I’m not going to give a scenario because any scenario I come up with will be picked to death. However somehow you learn with 100% certainty:
[ul]
[li]There is an afterlife[/li][li]Every human gets an afterlife, it’s not opt-outable.[/li][li]Each afterlife will subjectively last 10,000 years before your soul is reduced to oblivion.[/li][li]There is a pleasurable afterlife and a torturous afterlife. These are the only 2 choices.[/li][li]Which afterlife you go to will depend on your life choices whilst alive.[/li][li]You have absolutely no idea what metrics are used to determine which afterlife people go to, or the relative percentages.[/li][/ul]
So given that you have a strong incentive to do the “right stuff” but no actual knowledge of what the “right stuff” is, do you change anything?
Please assume all bullet points are 100% true and you know this… because.
With absolutely no idea of what metrics are used to determine my fate, there’s absolutely nothing (about the afterlife) on which to base my life choices while alive. I will continue to make my life choices based on other factors.
I think of myself as generally a good person. I try to be considerate, helpful, generous, friendly, and diligent. We all make mistakes, and nobody is perfect, and certainly I have had very little good luck in my life, but as a person I think I would pass the test. If how I currently live isn’t enough, then bugger 'em.
No way to know what the Judge wants to see before sentencing so I will continue to live my life as I see best.
With my luck, the “pleasurable” alternative is a reward for behaviors I find abhorrent, such as self-aggrandizement or egotism. You could easily just get the sentence you believe you deserve.
This may well be the worst news in history because every single charlatan and sociopath will start a cult that claims absolute knowledge of what rules and propitiations you must follow to get into the good seats.
Thousands of paths to Hell, one path to Heaven…and the one path to heaven may be one that has yet to be discovered.
I happen to like who and what I am, so I’ll stick with what works.
I think it’s pretty safe to assume that acting from love in every thought, word and deed is the correct answer, regardless of potential afterlife. I know I’m not even close to doing that. I’m impressed that so many Dopers seem nonchalant.
Buuuuut if the OP’s sorting mechanism is a judgmental entity examining the souls and depositing them in the appropriate pleasant/unpleasant afterlife, then you are assuming it wants us to eliminate war, hunger, poverty, loneliness, greed, racism and corruption. But what if we are meant to be transforming into aggressive, self interested conquering machines? In that case the wicked would get rewarded with a sweet afterlife, and the kind would be sent to the hell of reeducation to mean them up a little.
Shucks, it could be the same place–the worthy have a pleasant experience making things unpleasant for the unworthy.
