The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: Malte279 on March 08, 2009, 06:40:46 PM
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The biggest wish topic made me think of this scenario. If you could have one question answered, no matter what, no matter how existential anything and you would get the answer to it, what is it that you would ask (would you ask?)?
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Well the obvious one is "Does God Exist?". The one I'm going for is "What kind of wood makes for the best guitar tone ever"
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I guess it would be "How did life come to be?". That would answer my question of if god exists or not and it would let me know how everything living was created.
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I would ask why life exists in the form that it does. More out of curiosity than anything.
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what's this weeks lottery power ball numbers?
and...
Jar Jar Binks? Why George, WHY?!?
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my question would be.. when will I die?
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We were asked to write an essay addressing the similar question "What do you want to know?" in class. Here's my response:
What do I want to know? How about what that question’s supposed to mean, for starters. Seriously, I sat there looking at it for about a minute. What do I want to know? In regards to what? The meaning of life? My grade on the Physics test I took Friday? (Actually, I’m pretty sure I already know what I got on that) The identities of the numerous RESTRICTED missed calls I keep getting on my cell phone? However, in hindsight, none of these accurately describe what I really want to know, since I have a pretty good guess for each of them. The first is obviously the Hokey-Pokey, the second is D minus, and the third is the military trying to recruit me. No, if I had to pick something that I’d really want to know, it’d be: If Star Wars fought Star Trek, who would win?
Now I know what you probably want to know: why the heck would I pick such a dumb question? Surely, if Deep Thought from the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy did exist and I could ask him one question, it’d be something more poignant, more pensive, more revealing? Well, I say nay. I’ll bet the other members of my class pick much more probing questions, and I bet I’ll encompass at least 80% of them in the next five parameters:
1) Self Help questions, like “What’s the secret to Success?” or “How do I get rich?” This is a waste of a question, since chances are you won’t want to do everything it says you’ll have to do to become famous, and even if you do, you might then go watch Citizen Kane and see what you’ll be in thirty years. Congratulations.
2) ‹ber-philosophical questions, like “Can there be true love?” or “Is mankind good or bad by nature?” These questions can seem really important, right up until when it’s answered and you realize nothing has changed. Say the answer is, “Yes, there can be true love.” Woo hoo, now you know. Has anything changed?
3) Life Altering questions, such as “Is there life after death?” or “Does my God exist?” Problem with these is, there’s usually a really, really, bad answer you’re hoping you won’t get. And that answer is usually the one that all the evidence is pointing towards. Receive your answer, and kiss your peace of mind good-bye forever.
4) What If questions, like “What if I had accepted that promotion?” or “What if I had never been born?” This question class combines the problems of all the other three classes: The answer tells you nothing, changes nothing, and usually has a really bad answer that 9 times out of 10 you’ll end up getting. Your next question should be “Would I be happier right now if I hadn’t asked that?”
5) Impatience-spurred questions. By this, I mean questions you would have learned the answer to on your own if you waited just a little longer. This includes, “What grade will I get in AP Calculus?”, or “Is my wife going to divorce me?” Seriously, come on: you can ask ANYTHING you want, anything in the whole world, and you ask about something that you were already going to find out? Good going, you just wasted your question.
As you can see, my question dodges all the major pitfalls of the Pandora’s Boxes listed above, while still being extremely interesting, at least in my opinion. While all the rest of you develop existential crises and start wishing you’d never asked what you did, I’ll be in my room happily moving on to the almost-as-interesting question of Stargate versus Battlestar Galactica, subspace rifts included.
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Haha, witty. But the philosophical questions are usually just out of interest, too. Knowing that there can be true love, as in your example, doesn't change anything in the same way that knowing who would win in a StarTrek VS StarWars epic battle doesn't change anything. It's a matter of interest.
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my question would be.. when will I die?
Ooo.. I wouldn't ever ask that. It will only mean you can see that day coming and, well... If the reply wasnt true you'll probably kill yourself on that very day because you're going mad. Knowing the future is pretty bad.
okay enough doomsaying.
For me the question would be.
Are all the uncut lbt scenes saved somewhere and could we ever find that place?
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my question would be.. when will I die?
Oh yeah. I'd love to know that too, but I want to know if god exists more.
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mumbling, we are all going to die at some point, the oldest anyone's ever lived is 122. so If I lived to be 122, I would die in the year 2105. No one in my family has lived to be 100, although my great-grandmother came close, she was 99 years and 5 months when she died in 1999. so knowing when my time would come, would allow me to live my remaining life as a better, more caring person..
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the oldest anyone's ever lived is 122. so If I lived to be 122, I would die in the year 2105. No one in my family has lived to be 100, although my great-grandmother came close, she was 99 years and 5 months when she died in 1999. so knowing when my time would come, would allow me to live my remaining life as a better, more caring person..
Alright.
mumbling, we are all going to die at some point
That's actually why I said it, but I guess we've got different views on that.
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I'd rather know if there really is a heaven or hell in the afterlife or is it just over when its over.
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It's quite scary though. If there is no heaven or hell, and there is no God(s), then nothing happens when you die. You don't exist, your conscience goes bye bye. How would that feel? Like absolutely nothing.
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I think we are thinking along similar lines NaNaNa. Personally I would probably not ask any question that could be answered with a simple yes or no and I would absolutely not want to know my dying day. It would be interesting if the knowledge of such things would allow you to change the future or if it was really set in stone without any chance to change it (the old question between free will and providence).
I guess I would be interested to know what happens after we pass away, but if I was granted the chance to have that question answered I'm not sure if I would really want to ask it.
It is kind of strange that every single one of us has already been in that state of nonexistence, but still we can't really know anything about it. If everything was just ended with ones dead it might in one respect be reassuring as it would mean that with the loss of sense of existence you would also loose the sense of loss the moment you passed away. In that case it would be a rather stupid thing to make life uncomfortable by worrying about an end that in itself would not mean a perceptible loss to you.
However, I'm very curious and curiosity would make me want to live on to see how things continue. So many people in history could never come close to perceiving what their life's work had really accomplished. Is there a way to perceive how things continue after you die? A yes / no question, I know but I don't know if I would have the courage to ask it anyway (would have to word it differently if I did I reckon). If the answer was no it would shatter any hopes in that respect and even though it would be a hope based on ignorance, that hope is not a bad thing the loss of which should not be risked lightly.
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It's quite scary though. If there is no heaven or hell, and there is no God(s), then nothing happens when you die. You don't exist, your conscience goes bye bye. How would that feel? Like absolutely nothing.
I still remember the moment when I realized that for the first time. It was midnight, lying in my bed at home. Worst moment of my life.
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Yeah, that possibility plagued me for months. I did finally come to terms with it, though.
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I like this idea for a topic. :) Very well thought out.
Now here are the following questions I would LOVE to be answered to me:
5. How do I get inspiration for writing again? (see my DA journal for more details)
4. Why are people still so afraid even after years of searching and discovering our planet?
3. How can I get myself not so distracted?
2. Do the loch ness monster, moth man, etc. exist?
and the most important life question I have is.....
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1. Why is Chuck Norris compared with all immortal things, even Jesus? It's madness!
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Wow, everyone always seems to ask really deep questions whenever a thread like this comes along. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to know if God exists, but I also have several how-to questions as well, like how to build a faster-than-light engine, or a time machine, or a lightsaber. The list goes on and on.
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Yeah, that possibility plagued me for months. I did finally come to terms with it, though.
I dont think I have yet. It still troubles me every once in a while. Getting closer and closer to that eternal period of non-existance, its like having a mid-life crisis at this age. It sucks.
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If I could have one question answered, it would be: Why do so many people on the internet talk liek dis. hai can i plz have source code 2 ur game plz. plz can i be admin on ur game plz just let me plz.
It's not like there are only a select few who talk like that, there are SO many, and they ALL talk the same. It's like an alternate species of the human race that just up and spawned when the internet was created. They have terrible grammar and like to make themselves look like complete idiots. I can never take a person seriously who types like that, and I'd really like to know how old they are and why exactly they are typing like that.
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If I could have one question answered, it would be: Why do so many people on the internet talk liek dis. hai can i plz have source code 2 ur game plz. plz can i be admin on ur game plz just let me plz.
It's not like there are only a select few who talk like that, there are SO many, and they ALL talk the same. It's like an alternate species of the human race that just up and spawned when the internet was created. They have terrible grammar and like to make themselves look like complete idiots. I can never take a person seriously who types like that, and I'd really like to know how old they are and why exactly they are typing like that.
One of the best questions I've seen in this thread. Really, this messes with your schoolwork because the students that use the internet short form are the ones who are likely to use the same spellings on more formal work.
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^ From a practical point of view it would be better for you though to ask how you can change it (if there was a way at all). For the mere why could be easily answered by something along the lines of "habit", "it's considered cool / comfortable" etc. but it probably wouldn't help too much).
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Yweah there have been stories written about internet shorthand and texting have really done a number on the writing skill of the recent high school and college students, its its really sad...
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And its up to people like those on the GOF to avenge the death of the English language. Unlike many of the other forums or message boards on the web, everyone here strives to be as grammatically correct as possible while maintaining proper vocabularies. At least I hope.
If i messed up those sentences that would be a smack of irony right in my face
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Ruby: "We must avenge the death of the English language, avenge the death of the English language we must."
Ducky: "Yep, yep, yep!"
Petrie: "Me no get it!"
Cera: "That sounds just dumb!"
Spike: "The protection of an adequate use of so traditional a language as the English one requires a more sophisticated use of the same than the one you just displayed."
Everyone: :blink: