# Do you want the date you'll die? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280 "2011-09-14T12:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/41 "2011-09-16T17:46:36Z")
No, I don’t want to know. I’d be living in terror, even more so than I already do. \*\* alternate scenario \*\* "Hey! It says here that I should have died three weeks ago! What the \*_gack_ _topples over_ :: THUD :: \*\* alternate alternate scenario \*\* “Hey, I never noticed this before! My birth certificate says _I_ have an expiry date!” ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/42 "2011-09-16T18:17:45Z")
Would I want to know? Sure. I wouldn’t do anything I wouldn’t normally do anyway, like really risky things. After all, you might not die for many years, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get paralyzed or maimed and live out your days in misery. Instead, I’d just like to better plan my time. For instance, if I knew I was only going to live another 5-10 years, I’d probably adjust my retirement plan and such. If I were going to live until I was 108, I’d probably be that much more wary of my retirement investments and such. However, a funny story that I can’t resist telling. I had a superstitious friend who had seen a psychic and, despite that they’re not supposed to, she told him he would die on September 27, but didn’t tell him what year. So, every year on that day he would like refuse to even leave his house and if he absolutely had to drive somewhere, he’d go like 20 MPH. So, another mutual friend and I would relentlessly tease him about it and told him that we would prove the psychic wrong by one random year killing him on September 26. So then he became superstitious about that day and would stay home then as well and avoid us. Oh, good times… ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/43 "2011-09-18T03:07:59Z")
> [@Agent\_Violet](#): > > I don’t know if this thread was done before or not…but… > > Do you think you’d want to know the date of your death? Why or why not? absolutely! It would make planning for retirement so much easier. And if we could know the date for my wife-that would be great. Wouldn’t you like to know if your money is going to last? ---
**Author:** ![chowching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@chowching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowching)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/44 "2011-09-18T14:31:44Z")
I would prefer knowing what date other people will die. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/45 "2011-09-18T17:23:34Z")
Not me. I live each day as I want, try do stay reasonably healthy, and when the end comes, it comes. Too bad this wasn’t a poll though. Would have been interesting… ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/46 "2011-09-18T17:31:47Z")
I’d really like to know. I have an autistic daughter and I would definately make some choices if I knew the date. Especially if I also knew the date of my spouse’s death. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/47 "2011-09-18T21:51:01Z")
No, I wouldn’t. Besides the other reasons, I’d be disturbed at the philosophical implications of knowing the future. If I know what day I’ll die, that implies that nothing I can do would change that, which makes me wonder what if anything I do have the ability to change. By the way, I keep mis-parsing this thread’s title when I see it listed. Something along the lines of: _You have the opportunity to go out with a person you’re very attracted to, but they have a highly contagious, fatal disease. Do you want the date? You’ll die!_ ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/48 "2011-09-18T22:27:47Z")
Death already scares the shit out of me. I remember being fifteen and thinking “OK, I’m not even an adult yet. Three more years.” Then when I turned eighteen I started thinking “I can’t even drink yet, three more years.” Now that I’m twenty one I’m thinking “OK, still nine years to go until I’m thirty.” Eventually I’m going to reach a point where I’m going to be telling myself every year “One more year.” I wouldn’t be able to comfort myself like that if I knew when I was going to die. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280/49 "2011-09-19T20:35:22Z")
I’d like to know. It would be hard to convince me that it is correct unless I knew others had been told their date and it was correct. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-the-date-youll-die/596280.md?page=2)