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| Thread: The gift, or curse, of prognostication |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted July 24, 2011 08:30 PM |
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The gift, or curse, of prognostication
If you were offered the ability to know right now the exact date and time when you would die, would you want it?
If you were offered the ability to know right now the exact date and time when you would meet your soulmate, would you want it?
Would you value the ability to know the future, or is it better to know only the present and the past?
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meroe
Supreme Hero
Basically Smurfette
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posted July 24, 2011 08:34 PM |
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I would never want to know the future, where would all the surprises and fun be. Nothing would be an adventure. It would be boring.
____________
Meroe is definetely out, sweet
as she sounds sometimes, she'd
definetely castrate you with a
rusted razror and forcefeed
your genitals to you in a
blink of an eye - Kipshasz
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Darkshadow
Legendary Hero
Cerise Princess
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posted July 24, 2011 08:35 PM |
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If you know when you would die, would this not give you the ability to not die?  (if you were to die in a car accident or something).
____________
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted July 24, 2011 08:47 PM |
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If someone knows the date of their death, they might change their behavior, which would lead to a change in their date of death, so that would mean they didn't really know their date of death. The question is incoherent.
____________
Eccentric Opinion
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted July 24, 2011 08:50 PM |
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Edited by Corribus at 20:54, 24 Jul 2011.
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Quote:
If someone knows the date of their death, they might change their behavior, which would lead to a change in their date of death, so that would mean they didn't really know their date of death.
Unless their change of behavior was what led to their death all along.
In any case, leave paradoxes out of it. And if you want to be sour about it, feel free not to participate.
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markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted July 24, 2011 08:53 PM |
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I would not desire to know the future and never have even in small things like; will the baby be boy or girl? (and no; what color of paint should I buy? is not a good reason)To me, to have no unknowns would be a life-killer. No mystery, no magic and the path ahead pre-trodden in my mind; would be living a life w/o discovery and <imvho> "adventure" could not exist.
Isn't that a reason H5 fell-short to many? The Artificial Intelligence, too predictable and in the outcome...a forgone conclusion.
____________
"Do your own research"
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted July 24, 2011 08:57 PM |
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Mvass you're missing the point of the question. Let's just say in this hypothetical scenario, your body has been genetically engineered to die at the age of 60 and there is no known path to fix it.
I would prefer not to know. While it would be handy to prioritize some things, putting a numeric value on my death date would add an underlying, unhappy sense of anticipation to my life, as opposed to not knowing when I'll die but just that when I get old I'll eventually die at some point.
____________
"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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The_Polyglot
Promising
Supreme Hero
Nuttier than squirrel poo
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posted July 24, 2011 09:00 PM |
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The soulmate thing would be handy. If anything, I would be sure that I have(/will have) one, which would make me just that bit less lonely. As for the date of my death-Hell, no! That would be creepy.
____________
Sanity through drugs. Order yours today!
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted July 24, 2011 09:01 PM |
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Also, more realistically, cancer patients are often told by doctors what their one and five year survival likelihood is - and most patients want this kind of information.
And yet when asked in the abstract like I did here, most people don't want to know what the future holds. I also point out that the idea must hold some interest in the minds of people because prophesy appears so frequently in literature and movies.
In essence, not all knowledge is a good thing? Even if it could remove all fear about dying in the short term?
It's an interesting pscyhological problem.
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted July 24, 2011 09:07 PM |
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I do think knowledge has potential to be a liability, and that goes for past knowledge as well. A lot of people can become gridlocked within their own mind when it comes to making decisions if they have so many things to worry about. Horrible experiences have potential to be used constructively and to make a person stronger than they ever were before, but we all know that they can also cripple a person.
A person living in a hut cannot suffer the unpleasant feeling of envy if they don't know about the existence of mansions, and if they're in a position where moving into a mansion is conceivably impossible, then what is the utility of knowing about mansions?
____________
"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted July 24, 2011 09:11 PM |
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Quote:
In essence, not all knowledge is a good thing? Even if it could remove all fear about dying in the short term?
To me, not even for that grand purpose. That would be like digesting a slice of cake w/o the experiences of seeing, smelling and eating it first.
____________
"Do your own research"
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted July 24, 2011 09:14 PM |
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Yes, I know I'm missing the point by saying there's a paradox.
Anyway, I would like to know. Knowledge is power. The more I know about the future, the better I can plan for it.Quote:
Let's just say in this hypothetical scenario, your body has been genetically engineered to die at the age of 60 and there is no known path to fix it.
Even so, I might get hit by a car before the age of 60 and die earlier. 
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Eccentric Opinion
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted July 24, 2011 09:15 PM |
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I guess what I was getting at is that we are constantly trying to predict the future, and we're spending enormous amounts of resources trying to make the accuracy and forward-distance of our predictive capacity greater. We try to predict the weather. We try to predict stock prices. We try to predict our future health. We try to predict what the sex of our children our. We try to predict the winners of sports contests. The scientific endeavor is based on a refinement of predictive models.
In a sense, our ability to see into the future is an adaptation unique to humans. Our lives depend on prediction, and our survival of a species has been made possible by our ability to predict the short and long term consequences of our actions.
And yet when, in thought experiments, we are asked whether we would want perfect predictive power, almost everyone says no. Am I the only one who finds this interesting? Clearly humans WANT some degree of uncertainty, and yet we strive at the same time to eliminate that uncertainty everywhere that we can. How much uncertainty is optimal, I wonder? Suppose instead of knowing the exact time and date of your death, you were offered a margin of error of a year... of five years... of ten?
Incidently, the reason I brought this up is because I watched a movie (rom com) last night called Timer, which was based on the idea of knowing when you would meet your soulmate. Silly premise, acting and etc. aside, the movie did have some interesting subtexts about fate and the value of information about the future. Thought I'd turn it into an HC thought experiment.
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted July 24, 2011 09:24 PM |
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Quote:
If you were offered the ability to know right now the exact date and time when you would die, would you want it?
If you were offered the ability to know right now the exact date and time when you would meet your soulmate, would you want it?
Would you value the ability to know the future, or is it better to know only the present and the past?
1) No. It would ruin the surprise.
2) No. It would also ruin the surprise and currently, really, really piss off my fiancé. 
3) No. Ignorance is bliss. I would not want to know the future because then I'd become a slave to it, constantly trying to avoid horrible fates. And frankly, I would not want to know when my loved ones die.
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted July 24, 2011 09:26 PM |
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I think having some uncertainty is rooted in entertainment and adventure. If the winner of a sport's match was according to what the odds were every time, I suspect there would be very few sport's fans in the world.
I don't think our desire for excitement and our desire to have knowledge is necessarily a conflict of interests. It's just situational is all.
Not knowing who will win a sport's match adds the value of excitement. Knowing who will a sport's match destroys that excitement, so there's no value in having that information (setting aside placing a massive wager for the winning team )
In the case of knowing what the weather will be tomorrow, most people don't value the excitement of it, and they want to be able to plan ahead for what they will wear and what their schedules will be, so there's more value in knowing tomorrow's weather forecast.
In the case of knowing when you're going to die, assuming there is nothing you can do about it, then that too isn't necessarily valuable information and most people would rather not be stuck with the sense of dread from knowing. I think the reason most of us, including me, would prefer to have a timeline if we had cancer is because at that stage in our life, death is no longer a distant event that will presumably happen decades from now. If I was a very old person and it was clear I didn't have long before I toppled over, I would seek an estimate at that point in my life also.
____________
"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted July 24, 2011 09:26 PM |
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Quote:
Am I the only one who finds this interesting? Clearly humans WANT some degree of uncertainty, and yet we strive at the same time to eliminate that uncertainty everywhere that we can.
Not alone by any stretch but the weather is one thing and the hour of my demise quite another.
Btw, I am in a situation where that "knowing" has crossed my mind. (even asking myself if I would want to know?)Yet, I don't desire that appointment. I can't stand the doctor-office-exp. in any fashion.
About the conflicting views; <imo> that's no mystery there. Recorded thoughts are too often knee-jerk reactions brimming with lot of emotion depending on the topic and seldom seriously weighed and considered like when it IS...crunch-time.
____________
"Do your own research"
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JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted July 24, 2011 09:38 PM |
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I would like to know the future. If we leave paradoxes aside knowing when you'd die and thus being able to do all kinds of incredible/crazy stuff would be fun. Battle Royale if you know you're going to die 20 years in the futre? I'm game!
Knowing where and when you'd meet your soulmate would be kinda nice. Think if everyone had this information. Quite interesting.
How about knowing stuff like the late norwegian attack? Would it be too crushing to know your daughter would die tomorrow?
I'd pick the knowledge everytime.
Interesting discussion indeed.
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
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Tsar-Ivor
Promising
Legendary Hero
Scourge of God
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posted July 24, 2011 09:38 PM |
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Well I for one would wish to know such an hour, so that I may meet it with grace and fidelity.
As for the soul-mate, that will come when it will...nooo need to rush it...
____________
"No laughs were had. There is only shame and sadness." Jenny
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alcibiades
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
of Gold Dragons
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posted July 24, 2011 10:03 PM |
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I wouldn't want to know the future, it would only make me sad. And this is not ment to sound very pessimistic or anything, but when I look back in time, there are a lot of things I wouldn't have enjoyed had I known what would follow from them.
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What will happen now?
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted July 24, 2011 10:22 PM |
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Quote:
If you were offered the ability to know right now the exact date and time when you would die, would you want it?
No. Wouldn't be fun to know. Even if it was a distant date, I'd still rather not know. If it was meant to happen next week or something, even more of a big NO.
Quote:
If you were offered the ability to know right now the exact date and time when you would meet your soulmate, would you want it?
Yes. It would spare me a lot of useless hope and stuff like that. All that futile dating and other waste of time and brain cells would go away.
Quote:
Would you value the ability to know the future, or is it better to know only the present and the past?
I would, to certain extent. It would be a burden to know too much, but a bit of "sixth sense" of predicting (i.e. danger) would be great.
Also, lotto numbers. Gimme!
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