if they wouldn't blow the other boat up themselves.
* No one is *willing* to press the button.
   * Now, there is a big difference in hypotheticals and real life situations. But even if most people aren't willing to press the button themselves (because they couldn't live with themselves), *someone* would eventually get up and do it.
gpt
I'll argue that the Joker as portrayed in that movie may have sabotaged his own experiment. He himself only had 1 detonator which likely means all the detonator were identical and would blow up both boats. 

Furthermore, he had routinely showed himself to enjoy invalidating the choices of others. He told Batman that Rachel and Harvey were at different addresses. Informed citizens may rightfully be concerned that he is lying and that their detonator will blow up their own boat. Voicing that concern may be enough to cause doubt among those willing to press the button.

It may also depend on who initially has the detonator. If the person who has it initially would never blow up the other boat, it's possible they chuck it overboard, before anyone willing to press the button can get to them.