2 Hypothetical "Magic Pill Questions"

[calcbandit]

Interesting replies. My thoughts for why pill 1 might be appealing are that you get to be awake while you are still young. 33% more youth and no oldness seems like a decent deal.

Also, relative to your normally functioning peers, you could have a huge competitive advantage in just about anything you try. You could be the best lawyer by studying law for 33% more time than anyone else could. Or anything else for the matter. You could definitely get ahead.


As for pill 2, I guess it was just a question regarding how much utility you will on average get out of your life partner vs how much potential utility you could get out of the most optimal life partner.

[CarlSpackler]

Yea, I though about living more of your life in your youth with the first pill, but then I realized you'd never be able to sleep off a hangover again. No thanks.

[Praxis101]

1) I have trouble with these kinds of questions - I'm still very young and don't have the proper perspective to value things like this (things that require life-experience to gauge.)

I like the idea of cramming lots of time into youth - I hear that the young mind is much more nimble than an older one, though, of course, I cannot speak to the truth of that. Any of the more respectable posters have an opinion on this one? I'd like to hear from DS in particular, if he's got an opinion on this one.

A big question is: "do the highest levels of joy come from the youthful years or the elder ones?"

I'd consider taking pill #1 after some serious thought/investigation.


2) Again, a tough one - I have no idea what the chances are of me meeting my "optimal partner." One thing I do notice, though, is that there's a massive difference between any old relationship and a truly vibrant one. Anyone I know my age who's been in a serious relationship has been through hell - buuuut every once in a long while I see an older couple that appears very happy.

~2% increase is enough to make me try number 2 - I'd be willing to take a big risk to find out what my "optimal partner" makes me feel like.

[KingGordy]

I don't really see an upside to pill 1 since any time you gain is taken away by the fact that you live shorter. Why would anyone take this?

For question 2 x would have to be insanely high, because the chance of meeting your optimal romantic partner, given that it could be anyone in the world, is very low.

[FortunaMaximus]

1 - Always figured you could manage the hours of sleep. I'd guess a 25-35 hours/week standard works well enough for me. But would I take the pill? No. Time of awareness, I'd rather spread out over as long a timespan as possible rather than the next 50 years. I wanna see flying cars and bathe under a lunar waterfall. (You get the point.)

2- Um. No thanks. I'll settle for a variety of less than optimal romantic partners across a lifetime rather than something monogamous with the "perfect" woman for me. I like making things difficult, unfortunately.