I assume that our behavior is evolved to deal with the uncertainty of death, and we would evolve differently if we had to make the most (re)productive use of a fixed lifespan.
Fixed it for you.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Would You Like to Know When You Die?
- Thread starter MikeyFingers
- Start date
I assume that our behavior is evolved to deal with the uncertainty of death, and we would evolve differently if we had to make the most (re)productive use of a fixed lifespan.
Fixed it for you.
If we were told when we were going to die, today right this second, then it ultimately could be changed by tomorrow. Today that may be an absolute truth, but tomorrow you could take up smoking, or maybe go the other way and start eating healthier or a random event could happen to you to err you in either direction: towards health or death. The truth would be a lie within a certain amount of time, especially if we thought we were going to die in say a month or year or so and just started goofing off and drinking and smoking and partying like crazy. It could cut your time down to less.
However, if I were told how I was going to die then that'd be another matter. Perhaps you could extend your life by avoiding the thing that would kill you some day.
My thoughts on this.
However, if I were told how I was going to die then that'd be another matter. Perhaps you could extend your life by avoiding the thing that would kill you some day.
My thoughts on this.
OP already addressed all of that.
The prediction might have taken into account your reaction, i.e. taking up smoking/drinking/partying. When the OP said "without having the power to change it," it meant that you can't change it.
Even if you do change drastically, maybe that's what makes your death happen when it was predicted. Make sense?
I'd go for it. It makes planning things out easier. I'd say I already have a vague idea, but the details would be nice. Plan out my last day to be awesome or something of that sort, you know?
The only way I would want to know would be if I had enough money to take care of current bills and for my final expenses. If I was financially set from now until the day I'd die then I'd quit my job in a second and would enjoy the time I had left.
Reminds me of a guy I did some business with. He worked at a bank and I only met him once for some business. Great guy. Went back to the same bank about 8 months later and found out he was dead. Turns out that about a month after I met him he abruptly quit his job with not much explanation. Guess he found out he was terminally ill and was told how much time he had left, which was about 6 months.
Reminds me of a guy I did some business with. He worked at a bank and I only met him once for some business. Great guy. Went back to the same bank about 8 months later and found out he was dead. Turns out that about a month after I met him he abruptly quit his job with not much explanation. Guess he found out he was terminally ill and was told how much time he had left, which was about 6 months.
"I'm not afraid of dying, I just don't wanna be there when it happens!" -Woody Allen
Mrs. Bob Hope: "Honey, where do you want to be buried?"
Bob: "I dunno, surprise me."
(I voted no.)
Mrs. Bob Hope: "Honey, where do you want to be buried?"
Bob: "I dunno, surprise me."
(I voted no.)
6jase5
Mammogram is down but I'm working manually
I assume it's quite possibly tomorrow that I'll die and then when it's not I assume it's quite possibly tomorrow. It allows me to be an optimist as for 38 years I've been consistently wrong and pleasantly surprised by that fact.
Moot point. Once you know when your time is supposed to come you'll do everything in your power to avoid it, thus changing the flow of time and creating an alternate universe where the way you'll die is different than the one you saw earlier.
'It' neither is nor isn't until the time comes. Well, one could argue the fact that you knowing your time and doing everything in your power to avoid it has already been considered by the person who made the prediction. But I do somewhat believe in multiple universes...
That's kinda like arguing if omnipotence exists... or hypothesizing that omnipotence exists. You can't hypothesize something which cannot be proven wrong.
But I digress...
the Derek in this particular universe will vote yes, and say, 'well, that means I have at least this many years, this many months and this many days to prove you wrong...'
Well, that doesn't mean I would just throw myself in front of a bus right now just to prove that person wrong if I was told I will die 20 years later today...
Am I making any sense at all?
That's kinda like arguing if omnipotence exists... or hypothesizing that omnipotence exists. You can't hypothesize something which cannot be proven wrong.
But I digress...
the Derek in this particular universe will vote yes, and say, 'well, that means I have at least this many years, this many months and this many days to prove you wrong...'
Well, that doesn't mean I would just throw myself in front of a bus right now just to prove that person wrong if I was told I will die 20 years later today...
Am I making any sense at all?
I don't have any interest in when it's the how that I'd find disturbing. Like what if you were going to be eaten by a pack of zombie chihuahua's and there was nothing you could do to change that? Chihuahua's freak me out already........
I asked a gypsy once to read my future and determine my date of demise. In the end, I couldn't haggle down the price enough.
It seems to me that death is just the beginning of an unknown something else, and I wouldn't mind knowing just when the mystery will be lifted.
Given our current most widely accepted physics model, death and entrophy are the precursors to renewal. Being reborn after a hundred trillion cycles of the universe won't be so bad. Hell, next time I might be a king, or bassing legend! OR WOLVERINE!
It seems to me that death is just the beginning of an unknown something else, and I wouldn't mind knowing just when the mystery will be lifted.
Given our current most widely accepted physics model, death and entrophy are the precursors to renewal. Being reborn after a hundred trillion cycles of the universe won't be so bad. Hell, next time I might be a king, or bassing legend! OR WOLVERINE!
