Would you want to know?

No. Not really. Almost no matter how precise or accurate it was, knowing would just… stress me out. I’d rather not live knowing it was coming in the exact form and time. I’d be living to die them. It would hover over me constantly. The way I am now, I know I’m going to die someday, probably, but it doesn’t have any more control than that.

Of course I’d like to know. I’d like to be ready for it, say goodbye, and put myself in a comfortable setting (like hospice).

If you live every day as if it were your last, you wouldn’t need to know, would you! I agree with Empress.

@jonsblond I’d like spend my last days in a hospice…obviously I can’t be there otherwise unless I’m working there. That’s why I’d want to know.

Well I think it’s a bit pointless to know. Let’s say I found out I was going to die at 95 years old. Knowing that I live a long life, I would go out and live my a bit more riskier. For instance, I could take up skydiving, and get into a freak accident and die at 35 years old.

I know when I will die. It will be when I am no longer alive. I’m not afraid or scared of death. In fact, I will be happy when that day comes – the answer to the final question of what life is! That said, I am quite happy with living life until that day comes.

Yes, I would like to know.

While we all know we will die someday, we often live (make choices) as if we are immortal. Particularly when we are younger. I think having an expiration date (as it were) would force me to plan better, think ahead.

I agree with the concept of “living every day as if it were your last”, but it’s often impractical when caught up in day-to-day meshugaas.

You would never again justify your behavior or (in)decisions by saying, “I’ll get to that someday.”

@seekingwolf: my answer was not directed toward you, just my own thoughts in general. I understand your point though. :)

@jonsblond oh yeah I know :) I see your point

I would not want to know. If I were a Zen master then maybe the knowledge would not cause me any anxiety, but in my actual mental state the knowing would weigh too heavily on my mind.

I absolutely wouldn’t want to know. I think the uncertainty is wonderful.

As I sit here now, these could be my last few moments of life. That possibility heightens my sense of the value of the ordinary. But I’m saved from despondency by the realization that there’s a chance I’ll get a few more reprieves from the inevitable. Knowing either way would rob me of that precious balance.

Who wants to know how the movie ends before they see it?

I would like the little countdown above my head like the Nickelback music video.

No way!!

Nah. I’d rather be obliviously happy.

No, also. I now get up and think, “What if today were it?” And then go and live it.

I think it would affect my decisions, but I don’t think I’d regret knowing.

I mean, if I’m going to be hit by a truck tomorrow crossing Mass Ave, that means I have a different set of priorities than if I’m going to receive anti-agathic treatments that will be invented in 2047 and live to the ripe old age of 715.

@cwilbur: If you cross Mass Ave regularly, your chances of being hit by something are very high.

Nope!

I am unable to really come up with an answer for this question. My initial reaction is no, I would not like to know however I would love to make sure I spent the last bit of life well and not slaving away working for someone else.
There are adjustments that would need to be made so I guess I would like to know.

@gailcalled: the last time I crossed Mass Ave, I did get hit by something. Fortunately, it was only snow.

@cwilbur: No guys on skate boards, no messengers on bikes, no Harvard students crossing in a pack against the lights, no people dragging shells to the Charles? The last time I was there ( and it was, indeed, the last time) it took me 30 minutes to drive from the end of the Pike to the Law School. And then I discovered I needed a permit to park.

Ah, that’s the difference – I’m a good mile and a half from Harvard Square, in a much less frenetic neighborhood. The only thing I really need to worry about when crossing Mass Ave in Porter Square is traffic.

(And there’s a decent Chinese food restaurant, an excellent Indian restaurant, and a music instrument and sheet music store on that side of Mass Ave, so the rewards for crossing are great.)

I used to jaywalk Mass. Ave routinely at Harvard Square (how else do you get across Mass. Ave.?) and dash across Memorial Drive traffic at River Street every night. The motorists who slowed for me were the ones who threatened my life by ruining my timing across the lanes.

I wouldn’t want to know now. But I could do with, say, two weeks’ notice. That seems about right.

with my luck, the message would read, “You will die on Spetember 23rd, 1975.” So wait, what have I been doing all these years since then? :-)

@evelyns_pet_zebra haha good one!
I actually would so I could accomplish everything I wanted to do before dying.

@LouisianaGirl: What if you learned that the fatal day was sometime very soon?

@gailcalled I would spend time with my family and friends and let them know that I love them very much!

yes. knowing that would sure help me organize what time I had left.

No, absolutely not. I’m perfectly comfortable being in complete denial about death at all. I’m hoping to go when I’m very old, in my sleep when I can be perfectly unaware of it.