If You Were Able to Know When You Would Die, Would You Want to Know?

[3005 332]

Would you? 

 

Personally, I'd be incredibly curious, but I think it'd make me too anxious. I'd probably have to say no.

[Ribbonfree 2,383]

No. I'm anxious enough as is, I don't need the specifics of the ultimate sword hanging over my head no matter how far in the future it is.

[Scootalove 10,689]

No, because I would start to become paranoid and be more cautious than I am already where it bring me into a deep depression where I wouldn't want to do anything until my time was up.

[Virgil 685]

I'd say yes, so I can best use what time I do have. And even if I found out if I were to live 100 years I still wouldn't know the time those around me had, so there would still be that sense of urgency in regards to how I treat others, plus I could make good long-term plans. If I found out I had a very short time left... well, I'd just use every second of that time doing things that matter.

[Felix 1,363]

No. It'd make living unbearable. I'd be very paranoid and sad to know the date. I'd rather see each day as another day I can continue living rather than seeing it as a day in which I get closer to death.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,315]

In 1939, the great science fiction author Robert Heinlein addressed this very question in his very first short story called "Lifeline". In it, Professor Pinero invents a machine that can accurately foretell your death to the year, day, hour, and very minute you will die. One passage sticks with me. A young newlywed couple comes to him for a reading. He checks the results, and tells them to come back the next day because he needs to make a few adjustments. They die together later that day in a terrible automobile accident. He knew they would die, didn't have the heart to tell them they only had a precious few hours left.

 

Outrage and violence comes from a surprising source in the conclusion of the story.  It was quite a good read.  

 

In his novel "Time Enough for Love" Lazarus Long mentions that in his youth, he went for a reading from Professor Pinero's machine. He recounts how the professor looked almost sick with fright, gave Lazarus his money back, and told him the machine was broken. In case you didn't know, Lazarus is over two thousand years old in the events of "Time Enough for Love".  

 

To answer the question though, I WOULD NOT want to know.

[jackleapp81 456]

In some ways, we already know. Based on our current knowledge of the average human lifespan, we're already aware that most of us aren't going to live past the age of 100. So, deadly diseases and accidents aside, we might be able to estimate the time of our death already just by observing our general health in the days leading up to it.

 

If I was going to die by an accident though, I'd definitely like to know. It would give me a chance to prevent it from happening in the first place, unless the future was unalterably set in stone, in which case...yeah, at that point, I might get a little depressed.

[Celtore 2,770]

In this case, I suppose ignorance is bliss for me. I want death to strike completely out of left field if I can't achieve immortality. If I'm to die peacefully, I can't have any knowledge of my passing. I'd have an omnipresent awareness of my demise in my daily life, something I usually don't  think of at all, and nor should I. Death is pretty much inevitable, I shouldn't and don't live in fear of it.

 

I'd also no doubt try to fight against the inevitable when my time finally arrived. It's futile, but I know I would.

[D1SC0RD 987]

Yeah I'd like to know. I'm too lazy to feel alive. Maybe knowing my death date would give me the motivation to get off my ass and live a little, achieve some things and make my time here worthwhile. Right now I lack the urgency to get up and do that stuff, lol. Sad but true.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

No, this in fact reminds me of Garth Brooks' "The Dance", the entire point of the song is that it may actually be better to not know when something is going to end badly, because the journey there(which we would ultimately avoid if we knew the ending) and the all the joy we had along the way might never had happened, because "we might have missed the dance" if we knew heartbreak it would lead up to:

 

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance

Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance

Yes my life is better left to chance

I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss the dance

[Satsuki Kiryuin 1,155]

It'd be nice to know how much more time I'd have on Earth. It'd give me more time to just have fun and screw everything. lol.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I already know I'll pass on fairly young, that's really all I need to know regarding my death.

[Ellie 36]

I don't think I would.  It would make me very cynical about life.  Plus, knowing when you'll die makes life really predictable and you'd spend most of your time worrying about how much "life" you can jam in before you die.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

Contrary to popular belief, I think knowing my destiny would be quite freeing.

 

Because then I'd know nothing else could kill me! Now, I wouldn't jump in front of a bus "knowing" it would stop, I'm still flesh and blood after all. Doing so would just mean a couple months in the hospital and probably a lifetime of life altering injuries.

 

But if I ever felt fear, then I could just take stalk of what's around me and say, 

 

"this isn't how I die." and the fear would just evaporate.

[ranul 132]

I would love to know the date of my death so that i can prove them wrong . 

[Ellie 36]

I would love to know the date of my death so that i can prove them wrong . 

You'd be dead though so there's nothing to prove wrong... there would just be a whole lot of anxiety.

[~Sugar Sprinkles~ 638]

I chose no, since there is no "depends" button.

 

Anyways, It depends. If I were to find out that I were to die in like my 90s due to old age, I guess that'd show I had a good life. If it says I were to die at 26 due to an accident or a disease or a murder, I would try to avoid that. 

 

But I would not because death should just be whenever its your time. We don't know how we will die, but it will be our time to go. I probably were to just say "No". I might worry to much... He he.. I guess i'd rather just not know :X

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

No I would not care to know honestly then I would probably live my life in fear/worry all the time. I think it is best just not to know and enjoy your days as you can.

[Rainboom Dash 1,056]

No. The anxiety of knowing when my time would come would hang over me and everything.

[Guest90210 3,568]

Hell-to-the-no. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

That's how serious I am about it. Knowing the date of my death would drive me insane

[Seaweed-Headed Dragon 359]

No I'm good....I don't want to know...or else i would be counting down

[Invalid 54]

Nope.

 

I honestly just want to go about my life without knowing such a thing that could possibly drive me crazy in the future. It'd be too stressful for me to handle if I knew my time would be up soon and there would still be so much to do before then.

[SwigglySwiggly 358]

Yes!

Weather you know when you're going to die or not, death is still inevitable. 

You might as well take the chance and find out when, it doesn't matter if its a short or long life, we all end up dead.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

Yeah sure, though my life expectancy is around 100 years. So it wouldn't matter too much for me, since I don't plan on living anywhere near that long.

[FrozenRain 9]

In all honesty I would want to know. Thats really all i have to say. I'll be motivated to live before I die, and the day I die will be the day I live my life to the fullest. I'm not afraid of death. However if the question was "how you would die" I'd rather not...