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Schroedes13's avatar

Would you want to know the hour of your death?

Asked by Schroedes13 (3896points) July 18th, 2011

For some reason (genie, superpower, revelation), you were giving the option to know the hour (but not the method) of your death. Would you accept the knowledge or continue in your ignorance?

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36 Answers

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

No way, no thanks, no how. I would just obsess anyhow. I would waste even more time worrying than I do now.

jrpowell's avatar

I wouldn’t mind knowing. It would probably get me off my ass and start living.

picante's avatar

Tough for me to answer this. My fingers started to type “no”—but I’m now wondering if this advacned knowledge would allow me to tidy up my business affairs to make the transition easier for my loved ones. That might be the tipping piont for me. And I’d like to clean out my closet before the coroner arrives.

DrBill's avatar

yes, I would want to know

ucme's avatar

Nah, I like suprises me.

marinelife's avatar

No, I would not.

Blackberry's avatar

I used to want to know, but now I don’t think I would want to, because I would feel discouraged from working very hard, depending on when I would die I guess.

abysmalbeauty's avatar

No especially not knowing how I would die. It would be like final destination, Id be avoiding everything and looking for creepy death clues to try and avoid it.

ZEPHYRA's avatar

Yes, let’s get it over and done with, I would like to know.

JilltheTooth's avatar

Nope. Let’s keep the mystery alive!

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

Yes.I hate to be late.

Your_Majesty's avatar

Yes, 6 hours before I’m going to die I will swallow lots of pills so I will live forever in my dream and not enjoying my very last melodramatic moment in my entire life.

DeanV's avatar

Sure, just don’t tell me the date.

CaptainHarley's avatar

I already know the method of my death, and the approximate date. Do I need to know the hour too??

stardust's avatar

No. I’m rather fond of surprises.

mazingerz88's avatar

I just flipped a coin…heads, yes, tails, no…

Apparently, yes!

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

Nah not really. One one hand it might let me clear out the embarassing sex stuff in the closet, but on the other hand I’m dead so what do I care?

Blueroses's avatar

Nah. Suppose I knew I would check out at 11 am? Every day at 10:59, I’d tense up in anticipation, then sigh in relief if I were still breathing at 11:01 and go out to do reckless things with the knowledge that I’m safe for the day.

LuckyGuy's avatar

Yep, I’d want to know. That way I can spend everything on what I want.
Screw my progeny!

disenchanted_poisongirl's avatar

I’m not sure. Probably yes

El_Cadejo's avatar

Just the hour? Not the day? Or do you mean hour as in exactly when but not how?

If just the hour, then no. But if its the exact time ill die by not how then yes I would.

Think about it, if you know your going to die on july 23 2040 at 10am then I could live every waking moment without fear. I could do anything knowing that while the outcome wont necessarily be great, I wont die. Itd be really invigorating knowing that.

JilltheTooth's avatar

Unless, of course, @uberbatman , you were being all daredevil-y, had a horrible non-fatal accident, and spent the next 20 to 30 years trapped in your own head unable to interact or communicate because your loved ones won’t pull a plug… Now there’s a cheery scenario, eh?

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@JilltheTooth Did we get up on the dark side of the bed this AM? eww

JilltheTooth's avatar

It’s hot and sticky and I’m crabby and bugs bite me if I go outside. Yeah, I guess kinda so.

Cruiser's avatar

Yes! I would want to be well groomed with clean underwear on and an empty wallet!! I would love for there to be not a dime under the couch cushion that I could have otherwise spent!

flutherother's avatar

I’m not going to die am I?

El_Cadejo's avatar

@JilltheTooth Yes I have thought of that as well. Part of the risk I suppose. Id rather go into a situation thinking, I may come out of this a vegetable than go into thinking I may not come out of this….

Berserker's avatar

Eh, either way I’m just gonna get drunk anyhow, doesn’t matter lol.

Mariah's avatar

My gut reaction was “no,” but now that I think about it some…I’m not so sure.

I always have lived a very “future oriented” life to a degree where it’s almost a problem. I’m very quick to do any number of unpleasant things in the present if I believe it will really benefit me down the road.

Finding out that I was going to die young would therefore be hard for me to accept, but it would allow me to know that maybe I don’t need to concern myself quite so much with the future; maybe I should start focusing on the present a bit more.

But if I found out I was going to live a long time, I could continue working towards my goals, knowing that I still have plenty of time left. And I could stop being quite so careful all the time.

Of course, this is assuming I would have a very logical reaction, when in fact I would probably react much more emotionally and wouldn’t take the news all that well. So perhaps my gut feeling was right in the first place.

dannyc's avatar

I know it will be soon, so I worry little about it. Enjoy the day, and as many as you can. one day the crypt will be yours so relax and live the moment.

everephebe's avatar

Sure, but I wouldn’t count on the information.

throssog's avatar

To be as though dead already was the Samurai ideal and resulted in the willingness to die on command. Hour of death? It is enough to know that death is inevitable, isn’t it? How may one take too seriously that which is known to be a passing phenomena?

MRSHINYSHOES's avatar

Death may be frightening because we’re still alive and think of things that make us scared of death, like funerals, the way we’re going to die, the time when we’ll die, the sadness of knowing we’ll be leaving our loved ones behind, etc., but for me, life and death are parts of one whole dynamic continuum, and though death is the cessation of physical life as we know it, we continue to go on after, so time is really irrelevant. Knowing the hour is just for the convenience of my present life.

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