Poll: A Question about death.

[Sewblon]

I want to know so that I know when to yell "I have the cure for cancer!"

 

[Railu]

I said no, but the truth is I don't really care. If I got given a choice about whether or not to know, I decline, but if told anyway I wouldn't care. I try not to worry about things I can't change, be they past, present or future.

The thing that strikes me about this kind of question is that people have and will answer 'yes, so I can live life to the full in the meantime.' Surely you'd live life to the full anyway, right? I know I try to have as much fun as possible, and never take anything too seriously. It seems strange to me that it takes death to make some people realise this.

Not wanting to get into an existential or religious debate, but that's part of the reason I'm an atheist; I don't like the idea of living for another life. This is the only one I know I've got, and I'll be fucked if I'm not gonna take it.

This is not a debate. In my eyes you're my friend already because I share the same opinion. I'm a Christian and I want life and to the fullest. When it's my time, I'll go. If I die tomorrow, so be it. I'm ready. If I die in 100 years, it's best not to waste it.

I just want my last breath to be with a smile on my face and my wife and children by my side, knowing I gave them the best days of their lives. But I'm a sucker romantic that way.

 

[KefZ_X]

Well if your like me and you have made yourself onto the UltraJoes List I can garentee you like me don't have much time.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I'd rather not know when I'm going to die.

 

[FrankDux]

I would like to know so I could live life to the fullest till I died.

What would you do if you were unable to achieve certain things before you died, even despite knowing the exact time and date, etc.? Would that not bring about more sorrow and regret?

Ignorance is bliss.

Yah, and what if they found out they were going to die that day? Or next week? Knowing such a thing would suck monkey balls. Damned straight ignorance is bliss.

On the other hand though, you could go crazy for that week and if you didn't know you were going to die you're be just living life normally and you'd miss out on a lot of things.

 

[Healey]

I freak out about Death too much already. Come to think of it, though, it would be handy for sorting out affairs before the big day came. Then, of course, you end up with the whole paradox thing where you commit suicide to beat the date... But yeah, I might like to know, if purely for the convenience.

 

[cobra_ky]

Although is confusing with all the time paradox crap. I mean, knowing when you will die will change your behaviour which will change when you die.

There is nothing paradoxical about it at all. Him telling you causes you to act exactly how you are supposed to. He is supposed to tell you, you are supposed to try and escape it, and this is what leads you to your death. There is no real paradox there.

the paradox is this. say you know you're going to die tomorrow and you get trapped in a mineshaft or something. why not kill yourself the day (hour, minute, whatever) before? knowing when you'll die can affect when you actually do it. maybe after your diety tells you you'll off yourself early out of spite. (for some reason a lot of people say they'd do silly, spiteful things before they die just to cause trouble.)

now, for a more realistic scenario, say you have a brain tumor and a doctor knows exactly when it will kill you. i'd definitely want to know when. the fact is no one lives their life to the fullest and i procrastinate way too much as it is. knowing when i'd die would give me some kind of focus.

 

[The Eaten Cake]

Um. No. It would only exacerbate the realisation of mortality.

 

[Jerakal]

Man I can barely enjoy my life knowing that a test is coming up that I don't like, I couldn't possibly manage a happy and productive life knowing the exact time of my death.

 

[Lulzovich]

I don't like to think about death. It gives me the creeps when I start to think what really happens when we "go". I would be scared shitless while waiting for the last few seconds of my life to expire...

 

[Markness]

Although is confusing with all the time paradox crap. I mean, knowing when you will die will change your behaviour which will change when you die.

There is nothing paradoxical about it at all. Him telling you causes you to act exactly how you are supposed to. He is supposed to tell you, you are supposed to try and escape it, and this is what leads you to your death. There is no real paradox there.

If we go by this way of thinking, it seems to me that knowing when you will die will probably be a life-prolonging device. Excluding terminal diseases most of your possible deaths could be avoiding by acting safely around the die your are supposed to die and thus the god would have toe chose the closest possible death that can't be avoided and since most of the time you would die of a death that can be avoided before a death that can't be avoided, knowing your death would make you live longer most of the time.

Feel free to point out any errors in this reasoning.

 

[Larenxis]

I would like to know so I could live life to the fullest till I died.

Because you wouldn't otherwise?

If I were to die in a month, I'd want to do every thing I'd want with my life before I die, and say goodbye to friends and loved ones.

So the only difference is saying goodbye to people?