A genie would like to have a word with you.
He would like to make you an offer. Accept, and tomorrow you're going to be tapped by the car of a little-known billionare. Eager to avoid insurance difficulties or press, he will give you $10 million U.S. in exchange for your waiver (about 7.5 million euros, 6.5 million pounds sterling, and very roughly an equivalent amount of Canadian or Australian dollars). No, you're not negotiating more, or blackmailing the billionare, or hiring an "ambulance chaser" to get more in court; this is a ding on your bumper or a bruise on your shin that will be hardly noticable tomorrow. But he will put his accountants on keeping the payment tax-free and strictly on the up-and-up.
For reference, if you live another 60 years and neither invest nor squander than money, but cut it into equal yearly payments, that's a bit more than $165,000 a year, and no accounting for you continuing to work or investing judiciously.
Sounds good. What's the catch?
In 120 years, there will be a massive nuclear weapons exchange. Best case scenario, between 1/3 and 1/2 the human population will die, and most of the land those people were occupying will be inhospitable to life for at least three generations; worst case scenario, Nuclear Winter, Game Over.
As things presently stand, something you're going to do will prevent this from occurring. The moment you accept that money, you've diverted from the path that would prevent the nuclear change; no going back.
Now to be clear, this is most likely a "butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo" event. You're not going to be appointed ambassador to China, or win the Nobel Prize for inventing cheap, clean, infinitely renewable energy. More like, something you say on an online forum causes a hacker in the Netherlands to wait a day before taking a World of Warcraft server offline, causing a student in South Korea to study and thus pass a test, leading to a career in politics. You aren't going to be remembered as the savior of the world.
In 120 years, you won't be alive. Quite likely, neither will your children, or your grandchildren.
Would you accept the genie's offer?
Alternative A: Instead of 120 years from now, the nuclear exchange occurs one day before you would have normally died. The genie plays straight; there's no "I would have pushed you in front of a bus tomorrow"; whether you would have had a heart attack in thirty years or slipped in the shower next week, it happens the day before. But you're still going to get to see, and probably be killed by, the results of your decision, albeit only a short time before your "natural" death. Same decision?
Alternative B: If you accept the money, there's only a 50% chance this nuclear apocalypse will occur. Care to gamble?
Alternative C: If you refuse the money, there's only a 50% chance your abstaining from it will prevent the fiery doom. Is it still worth it?
He would like to make you an offer. Accept, and tomorrow you're going to be tapped by the car of a little-known billionare. Eager to avoid insurance difficulties or press, he will give you $10 million U.S. in exchange for your waiver (about 7.5 million euros, 6.5 million pounds sterling, and very roughly an equivalent amount of Canadian or Australian dollars). No, you're not negotiating more, or blackmailing the billionare, or hiring an "ambulance chaser" to get more in court; this is a ding on your bumper or a bruise on your shin that will be hardly noticable tomorrow. But he will put his accountants on keeping the payment tax-free and strictly on the up-and-up.
For reference, if you live another 60 years and neither invest nor squander than money, but cut it into equal yearly payments, that's a bit more than $165,000 a year, and no accounting for you continuing to work or investing judiciously.
Sounds good. What's the catch?
In 120 years, there will be a massive nuclear weapons exchange. Best case scenario, between 1/3 and 1/2 the human population will die, and most of the land those people were occupying will be inhospitable to life for at least three generations; worst case scenario, Nuclear Winter, Game Over.
As things presently stand, something you're going to do will prevent this from occurring. The moment you accept that money, you've diverted from the path that would prevent the nuclear change; no going back.
Now to be clear, this is most likely a "butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo" event. You're not going to be appointed ambassador to China, or win the Nobel Prize for inventing cheap, clean, infinitely renewable energy. More like, something you say on an online forum causes a hacker in the Netherlands to wait a day before taking a World of Warcraft server offline, causing a student in South Korea to study and thus pass a test, leading to a career in politics. You aren't going to be remembered as the savior of the world.
In 120 years, you won't be alive. Quite likely, neither will your children, or your grandchildren.
Would you accept the genie's offer?
Alternative A: Instead of 120 years from now, the nuclear exchange occurs one day before you would have normally died. The genie plays straight; there's no "I would have pushed you in front of a bus tomorrow"; whether you would have had a heart attack in thirty years or slipped in the shower next week, it happens the day before. But you're still going to get to see, and probably be killed by, the results of your decision, albeit only a short time before your "natural" death. Same decision?
Alternative B: If you accept the money, there's only a 50% chance this nuclear apocalypse will occur. Care to gamble?
Alternative C: If you refuse the money, there's only a 50% chance your abstaining from it will prevent the fiery doom. Is it still worth it?
Though I did notice you changed it to genie later on. In that case I'd ask him why I don't have three wishes instead. Then I'd tell him in a gesture of good faith that my first would be for him to be released after my third he's released. Then I'd wish for some fun stuff 
