this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Obviously a hypothetical scenario. There is no way to pass on the knowledge to anyone else. Time freezes for you only, and once you have your answer you are out of this world.

The question can allow you to see into the past, present and future and gain comprehension of any topic/issue. But it's only one question.

Edit: the point isn't "how to cheat death". You can't. Your body is frozen and there is nothing you can do with this knowledge other than knowing it, and die. So if you would rather be frozen in a limbo just thinking of numbers for eternity, be my guest.

Such a variety of replies, it's been really interesting to read them!

What would you want to know? Personally I'd want to see a timelapse or milestone glimpses of humanity's future until the end of Earth's existence (if we survive that long)

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I don't want to ruin your idea, I think it's kinda neat. But I think that you may be monkey pawing yourself.

A tremendous amount people have suffered so much, that I'd probably not want the experience in its current form. The horrors of the holocaust, unit 731, and a lot of wars springs to mind, from just the last century.

IDK how you could modify the question, but "no violent deaths" could be a starting point.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think there is a short clear way to avoid potential centuries of suffering. Living in pain could be worse than a violent death.

Imagine a life time as a comatose patient who is still conscious and can hear but not respond?

Years of nearly starving to death. Years of physical abuse? Slowly dying in a hospital from cancer / some other slow painful death.

Hiker trapped alone on a mountain.

In short no thanks.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, those are all selling points. I'd love to understand how a coma patient thinks a few months in, a few years in and a few decades in. What it's like to die in war in the year, 700, 1700 & 2700. To die as a newborn and then eventually see how those very parents are affected. So long as it is randomized and I'm statistically likely to see something radically different tommorow, I don't think I'll ever get sick of the human experince.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No. It's not a selling point and you don't want it. I have a condition that puts every part of my body in pain continuously. It's been 4 years and I've forgotten the sensation of painlessness. Many people with my condition kill themselves, not only because the pain alone is intolerable, but because every step of the way somebody will tell them they are being lazy or faking it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I feel for you and I'm sorry you also are going through it. I don't blame you for taking umbridge with this all. But I also live in constant pain as well, after a dog attack a few years ago I can't walk for more than an hour at a time, laying sitting and standing all hurt and even with pain meds, I can only get to a dull ache. I can't work and the life I had before is gone, it was such shit trying to prove to skeptical condescending doctors saying just to do stretches and it will get better, but... Here I am still waiting.

So while I feel where you are coming from with this time of chronic pain, I am ready to deal with this and other life debilitating conditions if I also get to feel like it was to run again, to climb, to see through the eyes of an athlete. To be able to walk normally and enjoy events again. I'd take my own pain and yours again to feel human again.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Also, I'm sorry to say but I think the vast majority of people would be boring. We all have 1 or 2 interesting things happen to us in our lives but the humdrum of taking a shit and sleeping for 8 hours would get old fast

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

the humdrum of taking a shit and sleeping for 8 hours would get old fast

Ageed I'm only halfway watching this poor sod's life, and it's soo boring. I'm not going to watch more of this.

Maybe we could add a remote control and a library interface? Like choose whom to follow and then you can use ffw and a stop function?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

ah you mean just like Adam Sandler's timeless masterpiece, "The Magic Remote Control"?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I loved when Adam Sandler said "It's Sandlering time" and totally Sandlered all over those guys

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Was that the one where he enlarges Jennifer Anniston's boobs?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Nah, that was just my dream

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Honestly, imagine watching Schindler's List, Come and See, and Jean Dielman a billion times over. And then imagine that those films are each several decades in length.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'd modify the question to specify that each life is presented as a unique and compelling motion picture, each between an hour and four hours in length, of the sort that would be likely to win either critical acclaim or box office success (or both) at some point in the late 20th to early 21st century - and that I get to watch them in an unending variety of well-staffed and enthusiastically-attended movie theaters, with interesting companions who I can discuss the movie with for as long as I want to afterwards, with endless credit to spend at the concessions, and with no bodily needs like discomfort or fatigue.