This. I *already * know I’m going to die, it would be great to know (within a year) how much time I’ve got. Like pbbth said, if I’ve got another thirty years, well… then I’ll live my life like someone who’s got thirty years. And conversely, if I find out I’m going to die in two years, then I want to know it, so that I can get my shit together, make sure my daughter’s taken care of, and spend that time living like I’m on shore leave.
Slight hijack: Would you tell anyone *else * exactly when you’re going to die? For me, the answer is “hell no”, that’s way too much burden to put on anyone else. But I’m single, and not financially/practically entangled with anyone. I wonder if the firmly coupled among us might feel that their spouse should know, or if anyone feels that there are any advantages to letting others know.
I’ll take the year, too - and I feel it would be better to tell everyone, so they can prepare, too. I have a very happy-go-lucky attitude to life, and a known date of death would likely increase this for me.
I would not want to know the manner of my death, because if it was something horrible I’d be forever dreading it.
I’m another one who would like to know what year I’m going to die. If I’m going to live to a ripe old age, the information will not be bothersome in the least (odds are I’m going to live into my 70s or 80s, so being told that I’m going to live into my 70s or 80s will be reassuring).
On the other extreme, if I’m going to die in the next few years I’d want to know about it. Have you ever had someone just up and die on you without warning? It sucks. I’d like to be able to prepare my wife and kids for it. I don’t know how I would do that, but I’d like to have the option.
I’m really the first one who would chose #3 (the date)? Huh.
To me, that provides the least amount of paranoia while avoiding any specifics: instead of an entire year, an entire month each year, 4 days each month, or every day (even if just for 60 seconds), if I’m inclined to paranoia it’s just 1 day a month. I certainly don’t want to know the year: I get what others have said about planning, but I don’t want to live as though I’m dying. If I only have 1 year left with my SO, I don’t want our remaining time to be colored by that. (But yes, if I knew, I would tell him.)
That said, I’m another who would only choose if I had to: I would much rather know nothing about the future, let alone when mine will end.
I’ll take door number one for the same reasons previously mentioned — retirement planning, prioritizing a to-do list, well, planning in general.
Knowing the year is a long enough time to be vague. So I wouldn’t worry about death on a daily basis. Being an optimist I would assume my demise would be toward the end of the year. You can bet I would have saved enough resources to make certain the last few years were a blast.
I’d take this one, too, for this reason. You’re right–knowing the date or the month or even the day would make every Tuesday or October or every 11th awful…but just a minute? And after all, what if it was 3 a.m.–I might sleep through it every time.
Knowing either the day or hour would be the very definition of hell. With the day, you might get one day of relief per week, but the rest of the time would be spent in torment. With the hour, you’d be forever counting down to the time of your anticipated demise, you’d probably lose your mind quite quickly.
With the month or year, I imagine the worry would be considerably less. With months you would probably get 8 months of reduced dread, but I can imagine that the three months leading up to the month would be awful, and that month itself would be horrendous. With the year, your best bet would probably be to make all your arrangements and set everything in order in the previous year and then drug yourself into a insensible starting at 23:58 31/12 the previous year. That way you can avoid the waiting, and even if you survive til 23:59 31/12 of the year, you won’t suffer as much as if you spent every waking moment dwelling on your fate.
