Forget the past or know the future?

[endersblade]

I came up with this dilemma while heading to work the other day.

A genie/whatever pops up and gives you two options:

1. You can know everything that will happen in the future, but your life will be rife with terrible things.

2. You can forget everything in the past (basically long-term memory loss), but your life will be filled with good things.

In other words, know the future and suffer for it, or remain blissfully ignorant of your past and have a good life? Which would you choose and why?

[Doctor Amadeus]

I would rather enjoy life than be tortured by it, Anxiety is a disorder that has to do with worrying about the future, Depression is a disorder that as to do with worrying about the past.

[endersblade]

I would rather enjoy life than be tortured by it, Anxiety is a disorder that has to do with worrying about the future, Depression is a disorder that as to do with worrying about the past.

Yes, but think of the implications of forgetting the past...you never remember your loved ones, you never remember anything you've done, you probably can't hold a job because you never remember your skills and/or what you've done there. You basically wake up with amnesia every day. The way I postured the question is that you can remember things for a few days, we'll say a week at most, and once that gets tossed into long-term memory, poof, it's gone.

[Deleted]

Just do nothing and ignore the genie. No good things come from things that don‘t exist. For you could ask if a genie is real and possible... what else might be? And you will never look at the sky in the same way as before again.

[Ajax Epic]

Yes, but think of the implications of forgetting the past...you never remember your loved ones, you never remember anything you've done, you probably can't hold a job because you never remember your skills and/or what you've done there. You basically wake up with amnesia every day. The way I postured the question is that you can remember things for a few days, we'll say a week at most, and once that gets tossed into long-term memory, poof, it's gone.

The way you're talking here kind of sounds contradictory to the poll option of "Forget the past and enjoy your life". Even if you don't remember things, you are still enjoying life.

I'm someone with a terrible memory and it's worse for my family than myself. Things I know I did in high school but don't really remember include: visiting the grand canyon, looking out from the top of the empire state building, or singing at Carnegie Hall. I know memory loss would be worse in your scenario compared to what I have now but enjoying life makes it a nonissue. My opinion at least.

[yetgdhfgh]

I pretty much know what my future is so i would take forget the past so my future wont be as sad and predictable plus there is quite simply a shit ton of horrible memories i wish to expunge from my brain.

[Hashtronaut]

Yes, but think of the implications of forgetting the past...you never remember your loved ones, you never remember anything you've done, you probably can't hold a job because you never remember your skills and/or what you've done there. You basically wake up with amnesia every day. The way I postured the question is that you can remember things for a few days, we'll say a week at most, and once that gets tossed into long-term memory, poof, it's gone.

Yes but at the same time the way you present the question is have the memory loss and ignorance won’t matter...as good things will continually happen to you. It won’t matter if you can hold a job, you will win the lottery. It doesn’t matter if you remember loved ones they will remember and remind you.

I’d rather have the universe protect me, than knowing it’s againist me and hopeless to stop it.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Yes, but think of the implications of forgetting the past...you never remember your loved ones, you never remember anything you've done, you probably can't hold a job because you never remember your skills and/or what you've done there. You basically wake up with amnesia every day. The way I postured the question is that you can remember things for a few days, we'll say a week at most, and once that gets tossed into long-term memory, poof, it's gone.

I think what you are kind of describing is alzheimer's and you are correct, there is only one loved one I care about, however if I lost them, I wouldn't care much about anything else, or what I forgot, as long as I accumulated enough to take care of myself and set up a trust, I would be alright, I hope.

So for my loved one Id endure, without nope, I wouldn't care about anybody else but me.

[sam86]

how exactly u can know future 100%, yet ur future will be fucked? both literally can't exist, because unless ur future is u'll die in 0.005 sec, u can change it if u know what will happen
when a guy in usa knew about ww1 before rest of his country, he became billionaire

my past is overfucked, but i won't ever want to forget it, without past, u can't know who u are, i'll revert back to my old stupid fucked naive self, the one who was optimistic, the one who got stabbed and shot and burned alive, the one who didn't read about humans real nature

[endersblade]

See this is why I wanted to post this. Some people will answer the question one way or the other, others just try to pick it apart and won't answer it. It's like getting two polls answered in one!

[Doctor Amadeus]

See this is why I wanted to post this. Some people will answer the question one way or the other, others just try to pick it apart and won't answer it. It's like getting two polls answered in one!

It's a great poll and AWESOME question seriously, really made me think and even after I answered it you made me 2nd guess myself

[Celista]

Is your life great because you're blissfully ignorant or....? I'd choose #2.

[roxfm]

It's a loaded poll..... If you know your future, and it is terrible, then you would do things to prevent said terrible things and/or events. If you're saying that you can know the future, and do nothing about it.... Well then what point is it to know about it??

Waking up with an amnesia doesn't work either. You wake up and you cannot live a daily life if you know nothing. You wake up and you have forgotten where your money is. Who your friends and family are. Where you work, what you do, etc.

In both cases, you're fucked. So no, I'll not take either the blue pill or the red one.

[LiiLoSNK]

Know the future and suffer obviously.

Anyone who wasn't a dumbass could prevent most bad things from happening if they could see them coming from miles away.

[Elise the Seeker]

Know the future and suffer obviously.

Anyone who wasn't a dumbass could prevent most bad things from happening if they could see them coming from miles away.

Imagine the fear that would build up. Not wanting to go outside because you know something bad is supposed to happen.

[LiiLoSNK]

Imagine the fear that would build up. Not wanting to go outside because you know something bad is supposed to happen.

Yeah, but I'd know what was going to happen, so I could avoid whatever bad thing was going to get me.

If there was a rattle snake or something under my doormat, I'd see it in my head using future sight, then I could just leave my house through the window instead.

[Elise the Seeker]

Yeah, but I'd know what was going to happen, so I could avoid whatever bad thing was going to get me.

If there was a rattle snake or something under my doormat, I'd see it in my head using future sight, then I could just leave my house through the window instead.

But if "your life will be rife with terrible things", then wouldn't that mean that something bad will happen no matter what. Leave your house through the window, and fall into a rosebush, impaling yourself with thorns.

[LiiLoSNK]

But if "your life will be rife with terrible things", then wouldn't that mean that something bad will happen no matter what. Leave your house through the window, and fall into a rosebush, impaling yourself with thorns.

I take it to mean that your life is now filled with bad things that you now have to use your future sight to correct. Meaning that If I were going to fall into a rosebush that grew overnight, I'd see it coming.

[endersblade]

I intentionally left the 'know the future' thing open ended. I could put a bunch of stipulations on it to make it more sense, but people would still poke holes all through it, so I just left it to you to figure out what exactly that situation would mean.

The way I see it is, even if you know the future and know something bad is going to happen, how do you know if avoiding that particular situation won't cause an even worse one? And if you knew that one, would you skip it too? This turns into an ad naseum situation. If you know the future, would that mean you know ALL future outcomes? I don't think the human brain could even comprehend that. That's why I left it simple.

So just look at it this way: You see a bad thing coming, you know what it is. Either you push through it, or you choose door number two, but you don't know what is behind door number two because your future sight is linear and can't see what's ahead until it's already on said path. So it's a matter of, is option one going to be better or worse than option two? And taking option two puts you on a new path, meaning the future you knew on path one is now gone and a new one is happening because of your decisions to change routes.

Does that long-winded speech make the option more clear?

And something I guess nobody has thought about: Since you can see the future, and bad things will happen to YOU, it is entirely possible to use the knowledge of the future to do good things for other people. Say, if YOU win the lottery, suddenly something happens and you lose all the money. But if you give a family member or friend, or even some random stranger the winning numbers, you've just made someone else's life better. (Ok, we're assuming here said person doesn't win the lottery, go on a buying binge, spend it all on drugs and hookers and end up in jail.) In other words, take what you know and pass on the good to those who can use it, since you can't.

[Khaza-R]

Obvious number 2

Obliviousness is bliss