5 Philosophical Choices

I asked Simple American to ask me some questions, and he came up with some good ones. And tough ones. I'm a bit scared of these questions to tell the truth. But I've done my best.

1. Your life ends suddenly. St. Peter greets you and realizes your demise was an error. To make up for it you are allowed to assume any life in the world. Who is your choice and explain why him or her?

But what about the person whose life I assume? Why would I want to take someone else's life just because of someone else's error? In fact, maybe that's why I ended up in this situation, though I can't imagine that someone would choose my life if given this choice. I could say I'd become someone who is truly evil and who has harmed many people, so that I could change their actions, but I don't know if it would work; I have the idea that much evil and cruelty is done by committee. Or I could become a sublimely talented working writer or photographer, but then the writing or photography would go with them. No, there's nothing for it, I'd just have to be myself again. If the powers that be could give me someone else's life, then they can give me my own back as well.

2. The mail comes and you recieve an envelope that allows you to take a round trip flight to anyplace in the world. Where do you go?

There are so many places that could be here. But the element of surprise is missing. So, I'd start by getting a good atlas. I'd look through the atlas, and make a numbered list of all the places I'd most like to go to. It would include Antarctica, various places in China, India, and Brazil, the Inca Trail, Mozambique, Tahiti, the Galapagos...and potentially many more. I'd focus on the far away places that I'm less likely to get to. Then I'd put numbers in a hat, and draw one. The place listed with that number is where I'd go.

3. You are given a remote control like Adam Sandler in "Click". This lets you go anywhere in your past and future and change one thing. You have one use of the device. How do you use it?

Now I've seen how this works in films, and it isn't pretty. So, I honestly don't think I'd use it. I like where my life has gone, and I presume that I'll feel this way also in the future. But if I must, purely for the sake of argument...I really can't think of anything. Maybe I'd go back to when I was a teenager, but just to see what I was like, not to change anything. It's like looking at old journals...I feel very indulgent of the young me.

4. Fate has decided you will be a heroine and that your efforts can save millions of lives. You are allowed to take along one person to guard your back. Who do you choose? You may select fictional heroes from literature, mythology, and film as well as historical persons.

Well, this depends on how I will be saving these lives. I can't see myself in an action hero mode, so I must be saving them through ingenuity and creativity, with a smidgeon of chutzpah. However, I would like someone who is more scientific and more able to deal with complicated mechanical problems. I'd therefore chose Richard Feynman. I suspect I'd find him annoying, and in between solving problems, I'd have to keep him from chasing all the enemy women, and alerting the opposition to our presence by loud bongo playing...but he could pick the locks, and provide a focused approach allowing us to find deceptively easy solutions to difficult problems.

5. There is a path you can find and it forks three ways. One way leads to never ending love with the perfect person for you. The next leads to a cure for cancer. The last path provides a means to end starvation. The earth starts to shake and you realize that you can only take one path. You must take a path or you will die here. The reality sets in that these paths will never be found in your life time. Which path do you choose?

Well, I would certainly not go for neverending love. I have learned and grown from all the ending loves that I have had, and am happy for the love that I currently have. When I consider the other choices, I find myself becoming very, very over-rational. I find myself thinking that the problem with both of these is that the solution would lead to a worsening of other problems brought about by over-population. So, why choose either? But that's just cynical. So, I'd chose the path to end starvation...which could be through dealing with population issues. If it's solely about addressing inequality in distribution of resources, I'm fine with that, too.

O.K., if you'd like to join in and get your own philosophical questions, here are the rules...

The Official Interview Game Rules (copied to be passed on)

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying “interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person’s will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.