The other day I was in a Matrix-y state of mind (non-drug related, I assure you, more like stress and sleep-depravation related) and wrote down some things – well, to make a short story even shorter, I foresaw the outcome of the final Stanley Cup game. So my question is…this being GQ and all…if I tell you who I know is going to win, do I need to use a spoiler box?
P.S. Believe it or not, this is a serious question.
In that case, I think this is better suited for ATMB.
The question came up during the 2002 World Cup (football) which was often televised hours after the actual game. The mods told us not to spoil the outcome in thread titles. I can’t remember if spoiler boxes were used - I think it was enough to say “spoiler for such and such game!” in the thread title.
Yeah, but I’m talking about a game that hasn’t happened yet. (Or, at least not in the traditional sense – I tend towards the belief that the future is predestined and unchangeable, much like 12 Monkeys and, to a smaller extent, The Matrix Reloaded.) Plus, I’m not necessarily talking about SDMB policies, but whether or not it’s considered “rude” to give away the ending of a game when you “know” how it’s going to end…or how a movie will turn out, not because you’ve seen it before, but because you just, well, know it.
Just curious, but how likely is it that you’ll be wrong?
I am of the opinion that it is impossible to have a true vision of the future. Your vision has just as much chance of being right as my guess. Therefore, your vision is as much a spoiler as me saying “I think that so-and-so has the best chance of winning.”
Well, clearly I have a 50-50 chance either way. 
But those closer to me, I already told before game six took place, and remember that by game two…oops, I don’t want to give it away. 
Well, heck. Let me paraphrase what I wrote down about this vision:
The thing is, I didn’t even catch the last part, until I looked over it again and saw that I had referred to the Stanley Cup playoffs in the past tense.
Ironically, if the team I think will win DOES win, it proves nothing. If they lose, it will prove to me that the future is not as unchangeable as I thought, as In Conceivable suggested. Which I’m prepared to accept…I don’t make a living at this, after all. 
The probablistic nature of all things quantum would disagree with you.
Although (and this may be venturing into GD territory), if the future is predestined, then you have no choice but to either post or not post your “spoilers” (whichever you decide) and so asking our opinion is meaningless.
Also, in the same vein, perhaps you were predestined to have a false vision. If your predestined vision could go either way, then it’s not a spoiler, is it?
Now this really is GD material. Specifically, it touches on the differences between “belief” and “knowledge”, and how many people tend to conflate the two.
That’s why I predicated my beliefs with “tend towards”. I’m not very knowledgeable about quantum theory but I’ll take your word for it. In any case, I’m not like a Creationist who tries to fit the facts to his pre-determined beliefs…my theory of how the Universe works has changed many, many times.
This reminds me of that quote from The Matrix Reloaded: when Neo says to the Oracle, “If you already know what’s going to happen, how can I make a choice?” and she answers, “Because you’ve already made the choice. You’re just here to understand why you made the choice.”
In fact, my personal philosophies match those of the Matrix very closely. I’ve even used the word “Matrix” in conjunction with my theories, more than a decade before somebody made a movie about it!! (Geez, I hope I didn’t just kill this thread. I’ve said that twice before, and each time, it was a thread-killer.)
Well, I don’t really believe in “false visions”, except in the sense that you make them up yourself, like False Memory Syndrome or something. When you have these sorts of experiences (visions, premonitions, etc.) you tend to recognize the true ones from the false ones. You can’t always identify the false ones (at least, in my world I can’t), but whenever I have a REAL vision, I know it 100%.
Which leads to the real kicker – the vision I had was REAL, I know it. What I put in my spoiler box above has already happened, at least in the 4th-dimensional sense of the world. If what I wrote does NOT happen, it means that someone (or some thing) has gone into the future, and changed it.
Whew. This thread truly is racing towards GD at frightening speed! I guess a mod will fix that soon…
Yep, this thread is definitely slipping toward GD a little more with every post.
You’ve set up your belief system such that it is unavoidably tautological. All your visions are true, and if it doesn’t happen, it was still true, and some funky time traveling after the fact is what screwed it up. Basically, you have set things up so that is it impossible for the visions that you “know” to be true to ever be false, no matter if what you have seen actually comes true or not.
To me, that just seems like extremely poor logic. Your visions, under this particular system of belief, can never be tested for validity. Therefore, your beliefs in your visions can never become actual knowledge. You can never know that your visions are true, because knowledge of this sort (the sort that predicts actual, physical events) requires some sort of testability, which you have specifically copped out of with your statement of time travel.
This is exactly what I was referring to when I mentioned conflation of “belief” with “knowledge”.
KGS, please realize that I am uncomfortable ridiculing others’ beliefs. However, what you’re saying sounds utterly absurd to me; I would be astounded if there were ever implemented any board rule regarding this kind of thing.
I’m not. KGS, your beliefs are stupid, this is not a General Question and you need not use a spoiler box to obscure your guess about the hockey game.
This thread is closed.