# What would you do if when you died.... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667 "2014-02-06T16:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/1 "2014-02-06T16:20:44Z")
…you woke up in some kind of pod, a technician disconnected you from it and said, “Well, how was it?” Your entire life was a simulation. You were the only living being in it, so it wasn’t a shared simulation. It was purely for recreation by the way. It wasn’t forced upon you. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/2 "2014-02-06T16:22:58Z")
Ask for my money back. ---
**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:** [February 6, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/3 "2014-02-06T16:23:27Z")
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember a damn thing-either give me my money back, or let me do it again with a machine that isn’t broken.” ---
**Author:** ![Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obnoxious_Hood_Ornament)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/4 "2014-02-06T16:33:19Z")
“Let’s talk about round two. We need to tweak some parameters.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/5 "2014-02-06T16:36:47Z")
This is what I normally assume anyway. And once I’m back up there on the next level after being disconnected, I’ll figure that one is a fake world too. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/6 "2014-02-06T16:48:16Z")
Curse the creators of The Matrix for this stupid meme. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/7 "2014-02-06T16:50:22Z")
It’s fake worlds, fake worlds, fake worlds all the way down! ---
**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 6, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/8 "2014-02-06T16:51:44Z")
“That sucked! I distinctly remember ordering the famous rock star life. Now reload the program and make sure you get it right this time! Chop chop!!” ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/9 "2014-02-06T16:53:46Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Curse the creators of The Matrix for this stupid meme. 😛 What IS the first Sci-fi story for that concept? I know the Matrix guys supposedly ripped off Grant Morrison, (Not sure if it was the Doom Patrol story about everyone having bugs on the back of their heads or a different one) But I can’t remember any early stories about either simulations or a person discovering that he’s God\* and that he made everything. \*My other theory. I’m pretty sure either I’m God or this is a simulation. Either way, you guys aren’t real. Sorry. edit: Wait…wait…I do remember the TZ episode with Dennis Weaver as a condemned man. That was similar. And I think Alice in Wonderland touches on it. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/10 "2014-02-06T16:55:15Z")
Say, “I knew it!” because that is what I’ve suspected for a long time. The whole world is here merely for my amusement, Then I would start wondering if the technician was real or a simulation. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/11 "2014-02-06T17:00:28Z")
I’d feel just like Picard in the\* Inner Light\*. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/12 "2014-02-06T17:31:39Z")
I think I would say, “Oh yes, good program thanks” and then wait for whatever debriefing they had in store for me to help me reintegrate into society, or go for round two or whatever happens next. My philosophy has always been to make do as best as I can with whatever life throws at me so this would just be the next great adventure. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/13 "2014-02-06T17:35:12Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > And I think Alice in Wonderland touches on it. In Alice through the looking glass, Tweedles Dum and Dee assert that they and Alice are not real but only figments of the red kings dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/14 "2014-02-06T18:17:36Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > What IS the first Sci-fi story for that concept? Riverworld? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/15 "2014-02-06T18:34:37Z")
Thanks. I’ve had enough. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/16 "2014-02-06T19:01:37Z")
Punch someone and then kill myself until I quit waking up. ---
**Author:** ![Cognoscant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Cognoscant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cognoscant)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/17 "2014-02-06T19:31:02Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Punch someone and then kill myself until I quit waking up. Funnily enough, this was the original plot of _Groundhog Day_, but test audiences didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/18 "2014-02-06T19:34:09Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Your entire life was a simulation. You were the only living being in it, so it wasn’t a shared simulation. It was purely for recreation by the way. It wasn’t forced upon you. Except for the “only living being” part, that’s pretty much how everyone’s life has been from the very beginning of time. (YMMV, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/19 "2014-02-06T19:38:20Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Except for the “only living being” part, that’s pretty much how everyone’s life has been from the very beginning of time. (YMMV, of course.) No, including that. You have absolutely no proof a world exists outside your head. Other people are no more or less objectively real than ocean waves or Tinker Toys. Quite convincing, if a bit dull within its own context. Drop the veil just a little more so the user can at least remember he is immortal in that world. It will encourage adventure and minimize sub-escaping into video games. Or were you referring to the transposition of the roles of humans & cats? Because that was _almost_ believable, ludicrous as the concept is. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667/20 "2014-02-06T19:45:27Z")
Sound rather “Total Recall”-esque. (the Arnold one, never saw the Farrell one) I suppose it would depend on what my frame of reference was- the “real” life, or the simulation. If my “real” memories (pre-pod) came back, then it would probably be slotted into being a VERY real simulation, but if my frame of reference was only the simulation, I’d probably think I was going crazy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-when-you-died/680667.md?page=2)