random scenarios

[ChrisC1983]

so i'm always running scenarios in my head.. this one seemed interesting

lets say you're at a point in your life to question what you want to do with it... not too old however.

time magically stops.. and you need to make a decision before continuing with life.....

option A, you simply continue your life, who knows what will happen.. maybe the worse thing you can think of.. or nothing (stagnant life.. 9-5/40hr per week basic nothing job, no girlfriend or children, no big money, nothing noteworthy)...... or the best perfect realistic life you can think of.. but you still can get deathly ill and become a coma patient for the next 50 years or something terrible like that
or B.. you can shave 10yrs off of your life (you don't know how long that is.. you could have been meant to die in 10yrs 3 months, so you live 3mo's longer then have an instant heart attack.. or you were going to live to 104 so you die at 94. but it happens and nothing can stop it or bring you back...... BUT the catch to all that is the second time starts back up, you start your perfect life. in 1 week you go from where-ever you are now, to your perfect life.. the person of your dreams show up, yous cancer cures itself, you write a best seller, your painting becomes the next mona lisa, your speech brings peace to the world....... whatever you wanted to do with your life happens and you have a perfect life (but die 10yrs earlier) and you have overall very good health. you can get sick or break bones but your recovery will be the fastest anybody has ever seen

i would go for B. i would rather have the certainty knowing i'll have a good life although a shorter one than living longer but have no idea what the future holds

 

[RidingDutchman]

Just knowing that B would bring world peace would probably mean I would pick that

Would feel kind of like a dick if I would choose myself over world peace

 

[ChrisC1983]

lol.. sorry i drifted a bit with it. i meant whatever your goal is in life for B. so... if there is some way world peace could happen, you become the way of bringing it about

but if your goal is simply to become somebody like Stephen Hawking or Monet or Beethoven or some other influential person of their relative topic, then that's what you are (world is still as screwed as ever lol... but atleast your life is good, and if you wanted to you could benefit people with that type of life. joe burger flipper can't start a "save the emu" fund, but stephen hawking would get enough to buy an island for emus)

 

[RidingDutchman]

I was just being silly

But I would definitely pick B. Just knowing what the future holds would be an amazing thing and being happy for a shorter amount of time would be so much better as living 10 years longer with depression and suicidal thoughts. So yes, option B all the way if that would mean I knew I could be happy for the rest of my life

 

[plaidInBlue]

time magically stops.. and you need to make a decision before continuing with life.....

What if you don't take the decision, what happens then? If time can stop magically, then, who is the magician? I would be wary about that, since the devil has more than one trick in his hat to make someone sign a pact.

I would choose B if I were to choose.

 

[ChrisC1983]

nothing happens..... like the episode of twilight. everything around you is frozen, you can see it all but you can't interact with any of it.. eventually you simply grow old and die stuck in a world unable to be "in" the world

 

[plaidInBlue]

Then it would be silly to not choose B. To B or not to B has no other answer than B. To me at least, it cannot be otherwise. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[ChrisC1983]

(sounds sidetracky but i'm gonna double back)...... so i have people always say "how could anybody be suicidal?" or "there is no good reason to kill yourself" or similar negative responses. i'm not actively suicidal or anything but my depression level is still there and when you look at the world in a way such as that, there really is a clear preference.

option A might end you up with the same life as B with an extra potentially 15yrs to live that life so if you gamble the potential could be better. but if you don't gamble, B is the easiest positive view


it just kind of came to mind as a way to explain it to everybody without clicking that hot button making them ignore me before i get to the point

 

[plaidInBlue]

... when you look at the world in a way such as that, there really is a clear preference.

I understand that.

I will talk about me. I do not think that A will ever happen to me. I do not expect that a perfect life will come out of my existence. And I do not see how I can a normal, orderly life now, because I consider myself unemployable. I don't think my life will amount to anything if I don't make a considerable contribution.

Stephen Hawking, Beethoven, or Monet, each has or had a physical condition, or physical incapability, that impeded them to be who we know them to be. Stephen Hawking has trouble writing, Beethoven was deaf, and Monet had eye problems. It's hard to be a physicist if one cannot write, to be a composer if one can't hear, or to be a painter if one doesn't see well. But they did it.

I have a neurological condition, and physically I am not in shape.

I don't know what contribution(s) I could make myself, to shine and have the rest of my life fulfilled. I think this attitude toward the will for a greater meaning than just living an average life, is probably a way for me to eventually accept myself and find legitimacy in my existence.

I don't find much passion in life. But I need to try again, or else I will die without a purpose. When you roll two dice, the number with the highest probability to come out is 7. And 7 is the lucky number. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I don't know how to finish this post. I think it's possible for everybody to become illustrious at something (in a positive way). But to become good at something, one needs (a lot of?) free time to practice.

 

[ChrisC1983]

i'm basically at a point in my life where it's clear what i wanted my life to be will never happen. i can keep muddling through and potentially 20yrs from now i could run (if not own) the largest antique mall in new england and maybe even the country.... so i'd have tons of money, be a fairly influential person and could potentially do good with that.... and if it did happen, i would. but it's not really what i want for my actual goal in life. i didn't care too much about a specific job type, i just wanted a family, place of my own, 1-2 kids and all that type of "normal" stuff.

i picked those 3 names because everybody generally knows them and, as you said, they all had problems that they managed to overcome to be very noteworthy people that many respect.

my only purpose at this point is to keep my head above water (in relation to my own depression) so i can try to help people. but honestly, i know i will grow bored of that. even if i do well, it's a self defeating purpose. every person i help just shows me what my life could have been and so many of their problems are easy to solve in my eyes because i've already lived all those scenarios in my head so when it came to my own life, i would know what to do. but my own life never got to that point so it's just a mass of potential being wasted...... just like the rest of my life

 

[hiraeth]

I would happily die in an hour if it means that in my death, people will suddenly start digging up my ramblings about global citizenship scattered all over the internet and as anecdotes in the brains of random people I've come across, and turn them into persuasive speeches that eventually result in a globally adopted global consciousness that goes on to eradicate hunger and war and inequality.

If only it was that easy!!

But now, speaking in less speculative terms. I am slowly inching towards mentally and financially preparing myself to take the "risky" route and follow what I believe to be my calling (stated above). Either I succeed, or, I fail and lose everything because the only way it can work is giving it your all or nothing. The problem I have is that since I started out with less than the average person, I'm worried that my "not being able to give as much" to my cause as someone else who is also giving their "all", lessens my chance of any kind of success.

You mention Stephen Hawking. He has a great quote that I totally live by:
“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."

For me that moment happened when I was 14. "Fate" said that I would be dead by now but I somehow hacked it and now I'm in completely uncharted territory! How exciting! Even if I "fail" at living my passion, I'll still have been successful compared to what I "should" have been.

If there's nothing left to lose, might as well try and see what happens.

 

[ChrisC1983]

i'm only 31 but i'm fairly sure i've hit a "mid life crisis". my family usually dies around 60 so even the math adds up.... but anyway.. what i'm trying to do is just "be myself" more. my childhood was pretty screwed (schizo mom, bipolar dad.. tried killing the family when i was 12.. grew up poor with my grandparents in a 3rd floor apt in the 15th most densly populated city in the country.. lots of bullying, too much sensory issues, all the big city problems with none of the big city income)

so what i'm trying to do is rework my mind. i've been trying to make everybody else happy to a point where i don't even know my own likes and interests anymore.. it's just not a way to live. i'm trying to be "me" more while slowly pushing it each time trying to get a bit more...... because, lets face it, in a social situation.. 100% ASD level is traumatic to people. especially "normal" people. but at this point i'm never going to have a job i like, i wont live alone, i will never have a girlfriend.... effectively, i'll work until i die alone and miserable simply because i refuse to kill myself because i enjoy probability and percentage so much that i know there's always a minor possibility for a positive outcome even with as much negative as i have and create. but if i can't manage to just be me, then what's the point of being anything? if you're going to be a cog, you might as well be somebody who pops out enough kids to possibly have 1 with a positive outcome life.