Hypothesis: in some future utopia, disease and accident have been minimised. 99.9% of us will die in our sleep, but it could happen any night, at any age. So every day could be our last. Imagine if this was completely normal and accepted by all...
Thoughts?
2006-07-30 13:59:27 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Well, that's split the audience. Terrible/wonderful/no different? I think some of you aren't really thinking it through - if it became normal and accepted, surely we wouldn't worry about going to sleep. But how would we live differently?
2006-07-31 03:59:15 · update #1
I would beat a lot of people up who made me angry.
And I would cancel my bank account and spend all of my money as soon as I got it.
I would stop wasting my money on vitamins.
I would pray a lot more.
I would take more positive risks with the direction of my life.
I would tell everyone I loved how much I care for them every, single day.
I would stop playing the lottery.
I would try bungie jumping.
I would drive drunk, and drive a lot faster without wearing my seatbelt.
OH WAIT - Can we get maimed and injured???
Sometimes death can be a blessing if you are severly injured. There would be a lot of people in pain lying around in hospitals.
We would have to make suicide legal, and assisted suicide too.
2006-07-30 14:11:27 · answer #1 · answered by Andrea 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes, I will live without taking a risk of going to bed ever :]
You see, We have physical as well as mental limitations and limits. We cannot enjoy beyond limits of our mind or our body - beyond a certain limit a pleasure will become a torture. We cannot suffer beyond a certain capacity either, after that it becomes ineffectual. The fact is that we cannot endure to live a life too long even when it is a life of perfect health.
One cannot imagine a world without these limitations, and clear contrast between life and death. If we for example overcome old age, disease and decay, we will still have fear of losing our interest in life. The dread of termination is the ultimate dread for us – fear of termination of either life or our value for life. So death is peaceful but fear is still there – the fear of entering into the unknown leaving behind the known - the certainty of us being ourselves.
This is a dreadful notion that you have presented with some cadence - a utopian concept of death. Death means termination of the certainty we have in this life. It is a horrible thought and reality and we must know it like that. Romanticising death will not be any good. If we know that death can creep upon us anytime while asleep without us noticing any bad signs or symptoms, it would be impossible for us to ever appreciate going to sleep or having a nap. We go to sleep as we know that we are going to be alright. Death simply does not calmly and smoothly merge into life.
'What for example has become so fragile in our mind or body that our life can end quietly in sleep without us realising it while awake?’ we would think all the time. In real life, our physical weaknesses prepare us, in a way, for the final exit. But here, it will make everyone apprehensive of an unforgettable ignorance - not a utopian carefree style of doing a living.
2006-07-31 01:25:36 · answer #2 · answered by Shahid 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Erm how is your hypothesis so very different to our
current situation ?, excepting that some elements of
foreknowledge associated with illness / disease will
have been removed deaths unknowable time still
remains and therefore the anxiety felt by some will
be no different...
2006-07-30 14:09:48 · answer #3 · answered by Gone 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd probably be a lot more careful. I figure getting squashed by something heavy or ran over by a truck would be better than choking to death on pea soup at a rest home.
But if I was almost guaranteed to die in my sleep that sounds better than being squashed by a truck.
2006-07-30 14:16:09 · answer #4 · answered by Roadkill 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We would drink a lot of coffee and try to exist on as little sleep as possible. Because we wouldn't sleep much, we would be irritable, manic, groggy, and irrational. Life will cease to be enjoyable because the phrase "Hell is other people" will take on a whole new meaning.
2006-07-30 14:19:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think we would live differently. I think everyone thinks they are invisible and doesn't matter what they do and when they do it. HOWEVER, I think if this was instilled in our brains at the beginning of time, I feel that we would live differently... We would think about things first. We would do things that we want to do without putting it off to do later (we might never get that chance)... Just my 2 cents!
2006-07-30 14:03:43 · answer #6 · answered by smiling_eyes_4u_only 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No war (leastways not in the way we have it at the moment)
No Buffy the Vampire slayer
Faking Death would be a lot harder
Sharp decrease in sales of bulletproof vests
2006-07-30 14:11:37 · answer #7 · answered by Chris D 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I want to die like Granpa, peacefully in my sleep and not terrified and screaming like the rest of the people in the car.
2006-07-30 23:26:03 · answer #8 · answered by scotsman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any of us might die like that now. I think that nothing would change. People acknowledge death when it creeps up on them obviously (medical diagnosis, etc.,). Until then we all ignore our mortality and the fact that we are inevitably doomed to die.
2006-07-30 14:05:33 · answer #9 · answered by Novice restauranteur 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Isnt it already the case that every day could be our last? Doesnt change anything for most ppl, until they have a NDE.
2006-07-30 14:03:47 · answer #10 · answered by whatnoname? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋