Another interesting/lame hypothetical for you to ponder...

[Monsterzuma]

OK, we have another all powerful genie popping up in a puff of smoke. The genie tells you he has a proposition this time. You yawn boredly and listen to his story thinking "darnit, rubbed the wrong lamp again".

- The genie has knowledge of a fact that he proposes to tell you.
- The genie has shown to you in ways that convince you that his knowledge is limitless and his intentions so pure that he can not lie. Whatever he tells you is beyond a doubt of yours truthful. He has the means to show you concrete evidence of this fact in every way you might request. (please do not circumvent this claim in your answer; the genie will tell you the truth and you believe him, this is not in question)
- He also says that this truth is of such a nature that you would immediately get the irrepressible urge to kill yourself when you hear about it. The fact you would be told is so scary, poignant or cosmically absurd that you just can't live on knowing about it.

My questions are the following:
1. would you accept the genie's proposition? Do you want to know this horrible truth?
2. what do you imagine this truth would be about? If you had to guess before accepting the proposition, what would your guess be?

BUT WAIT!! There is a third question!!

3. would you accept the proposition if, for some reason, you would also be unable to kill yourself afterwards?

That will be all. Fire away.

 

[PeteAtoms]

1. No. I want to live.

2. Cthulhu

3. So I'd hear the fact/truth (whatever it is) and also remain alive? Or would I be insane? More clarification please.

 

[Monsterzuma]

3. So I'd hear the fact/truth (whatever it is) and also remain alive? Or would I be insane? More clarification please.

You would be alive, but live with feelings that would otherwise drive you to suicide. The feelings could be of guilt, fear or extreme remorse. Insanity would be a good name for this kind of state.

 

[Birdjaguar]

What's the point of knowing some horrible truth? We already know many horrible things and they do little to improve our lives or those of others. No thank you, genie.

 

[Kennigit]

I'd accept it as I wouldn't accept the idea that I would have to kill myself. I don't see how knowing something would have such an irrepressible effect on my neurochemical activity to lead to suicide.

edit- unless it was something like "if you martyr yourself you'll go to heaven." In which I would want entrance to heaven and then kill myself in martyrdom.

But the result would be good for me.


edit for question #2: if it is a truth that causes all of the premises (that ends up with me killing myself), I have to imagine it would be a religious truth about martyrdom. Probably with Islam. That's what I assume this genie would talk about.

 

[Monsterzuma]

Any non-one-word answers to the second question? That one is the most interesting of the three in my opinion.

 

[History_Buff]

1) No, I wouldn't want to hear it. What good could possibly come of it?
2) I honestly can't imagine.
3) No? I fail to see how this would make things better.

 

[JollyRoger]

After 20 years, the genie is finally confessing the 26 billion was a hoax?

 

[Monsterzuma]

Are all of you who choose not to hear the truth content with the fact that you would essentially be "living a lie" by not listening to the genie? Would the knowledge that there is something horribly wrong with your existence or the universe at large not disturb you in some way?

 

[Monsterzuma]

After 20 years, the genie is finally confessing the 26 billion was a hoax?

Awesome.

 

[Ulyaoth]

1. Yes
2. That existence doesn't exist.
3. Of course, all the better.

 

[azzaman333]

As much as I like knowing stuff, I like not being dead more.

 

[JohnRM]

Pass.

 

[Bartleby]

I would put mirrors in my ears so when he told me the fact, he'd want to die.
That way I'd gain a lamp.

 

[History_Buff]

Are all of you who choose not to hear the truth content with the fact that you would essentially be "living a lie" by not listening to the genie? Would the knowledge that there is something horribly wrong with your existence or the universe at large not disturb you in some way?

Yes. If you get right down to it, I'm probably "living a lie" everyday without ever thinking about it. Besides, give me two weeks, and I'll forget that genie ever came by.

 

[El_Machinae]

I think it's a pretty cool hypothetical. In fact, I'm quite torn. Heck, even just knowing there were reality-shattering, instinct-crushing secrets out there would change my world. I don't know yet.

I would put mirrors in my ears so when he told me the fact, he'd want to die.
That way I'd gain a lamp.

 

[Syterion]

Wait, is he providing justification for this truth, or are we just impressed by his knowledge/faculties such that we won't question it? If it is a truth without justification (that is still true, I'm not arguing that, and that I accept as true) that makes me want to kill myself, I see no purpose in knowing it. If it's justification has some usefulness to it that could be beneficial to others than I can see wanting to hear it if you had some martyrdom streak.

Furthermore - is this a universal truth that makes everyone who knows it suicidal, or is it personalized? Or is it more like certain types of people who hear it are suicidal and the rest unaffected, but he knows which type you are? Because then the truth may be useful to tell the rest of the world.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

What kind of truth would make me want to kill myself? I'd like an example.

 

[Monsterzuma]

What kind of truth would make me want to kill myself? I'd like an example.

Maybe the fact that thousands of people or animals need to endure conditions approximating those of slave labor every day to sustain your way of life?

Maybe the fact that the environmental damage caused by your way of life strips thousands of people in the future of a life of minimal subsistance?

Maybe you are a brain-in-a-vat and a series of other brains is being used to simulate the world around you with thinking humans in it, but these brains need to be in a state of constant pain to do so. (farfetched, I know)

Wait, is he providing justification for this truth, or are we just impressed by his knowledge/faculties such that we won't question it? If it is a truth without justification (that is still true, I'm not arguing that, and that I accept as true) that makes me want to kill myself, I see no purpose in knowing it. If it's justification has some usefulness to it that could be beneficial to others than I can see wanting to hear it if you had some martyrdom streak.

The genie will provide you with any justification you want, but he will not give you proof that you can show to others, nor will you be able to tell anyone about the truth before you kill yourself.

Furthermore - is this a universal truth that makes everyone who knows it suicidal, or is it personalized? Or is it more like certain types of people who hear it are suicidal and the rest unaffected, but he knows which type you are? Because then the truth may be useful to tell the rest of the world.

Depends on what the fact is. I'm still taking suggestions.

 

[Mango Elephant]

How about the fact that the afterlife is much better than this life on Earth? That would make me want to kill myself, at least a little.