Post: #1

Excellent Aussie movie "These Final Hours" tackles the question raised by this thread's subject: what would YOU do if a giant meteorite hit, and today were to be humanity's last day?

Would you:
-Off yourself?
-Party so hard you don't feel a thing?
-Pray?
-Sit in quietness with a loved one as death rolled in?
-Run around committing every sin you hadn't gotten around to yet?

It's an interesting thought experiment made much more immediate by the depictions in the movie of each of the above reactions from characters in the story.

But there's another layer to this question/experiment: after you think about what you would do if you knew you'd die today, how much would your answer change if you were instead given a year? Five? Ten? Fifty?

If we're here for pleasure only, the answers are predictable: do what enhances and prolongs your pleasure to correspond with how long you get to enjoy it. If you believe you're here for something higher than pleasure, then what? Will 12 years of fulfilling your calling be worth more, in the end, than 12 hours? How about 52 years? 82? 202?

I turn 42 this year. The above questions have me really thinking.

Post: #2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrXIQQ8PeRs

Post: #3

Good link. Raises similar questions. Perhaps a little more nihilistic, rock-n-roll style.

Post: #4

Quote:Run around committing every sin you hadn't gotten around to yet?

I'm all out of sins.

But to answer your 12 hour question, I'd rent a penthouse in one of the tallest hotels, take some MDMA, have sex for 8 hours straight with someone I really care about, sit in the Jacuzzi holding them, watch them fall asleep, and then I'd climb to the top of the hotel, send a broadcast message to all the hundreds of my friends, saying, "It's been real, farewell and goodbye " and at 11:59:55, I'd fall off the building backwards, and die, mid-flight, 366 ft below, in peace, while looking toward the sky.

Post: #5

That's quite a picture, actually.

Post: #6

Linux I really like your idea and I'd probably try to do something similar. The first thing I'd do is eat the best breakfast of my life which for me is belgian waffles, pancakes, hashbrowns, and bacon. Then I would try to find a couple of girls and take them somewhere naturally beautiful where you can either view mountains or in a warmer environment, the beach.

Once I'm there, I'd get some wax and smoke a decent amount of it while having a pretty expensive bottle of wine and maybe scotch. Once we're settled in, maybe go swimming in the ocean and take the 2-3 girls and fuck them while watching the sunset.

After that, I think I would go back and spend the last moments with my family while calling my close friends and give a Titanic quote saying "gentleman, it has been an honor playing the game of life by your side", and just sit with my family in the last couple of hours eating a traditional Italian feast with them and reminiscing our best stories and having a Toy Story 3 moment where we all hold hands as we watch ourselves being thrown to the fire.

To me, this gets the best of all my worlds. I get to have one last adventure, I get to see the most beautiful parts of our world one last time, and I get to share my last moments with the people I actually care about in my life. It's hard to beat a day like that and I think that's why I'd be ok going out of this planet in that style.

Post: #7

I guess the deeper point I was thinking about is that much of our motivation requires a hope that there will be an indefinitely long future. When we know that our future will be short, we change.

Question is: how long must the promise of life be to motivate us to do more than fulfill our basest desires? Surely the line must be drawn somewhere. What advantage is there in hoping to live 12 more decades rather than 12 more hours?

Not being a downer, just perplexed by some philosophical issues.

Post: #8

(02-27-2017 02:37 AM)Hoser Wrote:  I guess the deeper point I was thinking about is that much of our motivation requires a hope that there will be an indefinitely long future. When we know that our future will be short, we change.

Question is: how long must the promise of life be to motivate us to do more than fulfill our basest desires? Surely the line must be drawn somewhere. What advantage is there in hoping to live 12 more decades rather than 12 more hours?

Not trying to be a downer here, just perplexed by some sobering philosophical issues.

I think for writers the promise of several extra decades to develop and master their craft would be attractive. Per Hippocrates:

Vita brevis,
ars longa,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #9

Not trained in Latin, I'll try my best:

"Life is short,
Years are long,
Sometimes something-something,
You experience the around-the-colon thing,
It's hard, you idiot!"

How'd I do? :-D

Post: #10

I would continue to live exactly like I'm living. This question can be applied to our life at any given point of time anyway. I could die right now and I'd still be happy with what I did in the past 12 hours. Even if I was sleeping, I'd still be satisfied, because there's no better way to die, then in sleep. Sure if the clock was ticking, I would give more importance to some aspects of life but other parts would not be neglected completely. One thing I'd not do, is analysis. More actions less thinking.

Post: #11

What differentiates the short term 12 hour and mid term 12 month mortality models (and also something OP hasn't even mentioned) is possibility of procreation.

What differentiates the mid term 12 month and long term 12 year mortality models is possibility of fatherhood.

So if you consider procreation and fatherhood to be worthwhile endeavors then this model is not freely scale-able.

Post: #12

(02-27-2017 01:28 AM)LINUX Wrote:  

Quote:Run around committing every sin you hadn't gotten around to yet?

I'm all out of sins.

But to answer your 12 hour question, I'd rent a penthouse in one of the tallest hotels, take some MDMA, have sex for 8 hours straight with someone I really care about, sit in the Jacuzzi holding them, watch them fall asleep, and then I'd climb to the top of the hotel, send a broadcast message to all the hundreds of my friends, saying, "It's been real, farewell and goodbye " and at 11:59:55, I'd fall off the building backwards, and die, mid-flight, 366 ft below, in peace, while looking toward the sky.

Sounds like you've seen the movie, broadly speaking.

Post: #13

(02-27-2017 01:34 PM)debeguiled Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 01:28 AM)LINUX Wrote:  

Quote:Run around committing every sin you hadn't gotten around to yet?

I'm all out of sins.

But to answer your 12 hour question, I'd rent a penthouse in one of the tallest hotels, take some MDMA, have sex for 8 hours straight with someone I really care about, sit in the Jacuzzi holding them, watch them fall asleep, and then I'd climb to the top of the hotel, send a broadcast message to all the hundreds of my friends, saying, "It's been real, farewell and goodbye " and at 11:59:55, I'd fall off the building backwards, and die, mid-flight, 366 ft below, in peace, while looking toward the sky.

Sounds like you've seen the movie, broadly speaking.

I have not. I don't really watch movies unless it's highly recommended by someone who knows me. If it's good though, I'll watch it on the plane later this month when I have nothing else to do.

Post: #14

Here's another thought along those lines:


Sixx AM: Goodbye My Friends

Kinda expresses my thoughts on it.

Post: #15

(02-27-2017 02:40 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  I think for writers the promise of several extra decades to develop and master their craft would be attractive. Per Hippocrates:

Vita brevis,
ars longa,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile.

I agree with the sentiment. Mastery of a craft is one of the few true rewards in life and it only comes after decades of integrated effort.

Google translates the poem as:

Quote:Life is short,
Art is long,
Opportunity fleeting,
Experiment dangerous,
Judgment difficult

Wow, I like it. That's beautiful and scary at the same time.

Post: #16

My question to you is, why not always pretend you have 12 months to live and act accordingly?

One year it come true.

How much more shit could you get done and enjoy?

Post: #17

Rat: that's definitely something I'm grappling with.

LINUX: the movie is far more cerebral and understated than your rooftop scenario. I don't even watch most movies anymore, because I'm sick of the degeneracy and tired of the propaganda. But all the clips from YouTube made me too curious. I watched alone, and was so impressed I watched again with my wife, because I found the movie thought-provoking and well made. My wife, a really sweet and solid woman, cried more than once. It's not a popcorn flick, and it's decidedly different from Hollywood disaster flicks.

Post: #18

(02-28-2017 12:50 AM)Hoser Wrote:  Rat: that's definitely something I'm grappling with.

LINUX: the movie is far more cerebral and understated than your rooftop scenario. I don't even watch most movies anymore, because I'm sick of the degeneracy and tired of the propaganda. But all the clips from YouTube made me too curious. I watched alone, and was so impressed I watched again with my wife, because I found the movie thought-provoking and well made. My wife, a really sweet and solid woman, cried more than once. It's not a popcorn flick, and it's decidedly different from Hollywood disaster flicks.

Also made in Perth, Western Australia, so if you want to see bits of what the most isolated city on the planet looks like...

God save us from people who mean well. -storm