You HAVE to choose between the two. NOT choosing will result in immediate death.
Option 1: You are five years old again. Except, you’re still the “you” you are today. All your memories and knowledge are still in tact. You still have all the wants and desires of an adult: Adult friendships, adult romance, libido, etc… The hell being, all of these things are impossible to find as a 5yo.
Option 2: Old. You are “fast-forwarded” to the last ten years of your life which you will live with in relative comfort for a person of your age.
Option 1, absolutely. Most most absolutely.
Since the last 10 years of my life was probably 3 or 4 years back I’ll go with the second choice and get them back. But I still want my pie, dammit.
Definitely option 1! Where do I sign up? 
ETA: current scores are 3, 2, 0.
- I’d correct every mistake I made in high school and college.
#1, totally. I mean, 10 years goes by awfully fast. I’ll take 70 instead any day. (especially if I get to make this selection again when I get back to middle age)
But wouldn’t school be incredibly boring? Also, wouldn’t it suck being stuck around kids all day? And wouldn’t it be next to impossible to forge any meaningful friendships with said kids?
It all sounds like a nightmare to me.
How is this even a question? On Option 1, you just have to suck it up for a dozen years, then you’re an adult again, with foreknowledge of the trends of the next X decades of your life, which would be AWESOME! The last ten years of your life you might be spending bedridden for all you know - many people do.
If you specified that Option 1 also came with “you’ll be run over by a bus at 15”, that might be more of a close one. I’d still pick it over the other, mind you, because I can’t think of a single way in which the life of a ten-years-from-death person is likely to be better than that of a small child.
I forgot to add that the 5yo you would be 5yo in 2020. But since I forgot to add that, I’ll just let the Hypo stand as is.
If I had that foreknowledge, I’d probably choose option 1 too. Although, “sucking it up” for 12 sounds easier said than done.
I’m most likely already within my final ten years and am content to keep it that way.
Live another 80+ years or live another 10 years (all the while knowing the exact date of your death)?? Yea, I’ll go with option 1. I can’t even see a downside to #1.
I would be gloriously wallowing in the fact that I get to let somebody else make ALL the decisions, and I don’t have to worry about a single thing. Twelve years doesn’t sound any too long for that kind of a holiday. And if you want adult input, there’s always books!
Option one, no question. I really don’t want to give up 3+ decades for, at best, aches and pains. Option one would sure be tough for the first decade, but a 5 year old that could read at an adult level would definitely get to skip some of the more boring parts. I could also avoid some of the bad decisions even without knowledge of future events (I read the OP as being a child in 2020), just using general knowledge and wisdom.
Definitely Option #1.
But with option #2, is there a guarantee that I’ll live another ten years?
Given the choice presented, I’d go with option #1.
That being said, my childhood (especially at home) was no picnic and I wonder if I’d be able to cope with it all over again. I’d have limited agency as a 5-year-old and I don’t think I’d be able to influence things in my favor for many years. I think I’d be in high school before I could really start changing the arc of my life from how it is now.
It’s better than the provided alternative, but it’d still suck. I suppose the potential outcome would make it worth it, though.
#1, no hesitation. I am statistically unlikely to have another 10 years. Imagine going through life, knowing everything I know now. Also, while school would be boring, imagine how well I would do. I also know what to avoid (stay completely away from tobacco, for example). And I know exactly what kind of woman to look for (that is my current wife of 55 years). Glorious.
I’m being offered a choice between having over fifty extra years added to my life with a big improvement in my health or having about ten years removed from my life with a reduction in my health. I don’t see how anyone isn’t choosing option one.
I think this is an overly simplistic way of addressing the Hypo. Being an adult trapped inside of a 5yo body would have severe psychological issues.
It would certainly have its difficult moments until you hit your late teens at least. But for me the allure is too much vs. the alternative. I want those extra years to live for one thing and it is just a matter of disciplining yourself to deal with the difficult parts.
Now if you had said we start at five weeks, then I’d have to reconsider. Locked into a fragile body with limited body autonomy for literally years would truly be nightmarish. But post-toddler? I think I could manage to not go insane.
With option 1, would my life start over in 2020 or waaay back when I was 5 ?