A weird but dark hypothetical

Last year, I went through a fairly serious reevaluation of my priorities. During the process, a weird (and somewhat anstract) hypothetical scenario entered my mind. Even though this could be classified as a scenario that is kind of dark, I feel that it's intriguing enough to share.


Imagine for a moment that you have a terminal condition. Doctors have given you one month to live. You have about a 25% chance of being spared through surgery. The surgery won't cost you anything.

I also want to point out the flip side of this hypothetical scenario. If the surgery failed, the time and effort would effectively take away your final month. If there are things you feel you need to accomplish before you die, you will lose the opportunity.

In such a situation, would you risk your final month if you had a chance to prolong your life? I think most people would prefer to keep their lives going if possible, especially when you consider how risking a single month could reward you with many more years. When I looked at this question, I felt the idea of my thoughts and ideas dying with me was too big of a gamble. I would likely refuse the surgery and make my final month count.

I don't want to scare people. I haven't given up on life. I have, however, been looking more at the uncertainties of life. I honestly believe that I am capable of having a positive impact on society. This would most like occur by raising awareness of problems that people simply don't want to see. While I have been open with some areas of concern such as educational rights, I had also withheld a number of ideas in case I could ever find a way to capitalize. This was selfish of me. I have since acknowledged that other people benefiting from my thoughts and ideas is far more important than ensuring I can get something back.

Feel free to ask yourself the hypothetical question that I asked earlier. You can even change the conditions such as odds of survival, time to live, or perhaps funding. You can also add components such as a guaranteed week to tie up loose ends regardless of a decision. Alternatively, you could ask yourself at what odds for the surgery being successful would you change your mind? Maybe you can learn something about yourself and your priorities. I did.