# The Gift of Life-Who would you pick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608 "2017-03-20T14:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/1 "2017-03-20T14:14:17Z")
If you could the gift of 10 years of quality(painfree for the most part, no serious illnesses) life to 5 other people, guaranteeing that they would be around until _at least_ this date in 2027, who would you pick? The only stipulations are that they cannot be family or personal friends, and they can’t already be dead. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/2 "2017-03-20T14:25:41Z")
Dalai Lama Queen Elizabeth Aung San Suu Kyi Stephen Hawking Oprah Winfrey ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/3 "2017-03-20T14:42:29Z")
My first thought is that I would seek out five people whose lives had been full of suffering for a long time, without regard to their potential “value” to society, and give them the priceless gift of a normal, healthy ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/4 "2017-03-20T14:52:10Z")
James Randi Harlan Ellison June Foray Dick Van Dyke Stan Freberg ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/5 "2017-03-20T15:41:58Z")
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dalai Lama Stephen Hawking If a friendly acquaintance is not too close, Karen (she has MS) or any of my facebook “friends” who suffer from migraines. (Although I’m sure my greed would take over and I’d offer Bill Gates 10 years of pain free life in exchange for a couple million dollars. Or that Warren Buffet guy. There’s lots of rich old people in the world.) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/6 "2017-03-20T15:58:25Z")
Linda Ellerbee The Amazing Johnathan (I love to laugh) Roger Corman John Kay Grace Slick ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/7 "2017-03-20T16:02:20Z")
Bruce Ward Marcel Williams Jason McGehee Kenneth Williams Stacey Johnson ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/8 "2017-03-20T17:12:47Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > My first thought is that I would seek out five people whose lives had been full of suffering for a long time, without regard to their potential “value” to society, and give them the priceless gift of a normal, healthy ten years. QFT! nice answer. mc ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/9 "2017-03-20T17:18:48Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > QFT! nice answer. > > mc While it may not have been what I intended for this thread…I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/10 "2017-03-20T17:31:06Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > QFT! nice answer. > > mc > [@Czarcasm](#): > > While it may not have been what I intended for this thread…I like it. Thanks. I knew it was not quite what the OP was looking for, but the first person who came to mind when I considered this magic power was a young friend of mine who has cystic fibrosis. She’s about 30 now, and I don’t think she’s had an easy day in her life. Then I realized that there are people worse off than my friend, and friends were explicitly excluded in the OP, so that’s what I came up with. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/11 "2017-03-20T17:39:46Z")
ok, ill play along. from my dead pool list, as a thanks for past contributions, not for anything they might do with their gift: June Foray Jimmy Carter Norman Lloyd I M Pei Betty White mc ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/12 "2017-03-22T12:40:20Z")
First four: Ginsburg Sotomayor Kagan Breyer Final, I gotta think about. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/13 "2017-03-22T13:35:57Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > First four: > Ginsburg > Sotomayor > Kagan > Breyer > > Final, I gotta think about. I might throw in Kennedy, since any replacement is likely to be worse. But this is exactly what I was thinking. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/14 "2017-03-22T13:57:40Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > First four: > Ginsburg > Sotomayor > Kagan > Breyer > > Final, I gotta think about. My thinking exactly. But we’d better be damn careful who’s president in ten years. And I notice nobody’s mentioned Hillary or Bernie. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/15 "2017-03-22T15:04:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > First four: > Ginsburg > Sotomayor > Kagan > Breyer > > Final, I gotta think about. I’ll second this list and add Betty White as #5 ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/16 "2017-03-22T17:33:20Z")
Jimmy Carter RBG QEII Prince Philip Dalai Lama ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/17 "2017-03-22T18:26:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > First four: > Ginsburg > Sotomayor > Kagan > Breyer > > Final, I gotta think about. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/18 "2017-03-22T19:05:23Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Yep. But who’s your #5? Please say Betty White; she needs more votes. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/19 "2017-03-22T22:37:02Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > But who’s your #5? Please say Betty White; she needs more votes. It would have to be Kennedy, I suppose. I don’t think much of him, but I don’t doubt that he’s better than anyone Trump’s likely to name. All due respect to Betty White, but if we’re picking comediennes, I’d probably give Carol Burnett the nod. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608/20 "2017-03-22T22:53:26Z")
Does “myself” count as family? I’m certainly not my own friend. And by gifting myself 5 times, I’m certainly effectively torturing myself with 50 more years on this rock. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gift-of-life-who-would-you-pick/782608.md?page=2)