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If you could choose to never have been born, what would you choose?

24

Comments

  • #32
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    This will probably get depressing, but the sun is shining, I've most of my projects done, and I'm having a can of cider in my garden.

    If I was never born, then a lot of people would have had different lives.

    My mother. She wouldn't have had a child that required multiple surgeries. She wouldn't have had to fight constantly to keep a medical card. She wouldn't have had to deal with schools and teachers that didn't understand and didn't want to know. She wouldn't have had to deal with the constant worry if I was going to be OK. She wouldn't have had to do that, and deal with my father losing himself to Alzheimer's.

    Same worries for my father.

    My wife wouldn't have met me, and have a husband that might not be able to father a child.
    She wouldn't have to deal with my illness.
    She wouldn't have to constantly worry about money.
    She wouldn't have had to deal with the aftermath of a miscarriage on her own because I couldn't get time off work.
    She wouldn't have to deal with depression because of said miscarriage, and being unable to get pregnant again.

    So yeah, could the people I care most about have been better off without me? Possibly.

    Would I have known about all that if I never existed? Nope, because I wouldn't be able to know.


  • #33
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    Stoneriver wrote: »
    So what's your answer?

    I don't know.


  • #34
    Peatys
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,865 ✭✭✭Peatys


    Sofiztikated wrote: »
    This will probably get depressing, but the sun is shining, I've most of my projects done, and I'm having a can of cider in my garden.

    If I was never born, then a lot of people would have had different lives.

    My mother. She wouldn't have had a child that required multiple surgeries. She wouldn't have had to fight constantly to keep a medical card. She wouldn't have had to deal with schools and teachers that didn't understand and didn't want to know. She wouldn't have had to deal with the constant worry if I was going to be OK. She wouldn't have had to do that, and deal with my father losing himself to Alzheimer's.

    Same worries for my father.

    My wife wouldn't have met me, and have a husband that might not be able to father a child.
    She wouldn't have to deal with my illness.
    She wouldn't have to constantly worry about money.
    She wouldn't have had to deal with the aftermath of a miscarriage on her own because I couldn't get time off work.
    She wouldn't have to deal with depression because of said miscarriage, and being unable to get pregnant again.

    So yeah, could the people I care most about have been better off without me? Possibly.

    Would I have known about all that if I never existed? Nope, because I wouldn't be able to know.

    Your wife doesn't have to do any of those things. She with you because she loves you and you make her life better.


  • #35
    _Dara_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,971 ✭✭✭_Dara_


    ....... wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.

    This. Either is cool.


  • #36
    lawred2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,202 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    RobertKK wrote: »
    Life can be so hard, life can be so good. From great happiness to the depths of despair. So much beauty in the world, whether in nature or the beauty of being loved by people you care about and who care about you.
    Knowing what you know about life, if you could choose to have never existed, what option would you have preferred?
    To exist in this far from perfect world?
    To never have existed?

    Are you sure that you exist?


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  • #37
    Barry Badrinath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,460 ✭✭✭Barry Badrinath


    This place gets fcuking worse each time I log on.


  • #38
    DEFTLEFTHAND
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,499 ✭✭✭✭DEFTLEFTHAND


    Stoneriver wrote: »
    Imagine that, not having to go to work or do anything ever again. Ask yourself the question, is the sum total of positive emotions and experiences higher or lower than the sum total of your negative emotions and experiences.

    I'll hold off until Monday before I make my decision, want to see the Avengers first.

    Good point.

    There certainly are positive aspects to dying that we can all look forward to.

    Personally my fav is never having to hear an alarm clock go off on a cold, dark winters morning again.


  • #39
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    Barry Badrinath wrote: »
    This place gets fcuking worse each time I log on.

    You know, the old timers say AH used to be a fun place.

    ** spits tobacco into fire **

    Not sure I believe that, meself


  • #40
    Shenshen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    I'm the first to admit that I certainly haven't had the worst of lives.
    But on balance, if I had the choice to change the universe in such a way that I would never have existed, I'd do that in a heartbeat.


  • #41
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    These are very odd sentiments.


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  • #42
    begbysback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,909 ✭✭✭begbysback


    Once we find what we are looking for only then we will understand


  • #43
    wexie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,478 ✭✭✭wexie


    begbysback wrote: »
    Once we find what we are looking for only then we will understand

    that's deep man...


  • #44
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    wexie wrote: »
    that's deep man...

    Its fairly shallow pretending to be deep. Like the if a tree falls in a forest question.


  • #45
    Mister Vain
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,401 ✭✭✭Mister Vain


    We will all end up ceasing to exist anyway, so if you exist now you have the best of both worlds.

    Would you rather die now or live forever?


  • #46
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    wexie wrote: »
    that's deep man...

    Its also nonsense.

    People find what they are looking all the time, and still haven't a ducking clue what's going on.


  • #47
    Mister Vain
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,401 ✭✭✭Mister Vain


    Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »
    Its fairly shallow pretending to be deep. Like the if a tree falls in a forest question.

    If a man makes a statement in a forest and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?


  • #48
    begbysback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,909 ✭✭✭begbysback


    Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »
    Its fairly shallow pretending to be deep. Like the if a tree falls in a forest question.

    Reach inside your soul Von P - ask yourself the tough questions.

    Does darkness actually exist, or is it merely an absence of light?


  • #49
    Subtle
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 138 ✭✭Subtle


    It would be cool to see the correlation between those who voted say yes and whether they have children/dependents. Point being that if one had no dependents, they might vote no rather than yes. Sorry, overthinking this!!


  • #50
    Grab All Association
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,071 ✭✭✭Grab All Association


    Nothingness is existence because existence has to exist for there to be nothingness.


  • #51
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    begbysback wrote: »
    Reach inside your soul Von P - ask yourself the tough questions.

    Does darkness actually exist, or is it merely an absence of light?

    Vantablack.

    Darkness exists, and its dark.


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  • #52
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    begbysback wrote: »
    Reach inside your soul Von P - ask yourself the tough questions.

    Does darkness actually exist, or is it merely an absence of light?

    ** sucks on pipe **

    Darkness exists - and is an absence of light.

    ** sucks on pipe. Nods thoughtfully **


  • #53
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    Grab All Association wrote: »
    Nothingness is existence because existence has to exist for there to be nothingness.

    John paul Sartre made that exact point in an incredibly long winded book. You’ve done better in one sentence. And you’re probably taller and handsomer.

    Screw you Sartre.


  • #54
    begbysback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,909 ✭✭✭begbysback


    Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »
    ** sucks on pipe **

    Darkness exists - and is an absence of light.

    ** sucks on pipe. Nods thoughtfully **

    Ask yourself this then young man - if you cease to exist, or never existed, does it really matter?


  • #55
    Timberrrrrrrr
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,292 ✭✭✭✭Timberrrrrrrr


    To be or not to be, that is the question!


  • #56
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,234 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    I only exist in your mind. If you were to forget about me then I wouldn’t exist anywhere.


  • #57
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    begbysback wrote: »
    Ask yourself this then young man - if you cease to exist, or never existed, does it really matter?

    This is a trick question. Let me see.

    ** thinks **

    It matters but only if the tree fell silently in the forest.


  • #58
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I can't think of any reason I could have for ever wishing I had never been born. There's no way 'nothingness' could be preferable to my life. My children and grandchildren are now a part of me, but more importantly I am a part of them. Could they have done all the good works they do if they didn't share my DNA?
    Life can be hard for many at times but it's also beautiful and rich. Experiences, sensations, emotions and actions are all part of life. It's a treasure-trove of wonder and awe. Even in the most boring, stressful or depressing day there can be many moments that trump nonexistence.


  • #59
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,387 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Mister Vain wrote: »
    Would you rather die now or live forever?
    Live forever. A thousand years at least anyway.

    As for the question at hand? Of course I would choose to be born. Bloody right. Sure life can be sh1t at times, but it can also be great and it beats the alternative. Each day no matter how mundane is an experience. And I say that even though I would consider myself fairly nihilistic in many ways and my life hasn't exactly been a bed of roses the last few years. Even so I count my blessings that it could have been so much worse. Unless I was in constant physical agony that morphine didn't sort then I'd be firmly on the side of where there's life there's hope, or more to the point life itself. That's enough for me.

    Now I do understand that there are folks where they're in a constant mental agony that drugs won't sort and can see why they're more in the wouldn't want to exist camp, but that's a "fault", a "sickness" in the system, just like constant physical agony. I fervently wish for them to get better, but it shouldn't be in the mindset of someone who isn't sick.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #60
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,387 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Cooper Rapid Sextet wrote: »
    Even in the most boring, stressful or depressing day there can be many moments that trump nonexistence.
    This. On the rare occasions I've found myself in graveyards I've often considered that in five minutes of my worst times being alive, so many in the ground would give anything to have those five minutes again. And I've no kids, no DNA swanning about, not too many next of kin in the game, so it's not coming from that background.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



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  • #61
    harry Bailey esq
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭harry Bailey esq


    Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »
    You know, the old timers say AH used to be a fun place.

    ** spits tobacco into fire **

    Not sure I believe that, meself

    I'd like to be a lump of granite, with a huge shiny cock. Idiots would worship me as a fertility symbol, I'd be worth a fortune and as such I'd be treated with the utmost care. I'd also be immortal.


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