# If you could ask one question and get the absolute truth.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425 "2008-02-27T22:05:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/1 "2008-02-27T22:05:29Z")
If you could know the answer to one question, and know that it is the absolute truth, what would the question be? For example, my question would be: Who really shot JFK? Answers cannot benefit you financially (no asking for lottery numbers) and you cannot ever share the answer with anyone else. Eric ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/2 "2008-02-27T22:38:09Z")
Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/3 "2008-02-27T22:44:50Z")
Hope compound questions are OK. If not I will have to figure out a complicated way to word this so that it is a single question: Is there is an afterlife, and will I be able to see my sister in it and spend time with her again? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/4 "2008-02-27T22:47:09Z")
“Are there other life bearing universes ?” That’s something I find interesting, and it’s a question that may forever be unanswerable; assuming other universes exist, they are quite possibly forever inaccessible. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/5 "2008-02-27T22:50:08Z")
have to ask if there is a “god”. Doesn’t matter which one, but an honest no would switch me quickly as would a yes. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/6 "2008-02-27T22:51:01Z")
When we first got married, we received a beautiful serving platter as a gift. I know I used it a few times. Then, one day, I realized I hadn’t seen the beautiful serving platter in a while, and absolutely could not find it. How can you lose a large serving platter? So I would ask “Where is my beautiful serving platter?” I figure if the answer is “It was accidentally thrown out with the trash,” at least I can stop wondering where it is and move on and form a new relationship with some other housewares. If the answer is “It is in a mis-labeled box in the back of the linen closet” then I get my beautiful serving platter back (does that count as financial gain?). I think if I asked a question that was more important in a cosmic sense, there would be too much potential of being upset or bothered by the answer, or upset that I couldn’t share the answer. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/7 "2008-02-27T23:50:24Z")
“What is the one true faith?” I’m thinking, this covers several questions I’ve had: Is/are there a supernatural deity or deities? If there are, do they care how we live? Is there a “true” or “correct” religion? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/8 "2008-02-28T00:04:17Z")
“Where do you get your information and can i access the archives?” Granted the answer would probably be “no” and I’d have wasted a great oppurtunity, but it would be the first thing that popped into my head. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/9 "2008-02-28T00:04:29Z")
I would ask my father what made him so bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/10 "2008-02-28T02:55:57Z")
When I think about stuff like this, I’m pretty glad it’s never going to happen to me because I wouldn’t be able to stand the strain of being able to pick only one question. I want to know _everything_ with unrelenting curiosity. If I did come to know everything…or at least the everything that’s important in my mind, if I couldn’t tell anyone about it, that would be doubly hard. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/11 "2008-02-28T03:38:37Z")
[QUOTE=Faruiza] When I think about stuff like this, I’m pretty glad it’s never going to happen to me because I wouldn’t be able to stand the strain of being able to pick only one question. I want to know _everything_ with unrelenting curiosity. If I did come to know everything…or at least the everything that’s important in my mind, if I couldn’t tell anyone about it, that would be doubly hard. [/QUOTE] So cheat. Something like “What’s the random number seed and function for a sequence of correct yes/no values that happens to match the order of every question I’ll wonder about for the rest of my life?” Or you could just wish for more wishes. That pretty much always works. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/12 "2008-02-28T03:49:20Z")
“Why me?” ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/13 "2008-02-28T03:56:33Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] So cheat. Something like “What’s the random number seed and function for a sequence of correct yes/no values that happens to match the order of every question I’ll wonder about for the rest of my life?” [/QUOTE] And run the risk of “Well, there isn’t one. Sorry.”? (Or, I suppose, since you’ve left the type of function unspecified, perhaps “Well, the easiest way to do this is for me to just tell you the whole sequence”, which isn’t so bad. Just make sure to get it down in writing…) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/14 "2008-02-28T04:10:17Z")
Lee Harvey Oswald. Don’t tell anybody. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/15 "2008-02-28T05:01:13Z")
When will we make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrials? (or when did we?) ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/16 "2008-02-28T05:23:37Z")
Where can I get the perfect clubhouse sandwich? If the answer is Alpha Centauri then it pretty much answers any questions I’d have regarding extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, too. Or, what **Motorgirl** asked (Minus the part about her sister. I don’t know her sister and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to ask about her). ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/17 "2008-02-28T05:48:09Z")
What is consciousness? How do I obtain the feeling that I exist from a collection of neurons and electrical impulses in my brain? What the hell am “I”, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![maikai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@maikai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maikai)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/18 "2008-02-28T07:53:04Z")
Other than my family, does anyone love me? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/19 "2008-02-28T09:36:48Z")
Does size matter? ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425/20 "2008-02-28T09:43:04Z")
[QUOTE=Lanzy] have to ask if there is a “god”. Doesn’t matter which one, but an honest no would switch me quickly as would a yes. [/QUOTE] Well, who do you think your question will be directed to in the first place? Maybe not a “God” by definition, but any being that could accurately answer any question you pose would have to be all-knowing, omniscient, and presumably all powerful. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-ask-one-question-and-get-the-absolute-truth/439425.md?page=2)