# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/21 "2011-11-21T23:59:55Z")
It would be the only fitting end to a lifetime spent in the pursuit of knowledge. If I preferred willful ignorance I wouldn’t be hanging out here, presumably.
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### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/22 "2011-11-22T00:14:26Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#):
>
> Definitely I’d want to know… And of those things, that vast majority of them revolve around spiritual, emotional, and mental things, not going out and partying or looting.
> … 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.
Ditto.
Meditate to equanimity and beyond.
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### Author:  [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/23 "2011-11-22T00:18:44Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> But you already _live_ in Iowa.
Pff, I’m in Des Moines. We have (well, will have) a Whole Foods, for goodness’ sake. Most Iowans would consider me hopelessly citified.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/24 "2011-11-22T03:37:50Z")
I can’t imagine not wanting to know. I’m reminded of the old days, when someone was diagnosed with a fatal disease, and the doctor would tell all the family members, but not the patient. For me, living in ignorance isn’t an option.
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### Author:  [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/25 "2011-11-22T05:30:42Z")
I’d want to know. But keep it from the general population.
Individuals are rational. Mostly. Mobs never are.
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### Author:  [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/26 "2011-11-22T09:33:07Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#):
>
> 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.
Me, too. Depending on the disaster, I want to know if I should head for the deepest cave, or the highest mountain, and lay in supplies. If it all gets utterly unbearable, I can always off myself, but I’m not going out without even trying.
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/27 "2011-11-22T09:44:50Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#):
>
> 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.
This. If I’m one of a select few, my wife and I quit our jobs, I spend a week buying a generator and stocking up on nonperishables (because my bet would be that word leaks out _sometime_ in the last month or two), then we go on vacation for a few months. Then come home and chill as the end approaches.
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### Author:  [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/28 "2011-11-22T09:51:24Z")
Hmm…I think **Skald** is plotting something…probably. 😉
> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> \*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.
Easily solved. **Skald** , buddy, you know how we’re your friends and everything? Well, how’s about you just tell us…and then everyone we don’t care about can stay working to feed us while we all live like Charlie Sheen? 😃
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### Author:  [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/29 "2011-11-22T10:21:43Z")
i have faith in the 'ole earth. as long as it’s not big enough to crack the earth in two or move it out of whack wrt rotation and orbit, there’ll be a way to survive. an extinction-level event like the one described in the OP will likely mean a lot of people dead in two or three continents on the day of the event, several more dead in the days to come, and then silence. there’ll be dusky days for at least 5 years wherein crop failures will persist for several years, killing most of the people and animals. only a few patches of the earth will stay green and sunny. stocking enough food to last a year seems easy enough. if in one year you meet up with enough like-minded people, surely there’ll be a way to maintain a small population.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/30 "2011-11-22T11:08:13Z")
I’d want to know, so I can prepare for the aftermath. No extinction-level impact kills _everything_, and fortune favours the prepared.
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### Author:  [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/31 "2011-11-22T12:00:06Z")
Yes, I’d want to know. Not so I can sit around and piss and moan about it (heaven’s gonna be better than this world) but so I can have some fun while I’m waiting for the 6 months go to by 🙂
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/32 "2011-11-22T14:45:03Z")
It’s November now:
December, January, February, March, April. . .
Fuck not knowing. I ain’t going to do my taxes.
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/33 "2011-11-22T14:57:51Z")
NO. How would one “have some fun” waiting for the 6 months to go by? I have an anxiety disorder and would probably curl up in my bed, shivering with fear, for 6 months. If I remained in ignorance, I could simply go about my daily life in my plodding routine, under a cloud as usual, but doing the best I can every day, as always. What good would it do to pull out my life’s savings and take a plane to, say, the French Riviera, if the whole world was using the approaching end as an excuse to just go nuts, rioting in the streets? I can’t see that as ‘fun’. My loved ones are few in number and while I can see a few days of closeness, angst, and hand-holding, that would get old fast, too.
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### Author:  [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/34 "2011-11-22T15:36:08Z")
Um, this IS a theoretical question, right?
Right?
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### Author:  [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/35 "2011-11-22T15:51:26Z")
Absolutely, I’d want to know.
At 55, I’m the youngest member of my family. There will be little or no agonizing grief, because none of us has great expectations for the future, except my Dad’s second wife, who has children and grandchildren. We will all be able to enjoy this last six months, and arrange to check out as comfortably as possible as Doomsday nears, with no worries for the future, nor regrets for the past. If my stepbrother and his children want to try to survive it, we can try to help them, but I don’t think any of the rest of us would bother.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/36 "2011-11-22T15:52:13Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> I’d want to know, so I can prepare for the aftermath. No extinction-level impact kills _everything_, and fortune favours the prepared.
Sometimes even a five year supply of Mormon brand canned creamed corn won’t save your ass.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4HL_-VT2Y)
Link safe for work.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/37 "2011-11-22T15:59:29Z")
Missed edit. Though if the world is ending I’d rather listen to some music rather than scientist blathering on.
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSnN6X_5Cc)
Or yakety sax taken to the next level
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB7IHNnyJ00)
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/38 "2011-11-22T18:10:34Z")
I would like to know a few days ahead of everyone else, if everyone else will find out. I need to lay in a supply of canned goods, some ammo, and a _lot_ of bourbon.
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/39 "2011-11-22T18:19:25Z")
**Shodan** , make sure you include the granddog in your plans. 🙂
Reagrds,
Oy!
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### Author:  [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inevitable-extinction-level-natural-disaster-is-six-months-off-do-you-want-me-to-tell-you/603684/40 "2011-11-22T18:44:47Z")
There would be huge run on luxury goods, a lot of shootings, sex, etc. if the word got out.
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