Note: These are not my questions. I am reading a book by Chuck Klosterman where HE poses these questions to the reader, and now I am merely posing them to you.
1. Think of someone who is your friend (do not select your BEST friend, but make sure the person is someone you would classify as "considerably more than an acquaintance").
This friend is going to be attacked by a grizzly bear.
Now, this person will survive this bear attack; that is guaranteed. There is a 100 percent chance that your friend will live. However, the extent of his injuries is unknown, he might receive nothing but a few superficial scratches, but he also might lose a limb (or multiple limbs). He might recover completely in twenty four hours with nothing but a great story or he might spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Somehow you have the ability to stop this attack from happening. You can magically save your friend from the bear, but his or her salvation will come at a peculiar price: if you choose to stop the bear, it will always rain. For the rest of your life, wherever you go, it will be raining. Sometimes it will pour and sometimes it will drizzle - but it will never NOT be raining. But it won't rain over the totality of the Earth, nor will the hydrological cycle be disrupted; these storm clouds will be isolated and they will focus entirely on your specific whereabouts. You will never see the sun again.
Do you stop the bear and accept a lifetime of rain?
2. Assume everything about your musical tastes reversed overnight. Everything you once loved, you now hate; everything you once hated you now love. For example, if your favorite band has always been REM, they will suddenly sound awful to you, they will become the band you dislike the most. By the same token if you've never been remotely interested in the work of YES and Jethro Tull, those two groups will instantly seem fascinating. If you generally dislike Jazz today, you'll generally like jazz tomorrow. Everything will become its opposite, but everything will remain in balance (and the rest of your personality will remain unchanged). So, in all likelihood, you won't love music any less (or any more) than you do right now. There will still be artists you love and who make you happy, they will merely be all the artists you currently find unlistenable.
Now, I concede that this transformation would make you unhappy.
But explain why.
3.
At the age of thirty, you suffer a blow to the skull. The head trauma leaves you with a rare form of partial amnesia, though you are otherwise fine, you're completely missing five years from your life. You have no memory of anything that happened between the ages of 23-28. That period of your life is completely gone; you have no recollection of anything that occurred in that 5 year gap.
You're told by friends and family that when you were 25 (supposedly) you became close friends with someone you met on the street. You possess numerous photos of you and this person and everyone in your life insists that this individual was your best friend for over 2 years. You were (allegedly) inseparable, in face, you find several old letters and e-mails from this person that vaguely indicate you may have even shared a brief romantic relationship. But something happened between you and this individual when you were 27 and the friendship abruptly ended (and apparently you never told anyone what caused this schism so it remains a mystery to all). The friend moved away soon after the incident, wholly disappearing from your day to day life. But you have no member of ANY of this. Within the context of your own mind this person never even exited. There is tangible proof that you deeply loved this friend, but whenever you look at their photograph all you see is a stranger.
Six weeks after your accident you are informed that this person has suddenly died.
How sad do you feel?
4.
You work in an office, performing a job you find satisfying (and which compensates you adequately). The company that employees you is suddenly purchased by an eccentric millionaire who plans to immediately raise each person's salary by 5 percent and extend and extra week of vacation to all full time employees.
However this new owner intends to enforce a somewhat radical dress code: every day, men will have to wear tuxedos, tails and top hats (during the summer months male employees will be allowed to wear gray three piece suits on casual Fridays). Women must exclusively work in formal wear, preferably ball gowns or prom dresses. Each employee will be given an annual 500 dollar stipend to purchase necessary garments, but that money can only be spent on work related clothing
The new regime starts in 3 months
Do you seek employment elsewhere?
5.
You have been wrongly accused of a horrific crime, due to a bizarre collision of unfortunate circumstances and insane coincidences; it appears that you have murdered a prominent US Senator and his beautiful young wife and both of their children.
No, you did not do this, but you are indicted and brought to trial.
Predictably the criminal proceedings are a national sensation (on par with the OJ Simpson trial). It's on television constantly and it's the lead story in the most of the newspapers all year. The prosecuting attorney is a charming genius; sadly, your defense team lacks creativity and panache. To make matters worse, the jury is a collection of easily confused sheep. You are found guilty and sentenced to four consecutive life terms with virtually no chance of parole (and since there were no procedural mistakes during the proceedings and appeal are hopeless).
This being the case you are obviously disappointed.
However, as you leave the courtroom (and in the days immediately following the verdict) something becomes clear. The court of public opinion has overwhelmingly found you innocent. Over 95 percent of the country believes that you are not guilty. Noted media personalities have declared this scenario the ultimate legal tragedy. So you are going to spend the rest of your life amidst the general population of a maximum security prison, but you are innocent and everyone seems to know this.
Does this knowledge make you feel?
a- better
b-no different
c- Worse
6.
You are offered a brain pill. If you swallow this pill, you will become 10 percent more intelligent than you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic and critical thinking. However to all other people you know (and to all future people you meet) you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent. In other words you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. (There is no way you can alter the universality of that perception).
Do you take the pill?
7. If given the choice, would you rather a - only abide by the rules and morals of society that you personally agree with or b - have the power to slightly adjust the rules and morals that currently exist (but these adjustments would then apply to you and everyone else all the time).
8. It is 1933. You are in Berlin, Germany. Somehow you find yourself in a position where you can effortlessly steal Adolph Hitler's wallet. This theft will not affect Hitler's rise to power, the nature of WWII or the holocaust. There is no important identification in the wallet but the act will cost Hitler forty Rechsmarks and completely ruin his evening. You do not need the money. The odds that you will get caught committing the crime as less than 2 percent.
Are you ethically obligated to steal Hitler's wallet?
1. Think of someone who is your friend (do not select your BEST friend, but make sure the person is someone you would classify as "considerably more than an acquaintance").
This friend is going to be attacked by a grizzly bear.
Now, this person will survive this bear attack; that is guaranteed. There is a 100 percent chance that your friend will live. However, the extent of his injuries is unknown, he might receive nothing but a few superficial scratches, but he also might lose a limb (or multiple limbs). He might recover completely in twenty four hours with nothing but a great story or he might spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Somehow you have the ability to stop this attack from happening. You can magically save your friend from the bear, but his or her salvation will come at a peculiar price: if you choose to stop the bear, it will always rain. For the rest of your life, wherever you go, it will be raining. Sometimes it will pour and sometimes it will drizzle - but it will never NOT be raining. But it won't rain over the totality of the Earth, nor will the hydrological cycle be disrupted; these storm clouds will be isolated and they will focus entirely on your specific whereabouts. You will never see the sun again.
Do you stop the bear and accept a lifetime of rain?
2. Assume everything about your musical tastes reversed overnight. Everything you once loved, you now hate; everything you once hated you now love. For example, if your favorite band has always been REM, they will suddenly sound awful to you, they will become the band you dislike the most. By the same token if you've never been remotely interested in the work of YES and Jethro Tull, those two groups will instantly seem fascinating. If you generally dislike Jazz today, you'll generally like jazz tomorrow. Everything will become its opposite, but everything will remain in balance (and the rest of your personality will remain unchanged). So, in all likelihood, you won't love music any less (or any more) than you do right now. There will still be artists you love and who make you happy, they will merely be all the artists you currently find unlistenable.
Now, I concede that this transformation would make you unhappy.
But explain why.
3.
At the age of thirty, you suffer a blow to the skull. The head trauma leaves you with a rare form of partial amnesia, though you are otherwise fine, you're completely missing five years from your life. You have no memory of anything that happened between the ages of 23-28. That period of your life is completely gone; you have no recollection of anything that occurred in that 5 year gap.
You're told by friends and family that when you were 25 (supposedly) you became close friends with someone you met on the street. You possess numerous photos of you and this person and everyone in your life insists that this individual was your best friend for over 2 years. You were (allegedly) inseparable, in face, you find several old letters and e-mails from this person that vaguely indicate you may have even shared a brief romantic relationship. But something happened between you and this individual when you were 27 and the friendship abruptly ended (and apparently you never told anyone what caused this schism so it remains a mystery to all). The friend moved away soon after the incident, wholly disappearing from your day to day life. But you have no member of ANY of this. Within the context of your own mind this person never even exited. There is tangible proof that you deeply loved this friend, but whenever you look at their photograph all you see is a stranger.
Six weeks after your accident you are informed that this person has suddenly died.
How sad do you feel?
4.
You work in an office, performing a job you find satisfying (and which compensates you adequately). The company that employees you is suddenly purchased by an eccentric millionaire who plans to immediately raise each person's salary by 5 percent and extend and extra week of vacation to all full time employees.
However this new owner intends to enforce a somewhat radical dress code: every day, men will have to wear tuxedos, tails and top hats (during the summer months male employees will be allowed to wear gray three piece suits on casual Fridays). Women must exclusively work in formal wear, preferably ball gowns or prom dresses. Each employee will be given an annual 500 dollar stipend to purchase necessary garments, but that money can only be spent on work related clothing
The new regime starts in 3 months
Do you seek employment elsewhere?
5.
You have been wrongly accused of a horrific crime, due to a bizarre collision of unfortunate circumstances and insane coincidences; it appears that you have murdered a prominent US Senator and his beautiful young wife and both of their children.
No, you did not do this, but you are indicted and brought to trial.
Predictably the criminal proceedings are a national sensation (on par with the OJ Simpson trial). It's on television constantly and it's the lead story in the most of the newspapers all year. The prosecuting attorney is a charming genius; sadly, your defense team lacks creativity and panache. To make matters worse, the jury is a collection of easily confused sheep. You are found guilty and sentenced to four consecutive life terms with virtually no chance of parole (and since there were no procedural mistakes during the proceedings and appeal are hopeless).
This being the case you are obviously disappointed.
However, as you leave the courtroom (and in the days immediately following the verdict) something becomes clear. The court of public opinion has overwhelmingly found you innocent. Over 95 percent of the country believes that you are not guilty. Noted media personalities have declared this scenario the ultimate legal tragedy. So you are going to spend the rest of your life amidst the general population of a maximum security prison, but you are innocent and everyone seems to know this.
Does this knowledge make you feel?
a- better
b-no different
c- Worse
6.
You are offered a brain pill. If you swallow this pill, you will become 10 percent more intelligent than you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic and critical thinking. However to all other people you know (and to all future people you meet) you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent. In other words you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. (There is no way you can alter the universality of that perception).
Do you take the pill?
7. If given the choice, would you rather a - only abide by the rules and morals of society that you personally agree with or b - have the power to slightly adjust the rules and morals that currently exist (but these adjustments would then apply to you and everyone else all the time).
8. It is 1933. You are in Berlin, Germany. Somehow you find yourself in a position where you can effortlessly steal Adolph Hitler's wallet. This theft will not affect Hitler's rise to power, the nature of WWII or the holocaust. There is no important identification in the wallet but the act will cost Hitler forty Rechsmarks and completely ruin his evening. You do not need the money. The odds that you will get caught committing the crime as less than 2 percent.
Are you ethically obligated to steal Hitler's wallet?
2) Well that depends on if I was aware that I had previously love the bands I now hated. If that was the case I would be upset because I would know that all of my current musical tastes were a lie and not a reflection of my person.
3) I think I'd be pretty upset.
4) Christ no. I'd look killer in a top hat.
5) B. At this point I'm far beyond giving a shit what people think. I'm frightened for my life and ass virginity.
6) No. I'm happy being as smart as I am. And I'm even happier that people know I'm fucking brilliant.
7) B even though I know I'd ultimately fuck it up.
8) Ethically obligated? No. Would I do it to piss off Hitler? Yeah.
1. I would accept the rain as long as I knew that my children were able to see the sun.
2. I'd be upset because I happen to have a lot of musical tastes in common with many of my friends and if my musical tastes changed completely, I'd lose that part of my friendships. Especially with my husband.
3. I'd probably be sad at the tragedy of someone so young losing their life but I would guess that I wouldn't feel a sense of personal loss so I wouldn't be quite as sad as I would normally be.
4. Yeah, I'd quit the job. I don't do dresses much less formal dresses. The next job may not pay as much or have the same benefits but if I'm miserable with what I'm wearing (and I would be miserable and VERY uncomfortable) I'd be unhappy at home so I'd have to get a new job.
5. much much worse! Because I would know for sure that there is no true justice in the world that my family and friends live in.
6. Absolutely NOT! I'm fine with the level of intelligence I have and I happen to love having conversations with not only my friends and family but strangers too. I'd feel really alone if I was smarter than the people that surrounded me.
7. Adjust the rules so we're all on a more level playing field.
8. not obligated but I'd do it anyway.
why are you making me think today??
enjoy the weekend hon!
xo