# An inevitable, extinction-level natural disaster is six months off. Do you want me to tell you?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 21, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684 "2011-11-21T20:57:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/1 "2011-11-21T20:57:15Z")
Let’s say that astronomers discover a huge, planet-cracking asteroid heading toward Earth. Repeated and rigorous observations from multiple sources at various governments confirm that it’s definitely headed our way. There’s no question that it’s going to smash into us, and no conceivable technological way of diverting or destroying it; it’s too damn big. Its impact will be worse than that of celestial object purported to have killed off the dinosaurs. It’s six months away.
Do you want to know?
Before you vote, please bear in mind that the question is _not_ “Should the government keep this a secret?” or "_Could_ the government keep this secret. It is whether _you_, personally, would want to be blissfully ignorant until Der Tag.
Poll in a moment.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/2 "2011-11-21T21:00:52Z")
Yes, please tell me. I’ll need to get cracking on that bucket list.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/3 "2011-11-21T21:06:53Z")
First thought: Hell yeah. I got 6 months of “Live like Charlie Sheen” to get through.
Second thought: Hell yeah. I have two kids to hold and hug and cry like a baby with for 6 months.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/4 "2011-11-21T21:17:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> Second thought: Hell yeah. I have two kids to hold and hug and cry like a baby with for 6 months.
You know, I think I’d rather not know. I could give my son a happy hug and kiss good night, knock boots with the wife, then just not have any of us around at all the next morning. I don’t particularly think that 6 months worth of sadness, continually thinking about how he won’t get a chance to grow up and have a family of his own, and how I’m going to die in 37 days, 36 days, 35 days, is going to make things any better.
Maybe, if I were single, didn’t have a family to be sad about, and was the only person around who knew\*… I could at least go out in a blaze of glory.
\*If everyone knew, forget it, most of us would starve to death while everyone quits their job to “go out in a blaze of glory”. Most likely I’d go out fighting someone over a can of creamed corn.
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### Author:  [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/5 "2011-11-21T21:22:25Z")
Yes, please. It’d be nice to spend my time doing the things in life I really wanted to do, rather than dieting, exercising, and saving for the future. Plus, I’d want to have an accessible, painless suicide method ready if I lived past the actual impact – I’d just as soon not starve to death in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world.
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### Author:  [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/6 "2011-11-21T21:24:50Z")
Definitely I’d want to know. Even if every trace of humanity is completely wiped away such that any future life or any future visitors would never know we were here, there are definitely things I want to get done before I die. Right now, many of them are on a long-term sort of plan, where I may get them done in 30 years but certainly won’t get them done in 6 months. And of those things, that vast majority of them revolve around spiritual, emotional, and mental things, not going out and partying or looting.
That is, I’d have no problem with continuing to work to maintain society, though a lot of my current work would be pointless if the world ends in 6 months so I may have to find something else to do. However, knowing the world ends in 6 months means I’d stop putting off those other things and I’d spend much more of my free time reflecting, meditating, and bringing my relationships with loved ones, not to a close, just to a balance.
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### Author:  [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/7 "2011-11-21T21:40:57Z")
Are you going to tell just me, or are you telling everyone? If it’s just me, my answer is yes. If you’re going to tell everyone then my answer is no. That is, I don’t want the whole world to know this is coming, but if only a select few people know I want to be one of them.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/8 "2011-11-21T21:54:03Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#):
>
> Yes, please. It’d be nice to spend my time doing the things in life I really wanted to do, rather than dieting, exercising, and saving for the future. Plus, I’d want to have an accessible, painless suicide method ready if I lived past the actual impact – I’d just as soon not starve to death in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world.
But you already _live_ in Iowa.
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### Author:  [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/9 "2011-11-21T22:11:01Z")
I would absolutely want to know. So much love to express, so much beauty to appreciate, so much dark chocolate and single malt whisky to consume … so much stress that comes from trying to live a graceful life amid the crush of others’ expectations that I could avoid in favor of savoring every living minute.
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### Author:  [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/10 "2011-11-21T22:21:37Z")
I would probably want to know, but only if I’m one of the few that knows. If it becomes public knowledge all hell would break loose, and we’d be better of not knowing at all (at least 6 more months of normal living, right?). If only a few people know, I’d get started on my bucket list and maybe get an extra mortgage or two.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/11 "2011-11-21T22:47:04Z")
I want to be able to indulge base cowardice and go stand (or sit on a boat) right at ground zero so I am immediately obliterated.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/12 "2011-11-21T23:07:45Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> I want to be able to indulge base cowardice and go stand (or sit on a boat) right at ground zero so I am immediately obliterated.
I’ll be right there with you.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/13 "2011-11-21T23:12:27Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#):
>
> I’ll be right there with you.
Next to me and the hookers.
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### Author:  [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/14 "2011-11-21T23:27:46Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#):
>
> Yes, please tell me. I’ll need to get cracking on that bucket list.
This is exactly what my first thought was. Especially with my bad procrastination habit.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/15 "2011-11-21T23:30:13Z")
> [@Rysdad](#):
>
> Next to me and the hookers.
How exactly are you persuading these hookers to take your money, given that a fricking asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and Captain Marvel is nowhere to be found? And you won’t be in the fucking mood anyway, I deem.
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### Author:  [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/16 "2011-11-21T23:38:00Z")
I guess it depends on whether you’ll be telling anyone else. It’s hard to see how I’d get anything enjoyable done when the mass panic sets in and society crumbles.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/17 "2011-11-21T23:48:55Z")
I’d want to know.
I don’t want to grade that big pile of exams and research papers for nothing.
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### Author:  [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/18 "2011-11-21T23:54:24Z")
Well other people would HAVE to know. Otherwise who would be telling you? Plus, it says in the OP that governments and a bunch of other ppl who’ve studied it know.
Yes, I wanna know. Need answer fast?
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### Author:  [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/19 "2011-11-21T23:55:52Z")
Yeah I want to know. I can figure out which side of the planet to be on when the event happens. I’m going to try to live.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/20 "2011-11-21T23:56:20Z")
I don’t think I’d want to know. If my skin is going to be flayed from my bones by the shockwave of superheated steam as the asteroid hits, I’d rather just be one of the ones that looks up and says, “what’s tha–”, rather than _worrying_ about it.
Mind you, if knowing is tied to working on a viable rescue plan, that’s different. But _powerless_ knowing? Nope.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684.md?page=2)