Why not just push a red button?
 

(This is simply hypothetical and in no way in attempt to offend religion. But should require a bit of thought.)

Now there are some side notes:


The whole point is to consider what is right and what is wrong and why. I would like feedback to help my opinion on what would be the correct thing to do.

If you would like to know what I think, just ask.

Button Counter!

NOTES:

-lets say others who go to hell DO have a chance to go to heaven but you don't know how.

-REMEMBER booty rape....big ol' booty raping CACTUAR MONSTER! (FF series ref.!! yay!)

-REMEMBER it is absolutely true what GOD says and you will stay in heaven if you are smart and listen to the rules once you are there!

To be honest, I would. I don't enjoy how things are progressing and things will not back pedal anytime soon enough to well, save the world. So I'd press it, I'd also imagine the next world with intelligent life forms will be much smarter than ours as it is now and most likely will stand for 300 generations more. I know my answer's short, not very long at all, but that's all I can really say.

What would you do? A bit odd to not answer your own question. ;)

Nope.

It may not be the ideal world, but I still find happiness in it.

I've asked this question to everyone I work with.

About 75% of people said they would not press it and 25% said they would.
It's pretty interesting to see how optimistic people are.

@Ana-That's an interesting answer. I didn't even think of there possibly being new life afterwards. I mean for all we know (in this hypothetical question's world) there may be new life or not. But that is a optimistic view on a pessimistic stance.I'll tell you why in my next post; if anyone posts again. ;)

It's feels like you imagined the whole scenario in your head of a new world coming about. An interesting estimate of 300 generations more.

Can you guess? :) It can be a game!I didn't want to influence anyones answer yet so I can hear what you guys have to say after thinking freely on your own. I thought of this question a while back and found interesting answer but never one that seemed to me to be a definite answer for the majority's reasoning. I figure when I reply to others my reasoning may show itself with time too.

@Ikuto-So your answer is based on curiosity and hope?

Is the world all that interesting? Most people do the norm. Get married. Have a kid or four. Work at a job that they kinda like but not so much that it's too exciting (all speculation of course). I'm 23 years old have been a to a few places and experienced a few things. But most things don't interest me much. I mean I know that there is a lot to learn and discover, but I haven't noticed anything so astounding that I could say "Wow! I gotta live to do that!".

What kind of things make you tick? What makes you go "Wow! I gotta live to do that!"?

Also I think the benefit is for a good rest! lol It's probably the laziness in me, we wouldn't have to deal with ANYTHING! No pain, no headaches, no loved ones dying...nothing! I believe that the only perfection lies in nothingness.

@Dystopia- Is happiness that important?

It seems like to mankind happiness is the one thing we really thrive for, but is it what's really important? Anytime man strives for happiness it has a possibility to make someone else sad/suffer. War for instance. A means for an end? Or should we try to be content with happiness that causes none to suffer? Is that even possible?

I would press it in an instant. c:

@ Burden - I think happiness is important. I think happiness is human. We are humans. We are not ideal, I don't think we ever can be ideal. But I don't think that means we should say, "We are flawed, let us all be destroyed." I think all we can do is strive and struggle to bring happiness to ourselves and to whomever we can. And live. We won't always be successful and sometimes we'll hurt other people, but all we can do is try. We do our best and our best isn't enough, it'll never be enough, but I can be satisfied with less than utopia.

I would not. It is neither my choice nor my right to oversee the life, or death of millions of other people, animals, and plants. Besides, it would be an asshole move to blow up a planet.

My, only one other who said yes. It's odd, how many people are saying no... I have a question, one to add to this one, if you were a teenager again, or back to a rough time in your life, would you still not press it? Or would you still press it?

There's many other galaxies other than ours and Mars is highly likely to have communities of bacteria thriving. Several extremophile bacteria have been found thriving in very mars-like conditions. If evolution is true, then yes, it's likely for Mars to grow life this way. It'll be hard, but hey, Earth wasn't too much different, just more water I think. That doesn't mean that mutations can't happen and that crazy changes can happen. [yes]

Pushing the button does not equal a nihilistic nirvana of romanticized idealistic perfection. Nothingness is nothingness. Nothing is dull. Nothing is boring. I would definitely choose the messy chaos of life (warts and all) over nothingness.

This reminded me of quote from a Terry Pratchett novels:

Anywhoo, I don't believe that people will push the button because they dissatisfied with life, I think they will push the button because they are dissatisfied with their own lives [cry]

No. Because my angst doesn't entitle me to destroy everyone else's chances at happiness.

@Monstahh - I wonder if that was a thought out question? Why would you?

@Ana - Yeah it's interesting, but so far most people I've asked have said they wouldn't. I DO agree with most of them that there is a lot in life to enjoy and see.
I believe that anyone in a bad enough situation would find the option enticing. Even though most people would deny it. But many may not press it due to fear of death or not existing. I actually have another question with the button involved that has to do with being in hell with the option to press the button. :)

I guess anything could happen even with earth just being destroyed. It may just be a speck in the universe in a sense. What's just one piece of a much larger whole?

@Una- Well I would say that's a statement based on perspective and a tendency towards a more an optimistic view of existence.

Nothingness may be boring, but is boring bad? You have to exist and be there to be able to say something is boring. I believe non-existence has no flaws. How can there be something where there is nothing? You might otherwise have to believe that perfection can not exist. I believe that if there is a God he can only be perfect if he doesn't exist. (but that's a whole other discussion, haha.)

I have to disagree with "Death's" quote. I don't believe you can invent something that you feel. It's more like humans discovered boredom.

I would say that people would most likely press the button due to a combination of both. Seeing life as inadequate or quaint; while also seeing mankind's evils and lack of cooperation as something that will/can not be fixed. A future that seems bleak for human life on earth as a whole would in fact include your own life. Not everyone is so selfish that they would do it just because their own life is sad. Even people who would press it have hope for happiness later on in life. They may just think it a better decision to end what is flawed.

In a sense. If you thought that happiness is worth it. Wouldn't that be due to your own measly amount of experience which for all you know has only been filled with enough happiness to make you think this way due to you being a lucky person? Lucky to be given the life you were given? (not trying to be mean so dont take it that way lol [I just like the word "measly"])

So...I'm gonna put your answer as no for now in my count, k?

@Dystopia - Does your "angst" entitle you to end your life? Or the life of one whom causes it? If you were being chopped up into little pieces, by a serial killer or someone we were at war with, little by little would you be 'entitled' to end your own life and theirs if possible? What if even if you killed them you would -for all you know- (are u a surgeon? lol)definitely still die?

I'm gonna add one other question to my first post guys. Still involving the original question. Give it a look!

I don't believe in suicide. Or in murder. But at least in suicide, you're not depriving another unwilling being of their life.

I can't say how I'd act under extreme circumstances, but I'm assuming this button is placed before me, as I am, sane and whole.

TOTALLY avoided answering my question! lol jk.

I don't believe in the populations idea of murder. As something bad. I think it can be a good thing. Saving a loved one from a killer. Or killing someone to protect your own life.

Death to me isn't really a bad thing. It's gonna happen eventually. It's a fact of life that most don't ever really get used to. (seems like it anyway). If we were to destroy the world it would just be another fact of this "chaos" we call life. It would just be another thing we couldn't really control.

Oh! And maybe you would be sane? Are you REALLY sane or just dreaming sanity? lol. For the first question you are definitely sane. I would like to say it were a few years from now but who could say who or what you would be in the future?

Um no.
I opted to not to push the button because non-existence is boring, whereas the world is interesting. I find serial killers and hemorrhaging viruses like Marberg and Ebola interesting. Interesting can be constructive, destructive, good, evil, righteous, or debauched.
Boredom is form of personal perception that does not necessarily reflect reality. Two people can have the same job yet one person can loathe it while the other loves it. That's just people, and like the Death character from Terry Pratchett I'm amazed that people can invent their own boredom in a world full of such spectacular chaos.

I would not press either because even if I'm dissatisfied with my life, or I want to go to heaven why would I take away other people's chance to live, to experience. I wouldn't be qualified to make that decision, honestly I don't think anyone is. If one person happens to press it then, in my opinion, they're really only thinking about themselves. How could you take away someone's chance to change, grow, fall in love, catch happiness, all that good stuff. We are human we are not perfect and sometimes people are selfish, I get that. It might be naivety speaking, but I believe that if things are bad now, if we endure it and tough it out then things can only get better. That's my opinion. I never would have thought to have to ask myself this question, yet I'm glad it came up :)

@Una - I would think opinion is based on perception which in turn is based on one's perspective. From where you see the world (your life/experience) tends to affect how you feel about the world (your opinion).

I wonder if they would be as interesting if you had to live with those viruses..

What I really wanted to know is:

Will you be bored once you are dead? Do you become bored when you are unconscious?

If not. Why does it matter if you think the 'idea' is boring?

@Tsubaki - (I'm soooo happy I'm getting so many responses! <3)
Would anything make someone qualified?
For the second question on my first post: Are you more worried about going to heaven or getting out of hell? The idea is that in hell you are being tortured endlessly and continuously.

"...sometimes people are selfish, i get that." Yes! So if you knew I had the choice to press the button and that I definitely would( you are watching as it happens); Would you be able to forgive me, beforehand? Just wondering.

I think life can get better too. But I could still press it. I think it would just be due to laziness though. Not caring to try. I think sleep feels like my idea of nonexistence (unless I'm dreaming)...and I looooooove sleep! On that note. Currently I would press the button. So I'll add myself to the count.

I AM beside myself though. I like life. I love the people I interact with, but I still think its better to have nothing at all than to have loved and lost. heh.
I should see a psychiatrist! lol.

I actually did think a lot about it, but my reasons are very personal. I do not trust humanity and I do not think any good can come from us existing, and I think we're better off dead.

I only hold out without the red button, because I'd like to try to have SOME faith left. But if given the chance, I'd take it, because I don't have that much faith left.

I'd rather watch the world burn than instantaneously destroy it. Maybe it isn't beyond saving, maybe it is, but who knows, really. I think humans are extraordinary, also, so if there's any chance of us not going extinct, well, that would be nice. I'd think differently if it were a restart button, with certainty that humans and planet earth would be replaced as it was at the beginning of time, but complete destruction? No.

People's choice is not dependent on their outlook. For example imagine a third world village of people suffering from an Ebola epidemic. Without the Ebola epidemic their lives would be consider pretty poor in comparison with our own as they face poverty and struggle for resources. Yet despite all that they still strive to live. They do not want to catch Ebola or succumb to any other untimely demise so they can embrace oblivion- they want to live. There are people in the world living in genuine dire circumstances facing the constant threat of war, violence, famine, rape, disease ect, and despite their bad lives/experiences find hope, optimism and determination to live regardless of how hopeless their situation is. I find it ironic that when these people exist there is also a contrasting vein of people in the world who have very comfortable lives with every possibility and hope in the world but wish for 'nothingness' because its 'perfect'... and suddenly what perhaps might have sounded very deep becomes incredible shallow.

Life is interesting in every form- good and bad.
Anything else (or rather nothing) is boring.

Umm..I agree, but disagree.

Life is full of differing opinions, ideas and events. Everyone experiences life differently. Appreciation differs and comes and goes. Our environment plays a pretty big role in how we feel and react to different things. So I doubt ALL those people are going "Well...despite my situation...I still wanna feel hopeful". But yes, a lot of people may think in tune with that thought in a way. But I doubt it has nothing to do with their perception of life. Babies don't come out and go..."Man I know I can be rich and happy one day possibly through selling drugs or starting a business!". Well...I did...but.......jk....jk.

Ironic=care.....

Yeah, the idea may be simple or shallow. And you did a great job of simplifying it all..... but does it matter?

Not trying to be mean or anything btw.
Just not feeling any more convinced.

Still interesting to hear your thoughts! Thanks!

I would press the button for both the scenarios, simply because the world is coming to an end and I think we cannot stop it anymore, in ~42 years the world will run out of oil (which is really soon) and with the growing population it won't help that much our world is a growing place and the resources here are not going to last much longer even if we do try to turn it around for the better. I am Christian and I do believe in God
My reference for the oil stuff: Worldometers - real time world statistics
Oh yeah just a fact that I found recently which is semi-related: 'More people commit suicide on Mondays than any other day'

To make my answer short and sweet, No.
Why? I myself is not entitled to play God.
Who am I to say that my distaste in the world means I should kill billions of other people who are (possibly) enjoying life?
I mean the world is horrible and disgusting and I do not see it turning around but we should all just suck it up and try to make the most out of life.