# For $1,000,000, would you forgo all human contact for one year? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068 "2009-09-14T19:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/161 "2009-09-18T15:29:43Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’d just need to let my wife and kids know what was going on. > > Move some necessary items onto the property and lock the gate. > > [ul] > [li]20 or 30 books[/li][li]A top end gaming rig and a few games[/li][li]Stocked top shelf liquor cabinet[/li][li]My tools[/li][li]A couple of cars that I’m restoring[/li][/ul]Of course. > > I’m guessing that it would be allowed, but I’ll ask anyway. Ordering online from Amazon or other stores is acceptable? As long as you’re not having a conversation or correspondence with a human being. In other words, if the automated systems screws up and you need to talk to customer service, tough noogies. How old are your kids? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/162 "2009-09-18T19:02:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > How old are your kids? 10 and 13. I’d miss them and they’d miss me, but they’re old enough to understand the benefit of me being away for that long. But in perspective, there are thousands, if not millions of children whose fathers or mothers are deployed or employed overseas and out of touch for more than a year. And they’re not going to be needing therapy because of it either. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/163 "2009-09-18T19:04:14Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > 10 and 13. I’d miss them and they’d miss me, but they’re old enough to understand the benefit of me being away for that long. > > But in perspective, there are thousands, if not millions of children whose fathers or mothers are deployed or employed overseas and out of touch for more than a year. And they’re not going to be needing therapy because of it either. I didn’t mean to imply that they’d need therapy. I meant that I’d hate to miss my kids growing up. It would be worse if they were infants, of course, and I was missing first words, steps, & so forth–but even tweens and teens are going to be having events I’d hate to miss out on voluntarily. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/164 "2009-09-18T19:37:46Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I didn’t mean to imply that they’d need therapy. I meant that I’d hate to miss my kids growing up. It would be worse if they were infants, of course, and I was missing first words, steps, & so forth–but even tweens and teens are going to be having events I’d hate to miss out on voluntarily. I am a father of two and would get all teary eyed if my kids were teenagers as well but we are talking about a paid luxury paid vacation and $1,000,000 after all. I could use part of it to buy them a new car when they turned 16 and I am sure all would be well. You could technically have their major events streamed to you via the web couldn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/165 "2009-09-18T19:39:59Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I am a father of two and would get all teary eyed if my kids were teenagers as well but we are talking about a paid luxury paid vacation and $1,000,000 after all. I could use part of it to buy them a new car when they turned 16 and I am sure all would be well. You could technically have their major events streamed to you via the web couldn’t you? Not as I see it. The point of the experiment is to isolate you from human contact, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/166 "2009-09-18T21:27:32Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I didn’t mean to imply that they’d need therapy. I meant that I’d hate to miss my kids growing up. It would be worse if they were infants, of course, and I was missing first words, steps, & so forth–but even tweens and teens are going to be having events I’d hate to miss out on voluntarily. I know you didn’t, but there are some hanky-wringers around here that that would jump in the middle of that with both feet. If they were infants I’d be in for a couple of months max. Tweens and teens though, they’re better able to understand the situation. Mine are anyway, I know others have different circumstances to deal with. I’d really hate missing out, but all of us benefit in the end. eta. It would be torture reading the Dope without being able to respond. After all, everyone is entitled to my opinion.. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/167 "2009-09-18T21:33:52Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I know you didn’t, but there are some hanky-wringers around here that that would jump in the middle of that with both feet. If they were infants I’d be in for a couple of months max. Tweens and teens though, they’re better able to understand the situation. Mine are anyway, I know others have different circumstances to deal with. I’d really hate missing out, but all of us benefit in the end. > > eta. It would be torture reading the Dope without being able to respond. After all, everyone is entitled to my opinion.. 😉 I hope I don’t come off as a hanky-wringer, but in your case I’d be really afraid of my kids’ reaction. Not that I’d stop loving them, but that they’d stop loving me–or at least be insanely resentful. I mean, yes, ten-year-olds are china dolls, but a year is a lot longer to a little kid than an adult; it seems like forever. The message you’d be sending to the kid is that you value the million more than you do him or her. That has to change the tenor of the relationship in a way you might not be able to mend with a car. ---
**Author:** ![BaconAndEggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@BaconAndEggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaconAndEggs)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/168 "2009-09-18T21:38:34Z")
I already forgo all human contact anyway…so this wouldn’t be far off from my real life. So yes, I’d definitely do this. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/169 "2009-09-19T00:06:16Z")
Pay my bills and keep my larders full and I’ll do it for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/170 "2009-09-19T00:49:32Z")
I didn’t read everything, but: I would do nasty, unspeakable things for $1 mil. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/171 "2009-09-19T01:05:15Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I hope I don’t come off as a hanky-wringer, but in your case I’d be really afraid of my kids’ reaction. Not that I’d stop loving them, but that they’d stop loving me–or at least be insanely resentful. I mean, yes, ten-year-olds are china dolls, but a year is a lot longer to a little kid than an adult; it seems like forever. The message you’d be sending to the kid is that you value the million more than you do him or her. That has to change the tenor of the relationship in a way you might not be able to mend with a car. I have read too many of your posts to ever mistake you for a hanky wringer. A hanky wringer is going to **know** that **all** children are precious delicate flowers that would never do anything wrong and must be protected from everything that might possibly bruise their fragile psyches. Yes, there are children in this state. Hell, there are adults that way. I don’t believe that mine are, but if in talking to them about the pending separation it turns out that it would be a problem for them, then the deal would be off. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/172 "2009-09-19T02:52:35Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > An eccentric billionaire offers you the chance to earn the aforementioned sum. Here are the rules: > > You are given a beautifully appointed two-story house to live in. Power, water, and other utilities are provided; you have a huge library of books, DVDs, and CDs, and other non-interactive media (i.e., cable or satellite tv, radio, & so forth) to which you can add under rules to be detailed below. There’s even internet, but your usage of that is monitored to make sure you don’t send messages to anyone; you’ll be allowed to read the Dope, monitor your bank account, watch YouTube vidoes, and so forth, but not to post anything or send any email.s All groceries and other supplies (which can include things like computer paper and ink, new media, replacement equipment, and so forth) are delivered to the house. Your sole link to the outside world is a land-line phone hardwired to call a single number, which always goes to voice mail. You can call that number at will to specify what supplies you need delivered, or to call for a plumber or whatever to do needed repairs; but you never get to speak to a live person. When supplies are delivered or a repairman arrives, the phone rings and a recorded message directs you to lock yourself in your bedroom for the duration of the delivery or service; you’ll get a similar message when it’s time to come out. (There’s a second bedroom you can go to in case repairs need to be done in the main bedroom, and there’s a full bath attached to each.) > > There’s a big lawn–about an acre–in which you can wander if you feel the need to go outside; you can either tend to its upkeep yourself or summon a gardener under the same conditions as you would a plumber. > > For each month you live under such conditions, you will be paid $20,000, payable on the 28th of the month; this will be deposited into your banking account, which you can monitor as mentioned above If you can make it through 12 months, you’ll get a bonus so that your total pay for the year is $1,000,000 after taxes. > > You are allowed to interact with others under two and only two conditons. First: every three months you’ll be visited by a doctor, nurse, and dentist employed by the billionaire and given a checkup, tooth cleaning,and so forth; these persons are are forbidden to discuss anything but your physical health during this time. Second, if you have a medical emergency, you can call for help and be taken to the hospital as necessary. However, any time you spend on emergency care does not count toward your goal, and such time is always going to be rounded up to the nearest day. Cut your hand badly enough that an EMT has to spend ten minutes with bandages, in other words, and you’ve added a day to your stay. > > Would you do it? Why or why not? What would be your biggest problem making it through? When i read the Thread name, I thought to myself “Of Course.” Then, when I read that I would be \*receiving \*the money, I passed out. Answer: Of Course +. hh ---
**Author:** ![jpei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@jpei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jpei)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/173 "2009-09-19T03:45:43Z")
> [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](#): > > Wasn’t there a short story about a guy who dared another guy to spend 40 years without human contact? I believe you’re thinking of Anton Chekhov’s [The Bet](http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1011/). And yes, I would. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/174 "2009-09-19T03:52:42Z")
Sure, we can do this. You can forget the nurse, doctor, etc. every three months. Once, in the year, would be fine. Teeth cleaning, twice. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/175 "2009-09-19T03:54:23Z")
I love my friends and I’m very sociable but I’d absolutely do it. I wouldn’t even want internet if I could get newspapers and magazines delivered with my food. Give me my cats, my books, and a disconnected computer to write with, and I’d take the deal for free. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/176 "2009-09-20T02:58:28Z")
Prior to me having a child I would have done it for a pittance. Now, not even 10M! No way. Absolutely not, unless it’s a matter of life and death. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/177 "2009-09-20T04:30:45Z")
Cheerfully but how would I obtain food, clothing, shelter and medical care during that year? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/178 "2009-09-20T04:38:31Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Cheerfully but how would I obtain food, clothing, shelter and medical care during that year? So you responded without reading even the OP, much less the rest of the thread, I take it. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/179 "2009-09-20T04:43:28Z")
I would do it for far less than that. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068/180 "2009-09-20T07:13:26Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > But in perspective, there are thousands, if not millions of children whose fathers or mothers are deployed or employed overseas and out of touch for more than a year. And they’re not going to be needing therapy because of it either. But then, few people these days is TRULY out of touch for that long, _especially_ not people in the military. If nothing else, there’s almost always snail mail. But even that is out of the question in this hypothetical. I wonder if the web game Kingdom of Loathing would count as contact, especially selling stuff in the mall…? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-1-000-000-would-you-forgo-all-human-contact-for-one-year/510068.md?page=10)