Friday, April 15, 2011

Hypothetical Situation: God, Wishes, And The Ability to Know Anything in the Universe

Suppose that when you die, you get sent to heaven or hell or wherever, but as a sort of parting gift from God, you get one request.

You can’t wish to be brought back to life, or have anyone else brought back to life. In fact, your wish can’t affect the physical world at all. Nor can you wish to have God’s powers or anything close. Your request can’t (and won't) change your designation to go to heaven or hell or wherever.

The only thing you can ask for is information. Specifically, thus:
You can go anywhere on Earth or anywhere in the universe and watch whatever you please. You can get any piece of knowledge you want. If you want to watch the Big Bang, you can do that. If you want to find out the mysteries of the universe, you can do that as well. God will make it possible.

Or, you can stay closer to home. You can go back and relive an experience from your past, sit in on something you didn’t witness, find out an answer to the question you’ve always wanted to have answered. You can literally know any one thing in the universe, or have any experience in the universe.   

However, you can't make something up that didn't happen in the real world. You can't relive dating someone you never dated in reality, or experience a fantasy world that doesn't actually exist. You're stuck with what happened in the universe you grew up in (no multiverse cheating!) 

And there are a few Really Important Rules here.

What you see is what you get. God will not sugarcoat anything for you. If you ask for a montage of the worst moments in your life, you will get the worst moments in your life.

You will get what you ask for. If you ask to watch the entire life of the universe in real time, starting at the Big Bang and ending whenever, you will watch the entire life of the universe, or however many billions or trillions of years that is. You will undoubtedly go insane. And if you lose your mind, you don't get pulled out of your wish early. You wished for it, you're stuck with it.

You won't just watch whatever you choose. You'll live it. Obviously you can choose how you want to experience your choice, but God will allow you to live it. You can be inside your own body as a spirit, or you can float in space and watch supernovae from close up, or do whatever it is you please. But you will get the full experience of whatever you choose. As with all of the Rules, this could be very, very good... or horrifically bad, depending on the choices you make. All of this is up to you to decide.

So....

What would you choose?

Assume that you're the person you are now, or that you're the person you'll be when you get to heaven, or anything you like. It's up to you. This is a humanistic question; God won't help you decide or stand in your way. He will simply grant... whatever you want

I don't have an answer. I have a few dozen. The point of this question isn't to settle on one answer, it's to figure out what are the few things nearest to your heart and upmost in your desires. It's an opportunity to chase otherwise unattainable hopes and dreams, or to absolutely screw yourself over, depending on how you use it. So purely in the spirit of inquiry...

what would you choose?


Also, insert your own concept of "God" here. :-)

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