# Death. What Happens? Multiple Choice. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080 "2002-09-29T06:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/1 "2002-09-29T06:29:33Z")
A. Nothing. B. Heaven or Hell. C. Reincarnation. D. Other (explain) ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/2 "2002-09-29T06:53:51Z")
What happens if I answer correctly? Will it come true? Not that I wanna find out real soon… ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/3 "2002-09-29T06:56:32Z")
D. A lot of people cry. Or maybe that’s an assumption. Depending how the death occurred, there could also be a homicide investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/4 "2002-09-29T07:05:07Z")
Maybe B, C, or D, but probably A. Ranchoth (Who’s either a non-vehement atheist, or a really pessimistic agnostic) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/5 "2002-09-29T07:26:25Z")
D: \*The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out… 😃 \* Seriously? A. ---
**Author:** ![AbsolutelyStark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@AbsolutelyStark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbsolutelyStark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/6 "2002-09-29T07:38:31Z")
Probably A, maybe C, probably not B. ---
**Author:** ![Bloody\_Pollyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@Bloody\_Pollyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_Pollyanna)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/7 "2002-09-29T08:15:38Z")
A. Though I’d like to witness my funeral, out of interest- see who showed up, what music played, who chose the music and stuff 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/8 "2002-09-29T11:13:57Z")
A, as much as I would like it to be otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/9 "2002-09-29T11:19:38Z")
E. I don’t know. Are the results of this poll binding? ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/10 "2002-09-29T13:40:47Z")
In my case, hopefully A 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ezra\_brooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/13edae/32.png) [@ezra\_brooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ezra_brooks)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/11 "2002-09-29T14:06:47Z")
Sunday morning not in church…I hope it is A or C. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/12 "2002-09-29T14:19:07Z")
I think “multiple choice” is a great answer. If it’s not the real one, I’ll have a sharp word with the design team. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/13 "2002-09-29T16:46:25Z")
C is a poor approximation so I’ll go with D – Who you are is not (limited to, or exclusively understood as) your individual self. If you were born in 1937 and die in 2017, you exist, persistently and permanently, at the temporal coordinates defined as existing between those two points (and curling around through 3 dimensional space in an interesting and unique pattern within that temporal space). That’s the life you led, and as an object (or work of art, if you prefer) it always exists as such and does not die. Then, moving on to spiritual questions, the answer to “who are you” can be answered in the plural as well as the singular. People who lives rich with connectivity and engagement with others are much more able to understand and realize “you” in the plural as real and legitimate than those who live lives of antagonism, detachment, and lack of identification with others. For a few people, “who are you” can even be answered in a sense that transcends the merely plural, and for them “self” is an all-inclusive experience within which the individual self is a mere activity of the moment, and, like someone reading a book and finishing it and then picking out a new one to start, they do not view the end of the individual lifespan as an end of self. Reincarnation? Sort of. But not so much in the “I used to be an innkeeper outside of Paris in the time of Napoleon” sense (aka the “Audrey Rose” / “Peter Proud” sense). More like the reader in the library. You read all the books. The order that they occur in on the shelves is irrelevant. You are and will be and have been not merely the innkeeper outside of Paris; you will also be, and are, and have been, me; and I, you; and everyone else on this board, and everywhere else. And more. You even are and will be (to borrow from _Melanie_) also a good road, and a river in Russia. And for that matter the stars themselves. Some of which is heavenly, some of which is hellish, and that in turn is significantly affected by how we treat each other and the world in which we live. We each constantly make and remake the world that we live in, and we experience everything we do from the outside as well as the inside as we change “books” and live with the aftereffects of everything we do. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/14 "2002-09-29T17:09:08Z")
D. When people die, all the atoms and molecules of thier spirits disperse to all ends of the universe. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/15 "2002-09-29T19:13:56Z")
Depends on what sort of person you are B. Heaven if you’re “good”, D. Other if you’re not- other being that you cease to exist on Earth or anywhere else. Hell is the final punishment for the devil, not for people. ---
**Author:** ![lynn73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@lynn73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynn73)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/16 "2002-09-29T20:18:34Z")
B ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/17 "2002-09-29T21:54:24Z")
Well, I’ll not say A,B,C or D. What I will say is that truthfully enough, the people I have met while interning at different hospice unites throughout college, is that Death and Dying is actually a pretty euphoric experience. I have even met people who have had near death experiences and said, the only reason they came back was for a loved one. And that the experience was so good and so full of love that they could not wait to die. I shit you not. 9 out of 10 people I ahve met who ahve had a NDE said it was a wonderful experience full of love and understanding. And furthermore, non of the people I spoke with mentioned anything about religion or being of any particular faith. This of course is just my two cents worth. If anyone would like to ahve a more indepth conversation about the topic, I’d be happy to go to GD for a fun fact filled dialogue. ~phil ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/18 "2002-09-29T22:04:11Z")
I think that it’s A. Haj ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/19 "2002-09-29T22:19:04Z")
Thanks for doing this. I lost my mom and my brother in the last year and I’ve been thinking about this a lot. A. We wink out. It will feel like it did before we were born. AHunter3, that was nice, I like it. Is it another way of saying that we should concern ourselves more with living right than with what happens after death? Phlosphr, reassuring, painless euphoric death. Couldn’t that be explained by all the chemical changes going on in our bodies as we die, not to mention IV morphine and lack of oxygen? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080/20 "2002-09-30T00:19:21Z")
**AuntiePam** , yes and no. It does, I suppose, have that impact, but it’s the shorthand version of the applicable portion of my faith. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-what-happens-multiple-choice/130080.md?page=2)