# You discover you'll be dead in less than two decades. How would you guess it happens? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897 "2007-03-28T21:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/1 "2007-03-28T21:49:18Z")
Let’s say that, on a trip to the backwaters of the world, you chance to meet a genuine oracle. This oracle, like every other oracle, gives information about the future in mostly unhelpful ways. At any rate, after satisfying you of its bona fides, the oracle tells you that you will live no more than another twenty years–but, smirking, refuses to tell you how you are doomed to die. What would your best guess be? And by the way, I’m not asking how you WANT or HOPE to do, so it’s not necessary to say “in battle with the Romulans” or “of multiple orgasms while in bed with Starbuck,” okay 😛 ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/2 "2007-03-28T21:52:21Z")
My most likely: Some sort of aircraft crash, probably caused by me doing something stupid. And spectacular. My most feared: Illness. Like a really bad cancer or something. Long and lingering. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/3 "2007-03-28T22:08:40Z")
Heart attack. Our family has a long history of heart conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/4 "2007-03-28T22:09:14Z")
Small plane crash for me too. In my case, into a jungle mountainside in a cloudbank. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/5 "2007-03-28T22:21:15Z")
I’m pretty darn fat so I’d have to say heart attack. I’d be surprised if I lived that long. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/6 "2007-03-28T22:23:52Z")
Diabetes-related cardiac failure is a good guess. However, I have always thought it would be a really bad traffic accident that I am not responsible for and that I don’t see coming. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/7 "2007-03-28T22:24:03Z")
Car accident. Of course, if an oracle DID say that to me and I believed in oracles, it’s entirely possible that I would never get into a car again in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/8 "2007-03-28T22:24:17Z")
I would hope for a small plane crash. The smart bet would be an auto accident, cancer, or a heart attack. I just volunteered to go skydiving today with a coworker so maybe it would be something cool like that. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/9 "2007-03-28T22:37:45Z")
Something smoking-related, probably. Cancer, a stroke, COPD – maybe all three! I’d be surprised if it was anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/10 "2007-03-28T22:46:31Z")
Heart attack or shot by an angry defendant…like the wife beater who lost his kids to my client yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/11 "2007-03-28T22:52:18Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster] Heart attack or shot by an angry defendant…like the wife beater who lost his kids to my client yesterday. [/QUOTE] Dude, you’re I know you’re a lawyer, but you’re also a SOUTHERNER. Where’s your handgun? 'Cause I’m a busy man and I don’t have time to be avenging your death. Not that I wouldn’t do it, but I just wouldn’t do it with a cheerful heart. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/12 "2007-03-28T22:59:56Z")
Cerebral hemmorage, cause by tripping and cracking my head on the oracle’s front stoop while he sits in the background, snickering to himself and saying “Well, three minutes _is_ less than twenty years…” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/13 "2007-03-28T23:01:52Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] Cerebral hemmorage, cause by tripping and cracking my head on the oracle’s front stoop while he sits in the background, snickering to himself and saying “Well, three minutes _is_ less than twenty years…” [/QUOTE] I have no response to Hal’s post. I just want to encourage everyone not to make the obvious joke. And by “encourage” I mean “I will unleash the genetically engineered flame breathing venom spewing winged howler monkeys upon the first person other than myself who refers to the ovine.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/14 "2007-03-28T23:02:52Z")
Oh, my liver is probably in the lead right now. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/15 "2007-03-28T23:04:27Z")
Choking on something. I eat too fast and there’s no one around to Heimlich me. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/16 "2007-03-28T23:06:20Z")
Sooner of later I’ll get ‘left turned’ by a cager while motorcycling. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/17 "2007-03-28T23:06:21Z")
Put me in the car crash column. Hopefully by someone _else’s_ stupidity, rather than mine, but some days the odds don’t look so good. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/18 "2007-03-28T23:10:10Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Dude, you’re I know you’re a lawyer, but you’re also a SOUTHERNER. Where’s your handgun? 'Cause I’m a busy man and I don’t have time to be avenging your death. Not that I wouldn’t do it, but I just wouldn’t do it with a cheerful heart. [/QUOTE] The thing about handguns is they aren’t much good against a sniper. A guy that really wants to take me out is prolly gonna do it by surprise attack from range. Not much I can really do to prevent somethng like that. All things considered, it’s not a bad way to go. I’ve seen what heart problems and cancer can do to a person. I’d take a bullet over that anyday. As a bonus, I’d have an argument for admission to Valhala, since’ll I’ll have died in quasi combat. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/19 "2007-03-28T23:20:20Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster] The thing about handguns is they aren’t much good against a sniper. A guy that really wants to take me out is prolly gonna do it by surprise attack from range. Not much I can really do to prevent somethng like that. [/quote] Have I taught you people nothing? What about pre-emptively sending your enemies to Coventry? Wait. You’re one of the good guys. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/20 "2007-03-28T23:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Have I taught you people nothing? What about pre-emptively sending your enemies to Coventry? Wait. You’re one of the good guys. Never mind. [/QUOTE] Nah. I’m the aging cynic riding a jackass and tilting at windmills. When the bastards finally win, you’ll turn me into Don Quixote in one of your books. Please describe me as taller, slimmer, and getting laid more often. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897.md?page=2)