# A picture of yourself in 10 years **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463 "2006-05-19T21:58:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrightSmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BrightSmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightSmite)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/1 "2006-05-19T21:58:34Z")
If, by some ‘supernatural’ means, someone said they can show you a picture of yourself in exactly 10 years would you look at it? Keep in mind you could be looking at yourself in a coffin… ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/2 "2006-05-19T22:09:49Z")
Yes. Even if it showed me just as a pile of cremains … Seriously, though, I think it’d be cool. Hopefully I look even dottier and greyer than I am now. Sweet! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/3 "2006-05-19T22:40:39Z")
Sure I would. I don’t mind a sneak peek at the future. ---
**Author:** ![Eligible\_for\_parole\_in\_2011](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@Eligible\_for\_parole\_in\_2011](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eligible_for_parole_in_2011)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/4 "2006-05-19T22:46:06Z")
I’d look the same. That’s worked for me since I was about 25. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/5 "2006-05-19T23:09:08Z")
I have a picture of myself in 30 years. I call it “Dad.” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/6 "2006-05-19T23:22:26Z")
I’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/7 "2006-05-19T23:54:20Z")
I’d look if it was offered to me, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to acquire such knowledge. What happens, happens. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/8 "2006-05-20T00:01:34Z")
Hmm…I resemble my father greatly, but he is bald and 6 feet tall. I also look like one of my cousins from that side of the family, but she is almost morbidly obese, so that’s a non-starter,too. I’ll have more wrinkles, and hopefully, more wisdom. And greyer hair. I’ll be 53. Prime o’ life, really. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/9 "2006-05-20T00:13:21Z")
Hell, no. In 10 years from now I’ll be bald. Or maybe dead. Or both. However, in the meantime I’ll just be over here trying not to think about it, thank you very much. Dum-de-dum… not thinking about it… de-dum… ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/10 "2006-05-20T00:24:45Z")
The premise of this thread reminds me greatly of the Navajo peyote ritual as described to me by my then-roommate, a member of the tribe, in Arizona. They smoke some weed (to keep down the nausea that peyote tends to cause), then they smoke some peyote, then they eat some peyote, and then there’s rhythmic drumming and such, and when the trip sets in, each person (except the shaman, I guess) sees a vivid picture of how they’re going to die _if_ they continue on whatever path they’re on, good or bad. It is revealed to them during the trip (by the drugs, I would presume, although the shaman might just tell them–I didn’t think to ask) that if they actively make changes in their lives they’d die in a less unpleasant way later than predicted, but if they tell anyone exactly what they saw (how they would die) they would die in more gruesome fashion and sooner. ---
**Author:** ![BrightSmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BrightSmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightSmite)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/11 "2006-05-20T01:09:24Z")
> [@Peak Banana](#): > > Hell, no. In 10 years from now I’ll be bald. Or maybe dead. Or both. However, in the meantime I’ll just be over here trying not to think about it, thank you very much. I like your style ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/12 "2006-05-20T01:17:52Z")
Nope. Not even a little bit, actually… ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/13 "2006-05-20T01:19:27Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I have a picture of myself in 30 years. I call it “Dad.” I have a picture of myself in 30 years. I call it “Mom.” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/14 "2006-05-20T01:55:39Z")
Hell no. Am I the only one? No way, I don’t want to look into the future. Today is enough. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/15 "2006-05-20T01:58:35Z")
Nope. Why give myself something more to worry about or dread? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/16 "2006-05-20T06:49:50Z")
Sure I would, then 9 years later, I would tatoo the top 5 best performing stock for those years onto my forehead :p. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/17 "2006-05-20T09:56:50Z")
Curiosity killed the cat, don’tcherknow… I’d do it, if only out of curiosity. I wouldn’t be particularly worried either way - que sera sera and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-picture-of-yourself-in-10-years/357463/18 "2006-05-20T17:21:21Z")
I wouldn’t want to do it. As I see it, there are two situations: 1. This is how I will end up, no matter what I do. I don’t want to lock my future like that. That would make my life boring and ultimately hopeless. 2. This is how I will end up, given my probable decisions. The thing is, I can easily see it becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy, as my likely decisions are altered by the fact that I saw the picture and (over)compensated. That’s almost as bad as situation #1. So, nope. I’ll stay in the dark, thanks :).