Would You??

tony, personally I interpret the "would you" as a kind of moral dilemma question...but I don't hold the market on that. so I don't view muse's question as any less than such that we have to say "back to 'would you'"

muse, can I change your question a little? id never go to a medium, but if we had time travel and I could go back to one place in time and talk with someone...hmmm....its fun to think about how maybe bringing present knowledge into the past could alter the future. I know this doesn't occur in your version of the question, but since it does in mine...smiles...I wonder about going back to meet adolf hitler as a boy or young man...or maybe his parents even...boy either way, its just a tough question. I think id go with one of the founding fathers of America---Madison, Franklin, Jefferson---that sort of thing. itd be meaningful to talk with them about what life is like today, compared to what they envisioned it might be when they were making the constitution.

tony---nope, I wouldn't. way too much fuzzy recreational abuse in the prescribed/medical marijuana industry. I see the drug as being overall harmful to society.

if you are male, would you give up your seat in a life boat on a sinking ship? if you are a female, would you accept that offer from the man?

Give it up to a woman just for being a woman? Uhm, no, why would I ever be expected to do that?

Would you rather be able to read twice as fast with the same comprehension and enjoyment you have at your current rate or grow muscle mass/lose weight and gain strength at twice your current rate?

Well, neither really. I love reading slowly and comprehend just fine either way. But okay, I'll take the muscle. I just returned from a week in the Nevada desert and I kept thinking how great it would be to be young and strong again. Can I be 21, too? I'd read real slow for that.

You are hiking in the wilderness and come upon a small trove of ancient native artifacts. They are only made of stone, and if you went through a lot of trouble, you might get $1000 for the whole thing. On the other hand there are federal laws against selling or even taking them. The laws are enforced and the punishments rather excessive. But the artifacts are really cool. Do you take them, and of so, do you sell or keep them?

I would dig them up and try to sell them.

Would you take being 21 if you also became permanently illiterate (you remember all the books you've read already as well as you normally would, the memories will fade) and selectively deaf and blind to audiobooks and other didactic material?

No. Books are more important, and I want to keep reading until I die.

Would you rather be married to the love of your life and never sleep with another woman (or man) or be married to a fair minded, plain, but filthy rich woman (or man), and have a life-long affair with your true love (which your spouse tolerates)?

The first one of course; who needs all that stress? Besides I would want to have children with the love of my life.

Would you rather be born in pre Christian Scandinavia, Rome circa AD 1-10 or South America/North America at any point before the arrival of Europeans?

That's a toughie. Any Scandinavian period would probably be too cold, and the pre-European New World period I'd be most interested in would be the Clovis arrival, which would have been even colder (terminal Ice Age), so I'd probably go with first century Rome, which would be an historically interesting time as well.

If you could travel in time, but only in one direction, would you go into the past or the future?

Do I get younger when I go back in time? If so and I keep my memory then send me back eighteen years so I can have a do over (and invest in Apple and Bitcoin), otherwise I'm going back to a week ago with a couple winning lottery tickets. If this ruins the spirit of the question then I would go into the future but I would want to go incrementally and skip any big wars.

Would you rather always be too hot or always be too cold (you can still freeze to death if you pick too hot).

No, you would stay the same age, but you could run into your younger self if and provide any advice you chose--including about investments (whether you would take your own advice is, of course, an open question). And no cheating on future wars. You get what you get, and tomorrow never knows.

Generally speaking, I would rather be cool than warm; but even so, I'd rather be too hot than too cold.

If you saw a vision of Jesus fighting the devil in the sky, would you seek psychiatric help?

i wouldn't, but even if i were Christian or not, id certainly want to talk with someone about what i saw---it just wouldn't be a psychiatrist. although, given that i am Christian, its tough to know what id do/how id think if i weren't. hmmm....

would you kill another person in defense of your own life? if not, would you do so in order to protect the life of your spouse or children?

Yes to all of those, especially family. I would also kill (offensively or defensively) in a just war.

Would you lie to save yourself from getting fired (you have a wife and new born child depending on your paycheck)?

I like to think I wouldn't...and I hope I wouldn't. there are other jobs to be had, and family and friends to help and the moral cost isn't worth the gain.

but in the classic "are you hiding jews in your attic" being asked by a Nazi during WWII, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment.

in sophie's choice: "the little boy or the little girl, or both if you do not chose"---would you chose or not? and if not, what would you do?

I haven't seen it but I suppose I would flip a coin if i'm choosing what I think I am.

Would you have an abortion or encourage your wife to have an abortion if you discovered the child would be born with downs syndrome or some other severe mental handicap like autism?

I know this will be an unpopular answer but being that I staunchly don't want kids if I somehow became pregnant I would have an abortion period.

If your spouse wanted to apply to be one of the possible colonoists on mars (which is a one way ticket) would you support him/her and give him/her your blessing?

Well sure, but I won't remain faithful. I get to spend her astronaut salary too right? What does she need it for on Mars?

Given the choice would you hunt down and kill Joseph Mengele, Idi Amin Dada, or Joseph Kony (or none of the above)? And why?