You and the box
 

There is a box with one of two things in it; $100 billion dollars. or a bomb.

You can either open it then and there or not. There is no way getting around the bomb, if there is one. Just you and the box. Wealth or death.

Do you open the box?

I attatched a 'box' and you need a password to open it to tell you what is inside. After enough people have voted I'll give you the password.

Cunt.

I make a deal with someone: they open the box for me and I give them a billion dollars. I don't mention the bomb. If it's the cash, I get 99 billion dollars, and if it's the bomb, at least I get to live.

You need to include that as an option.

This would be better if there were two boxes.

i like the other thread better

The point isn't to get around the fact that you might die.

Just, would you risk your life for $100 billion on a 50/50 chance...

I'm with everyneurotic.

Ha ha.

But I don't want that 50/50 chance: I prefer a 50% chance of being rich, coupled with a 100% chance of being alive.

I open it fuck it if there's a bomb in it.

We all have our preferences, but you don't get your preference as an option.

you'd fuck the box if there's a bomb in it?

i'm no one to judge here, to each their own fetishes...

Perhaps he's hoping he'd dampen and negate the explosive. Clever ploy.

i'd open it.

this is like that deal no deal show, it genuinely surprises me just how many people are far too greedy... there was the othe other day, 2 boxes left £20,000 in one £250,000 in the other and the guy on the phone offered £101,000 as the deal and the guy didnt take it. I couldnt believe it

Atleast Hip Priest knew what I was really up to.

where's the contest? come on, what would you do with $100e9 anyway? even if you said something to the effect of "your wildest dreams would come true," etc., etc., isn't the whole joy of life knowing that you have to earn it?

my mom is always prattling on about winning the lottery . . . i, for one, would hate to win the lottery, because i would know it was just opportune fortune that i did precisely nothing to deserve. i suppose the intrigue of winning the lottery is enticing for those who believe they have no way out of their lot in life, who think they can't be doing anything that would both be more helpful to mankind and be more fulfilling (and result in more monetary reward). but that's not the way life works. case in point: this semester i set two goals for grades on which i was more or less straddling the fence prior to exams. i met both goals, which elated me at first, but now i'm just looking for more challenges, more ways to occupy my time, to be productive, to EARN the rewards i so fervently seek.

aristotle hit it right on the head when he defined eudaimonia: happiness is an activity of the soul in accord with virtue. nothing is free, nor should it be. so no, no box filled with riches and dreams would be worth risking your life. in fact, no such box could ever be worth anything.

Pfffft.

That's real noble and all, but there's something to be said for immediate, self-indulgent gratification. A guilty and delicious pleasure.

Three cheers for hedonism!

Plus, the money isn't "your dream" really; it's a means to achieve your dream.
My dream is not having to work a day job. I would easily be as busy if I were independently wealthy and able to devote all my time to music. There is still a sense of achievement to be had outside of $$.

Winning the lottery is no better or worse than being born into old money.

Have you ever seen Futurama?

Screw you! I still want my $100 billion dollars!

Open it. If you die you aint gonna know what hit you. I fhtere's money then big whup.

but there's a relevant difference there. when you're born into old money you do nothing to actively circumvent the usual necessity to earn your pay -- it just kind of happens, and you don't buy a lottery ticket. plus when you're born into old money, you earn your inheritance in a sense by earning the trust of the testator -- otherwise he/she would disinherit you or leave nothing for you in the will.

i can't speak for anyone here but myself, but i can personally find nothing to say for that kind of instant gratification. maybe winning a bazillion dollars would induce a sort of temprary euphoria as you surround yourself with enormously expensive goods and use the power that invariably comes with that sort of sum to your own advantage, but there would always be a sort of guilt looming in the background, knowing that nothing of your own doing had caused such a fortuitous event. now maybe if you use the money to better the state of the world (financing medical research, setting up scholarship funds, etc.) THAT would be gratifying, but that would simply be another case of earning your reward, viz., the knowledge that your actions are helping others and the respect for yourself that ensues.

to bolster my point, let me introduce a quasi-famous similar case by the late philosopher robert nozick. his question was, if you could hook yourself up to a machine that would induce any sort of experience you wanted for the rest of your life, would you, even though you would be doing nothing but sitting there hooked up to a machine as in the matrix? i would say no, because happiness is something that has to be actively pursued -- no pill, machine, box, or lottery ticket could ever substitute for the bona fide activities of human existence.

Damn freakin morals

You just reiterated my point.
It is a means to an end, and only morons with nothing else to offer the world or themselves see money as an end unto itself. That's all I was saying. I would still have a life filled with challenges and avenues to pursue satisfaction and fulfillment, but figuring out how to pay for a new roof would not be one of those things, that's all.
Re: old money/trust funds, minding one's p's and q's and kissing ass until someone dies is not equal to building a fortune for one's self through one's own efforts, and presenting that as some kind of "challenge" is pretty ridiculous.


I think we probably agree more than we disagree on this stuff.

you guys had to go deep didn't you.

i'd open it, if the exposion of the bomb wouldent hurt or kill anyone but myself then i'd definately open it.

i i die then, what do i care, i'd be dead, if i live i'd give all the money to charity and kill myself.

this is gay.

agreed. my only point was that you earn inheritances more than winning lottery tickets. but neither is equal to the virtue of the self-made man.

the thing is, when most people buy lottery tickets, they have no intention of using the money to help mankind; they have every intention of using it to buy mansions on the river and vintage lamborghinis. that's perfectly ok, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that whether you earned it or won it; it's just that you can't substitute your blind hopes of extraordinarily good luck for your rationality and the self-realization that comes with seeking those riches through your own effort. if you're GIVEN the money there's nothing wrong with accepting it (unless it was accumulated at the involuntary expense of others or through otherwise immoral means), but to exclusively focus your efforts on winning the money, or to take a blind chance of incurring great harm in the hopes of gaining something that is purely luck-o'-the-draw, is patently irrational.

So you are saying this is awesome?

"let us cavort like the ancient greeks... you know the ones i mean"

Hahaha...bring on the chocolate frosting!