You are hereby granted (via Deity, Genie, Alien or whatever entity you choose) the following choice:
$100 million, after taxes, deposited into your bank account
or
The opportunity to live an additional 100 years past the standard (western civilization) average age of death - let’s say age of 75, so you’d live to be 175.
Since the age thing raises a ton of questions, let’s address a couple of them, but understand this is a theoretical exercise (obviously), so don’t get too nitpicky
On the age thing, a couple notes
You will age, but at a slower rate, prorated from your current age, some form of the formula (75 - Current Age)/(175 - Current Age). So someone 25 years old will age at 1/3 normal, someone at 50 will age at 1/5 normal)
You can’t take it with you. Everyone you know ages normally
You still have to earn a living…no lottery bounty for you
No bait-n-switch. Whatever entity has granted you this wish has also somehow aligned the fates so that “natural” accidents will have a much lower (think zero) likelihood of occurring. Plane or car accidents, fatal diseases, etc., won’t happen to you. You will also be miraculously cured of any existing ailments you currently have.
But it’s not perfect. If you choose to jump in front of a train, or take up meth…well, you will reap the consequences
Which would you choose?
I’ll be back with my choice, but interested in what others choose.
I’d choose the extra life. It helps that I’m pretty young, so I’d benefit more from the delayed aging. Money is nice, but I don’t have extravagant enough tastes to take full advantage of it. And besides, once I have the skills and experience that come with the extended lifespan, I’ll probably end up making a lot of money down the road, anyways. Of course, outliving my friends and family will be pretty depressing. Only time would tell if I’d be able to get over it and enjoy my life or not.
I think the key to enjoying the time would be to plant myself in a place that already has a culture of constant turnover, like a university, and focusing on living in the moment.
The 100 extra years. I would make so much money in talk-show appearances, book deals, endorsements, etc, that would come with being not only the oldest person in the world but miraculously still having the body and mind of someone who was merely in late middle age.
Definitely the money. As much as I’d like to see all the new advances in technology, science and medicine, I can’t imagine watching my husband, son and granddaughter grow old and die, and still be nothing but a constantly broke loser.
With the money, I could pay off all the bills of my family and friends, plus give them money to live it up on. I’d give tens of millions of dollars to children’s and arts’ charities. Then I’d sponsor a world tour for my favorite musical artists and start a foundation for supporting female musicians. Then I’d spend the rest of my life traveling the world with my husband. Anything left over when I die would go to that foundation and other charities.
The money. The thought of watching everything and everyone I know and love slowly dying around me fills me with as much eagerness as the thought of not being able to retire for a hundred years, or having to stay alive for that many years.
Plus, as much as I like the music, I’d only be able to listen to so many decades of Queen.
The extra hundred years. I don’t need to be rich, just comfortable, and having all that extra time sounds absolutely wonderful. Watching the people around me age would be a tragedy, sure, but on balance I’d rather have the extra time.
Definitely the extra century. I’ve long lamented that the human lifespan is too short to get any serious research done. In this field, you spend a third of your life expectancy just getting the education you need to even get started. And yes, I’d watch loved ones grow old and die, but then again, I’d also have the opportunity to meet great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren.
Life. I could go to school for a chunk of time without worrying about my career. I could put off having kids for a while longer without worrying about waiting too long. I could have a number of careers and lovers and have plenty of time to travel. And never having to worry about my health- well, if you have your health you have it all.
I’m already going to watch a huge chunk of the people I know grow old and die anyway. I mean, I wouldn’t choose to die today just so I don’t have to watch my grandparents die.
Money would be nice, but honestly it’s not that big of deal. It seems like people with money still face the same problems and end up sad and lonely just as often as we do.
I don’t relish the idea of putting in 100+ more years of work and then hoping my offspring will be able and willing to cough up some support for me during my extra-long decline.
However, the money would allow me and my husband to do a whole lot of good, by putting a great deal of it toward worthy causes, and to fully enjoy our lives. He can write, which is what he got his Master’s degree to do, instead of working as a receptionist to pay the bills. I would still be a nurse, but probably only part-time. We wouldn’t have to pay someone else to watch our (future) kids grow up, or else sacrifice seeing each other to work opposite shifts. Quality time with my family is more important than quantity of time to myself.
The years. Love comes and goes, it is part of the cycle. The grief of losing loved ones would be balanced with the joy of loving new ones… Plus I agree with Chronos, though in a more general sort of way (not being a cosmologist), I am already probably in the top 20 in my field and getting a lot done. But I would love to learn more, pioneer other fields, get a couple of languages under my belt, make a difference in the world. Doing all of these things in one lifetime is difficult…
As far as money, meh, I don’t need to be rich. I am well off and that would only improve with another hundred years of earning and learning.
The 100 years. Even though life sucks, I am rather curious about what the next 100 years will bring. I don’t have any loved ones, so the whole “watch them die” thing isn’t an issue.
You can always make more money. You never have enough time.
My thoughts exactly. Plus, I’d really want to see what happens in the future-I’d want to experience new technology and especially all the new music I’d get to hear over the next century.
The money. $100 million would be a hefty chunk of power - to heck with giving to charity, I could start my own non-profit, or business, or Senate campaign. Most people could live a hundred lifetimes and never get the opportunity to shape the world that a fortune like that could provide. Show me the money!
Very slick. And how many decades do you think you can go before all you can think of when you see a new face is how they’ll look in a coffin? How they’re going to get old, and sick, and all you can do is sit by and watch?
They don’t stop being dead just because you meet someone new. The bodies are going to keep piling up along with the memories. Unless you count on forgetting them, as a natural (and perhaps merciful) consequence of time and age, or consider love itself so unremarkable and generally interchangeable that you can just treat it like any other disposable commodity.
