Would you want to know?

I'm not sure I understand the OP. Are you stipulating that as a cost of knowing we would necessarily feel apathetic about everything (i.e. you can fly but only if you give up your thumbs) or are you stating your opinion of our probable reaction to knowing?

The Vulcans lived pretty good lives (aside from the whole planet blowing up incident) without having feelings. I could do it.

SAIDIN_sl said:

The Vulcans lived pretty good lives (aside from the whole planet blowing up incident) without having feelings. I could do it.

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Not to get nitpicky, but the Vulcans do have feelings. They just have a great ability to control/suppress them.

The Edge_sl said:

If given the option to know the true nature of all existence one way or the other;

i.e. does god exist, do I go anywhere when I die, is this all there is?

But that information came at the cost of you feeling apathetic towards everything in your life, and even by knowing, you still wouldn't be able to change anything, would you still want to know?

To clarify, it would be like flipping a switch in your mind, akin to seeing Mickey Mouse backstage at Disney with his head off smoking a cigarette. Realizing the Wizard of Oz has no real power, or only being able to play video games in "god-mode" where there is no risk and everything is already known. Essentially the magic is gone.

What would you choose?

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I am going to choose a different example then yours since I don't feel apathy in any of them.

What if you woke up one day and knew you were in the Matrix? But instead of being plugged in as a battery what if you had the total awareness that everything you are is just lines of code? Assume even that your awareness of this fact even shows you the code that explicitly states how you will know for certain this is all true?

And further add that you will not have any additional powers or abilities. Indeed despite your knowledge you will act I the virtual universe you are in as if you did not have the knowledge at all (assume this is just the rules enforced by the code)


In my example and yours I think it shares a common ground question "So what?" If you can do nothing with your knowledge then of what use is it? If the knowledge forces apathy on you then it doesn't matter what you wish to feel as something as has power over you. If you still have the illusion of free will then you could always still choose to believe in something else.

And lastly I don't give a shit if it's a real steak or a virtual steak as long as it is a steak to all of the senses I am using. Plug me back into the matrix please thxkbai.

No. Everyone knows that the only person to ever successfully see everything at once and not be completely destroyed by it was Zaphod Beeblebrox, and only then because he had an enormously large ego. And I also believe there was some tampering as to prevent the full enormity of the situation from being completely revealed to him to aid in his survival. So no, I am not nearly enough of an ego maniac, or have the technical proficiency, to handle that kind of knowledge and not be utterly obliterated by it.

Famm_sl said:

What if finding out meant discovering that the supreme creator was malevolent? What if we are a grand experiment of a sadist who delights in our suffering?

Would you prefer that to knowing there was no supernatural creator?WOULD YOU EDGE?!?!?

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Presumably, being gifted with knowledge of said malevolent supreme being would also provide some manner of insight of ways to curry favor with him, in which case out of all scenarios, this is the one which knowing is most attractive.

The Edge_sl said:

Probably a little of both, actually. Yes, in this scenario, apathy is your consequence for knowing.

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In that case, no.

Some of you guys saying "I could finally live my life free of judgement" might be forgetting one thing, society will still be here to judge you. Knowing if there is no God wouldn't let you be free to rape, kill or steal, fear of prison will still keep you from doing those things. Having sex with any person you want, aids and std's would keep you from doing those things. Cheating on your spouse, well IF you're a half way decent human, don't think of the vows as making a promise to God, think of them as making a promise to the woman you married. /shrug, at least that's the way I think of it.

No, because if it turns out there really is a magic sky friend Jesus, I would be really disappointed.

Already apathetic. No brainer.

I feel like if I knew this stuff, but was the only one who did... I'd end up a lot like lumie. I'd be throwing around ideas that nobody accepted, be all smug and assured of everything, and generally just carry myself in the same manner that the most arrogant religious zealot or conspiracy theorist does.

I'm ok with that. I'd want to know.

Elurin_sl said:

Wait, why do I have to be apathetic towards everything? What kind of retarded caveat is that?

I would absolutely want to know. I was mostly thinking I would want to know the composition/origin on the universe. I don't see why that information should automatically make me apathetic though. Outside of people with "faith," when have you ever had more information and it made you miserable about everything?

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Imagine that knowing this would make you see everything as a collection of particles. Kind of like in the Matrix movie where knowing meant you saw the machine code instead of the illusion.

Perhaps a small tip of the iceberg. Something my stupid ape brain could understand. And preferably just before the moment that I die so it wouldn't have a big impact on the rest of my life.

You can already pierce the veil of God and stare into the gaping maw of infinity. It's called large, ego destroying doses of DMT, LSD, mushrooms, ayahuasca, or ketamine + a deprivation tank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Lilly

It's strange...I don't particularly care for myself what the answer is, but I woukd sincerely like to know that my Father's spirt/soul/essense/what-have-you is at peace and safe after all he suffered through the cancer that killed him.

I would want to know, even though I know I would regret it. Just like most things that you assume are magical or the truth and find out it's neither. Especially since you can't do anything about it anyway.

I want to know why Jenny Craig hasn't visited the new Pretty Girl thread. FFS, if I wanted to see fat bitches I'd go to Walmart.

No. If I did want to and wound up being apathetic about everything afterwards it would be a waste to know since I would no longer give a shit that I knew or not.