Earlier this year, YouTube channel Veritasium published a video entitled, "Would You Take This Bet?" which has gone immediately viral. It is about a social experiment regarding people's attitudes to risk-taking, via conducting a simple game of the coin toss.

In this video, the interviewer walks up to random people and asks them if they would bet him $10 on a coin flip. He tells them that the bet is in favour of both sides as there is a 50 percent chance of either person winning. The interviewer appears to be startled that almost everyone turns him down; he then explains to the viewers that this phenomenon makes sense, because since there is an equal chance of winning and losing, the bet is considered to have zero value.

"Why don't we use this as an allegory for life," the interviewer tries to reason with one person. "It's not really about money and betting on a coin, it's more about our approach to risk."

The interviewer then proceeds to alter the mechanics of the bet, such as minimising their loss and increasing his, in hopes that people will finally agree. This tactic yields interesting results, as evident in the second half of the video.

"Would You Take This Bet?" was published on Jan. 5, 2015 and has received over 1 million views and more than 70,000 likes since. Watch this video here:

Credit: YouTube/Veritasium

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may email the writer at mikomagalay.ibtimes@gmail.com