Philosophical Question

[Clarkmeister]

Pretend you could, for one year out of your life (say the next year), live in perfect bliss, whatever that means to you. When that time is over, your life continues on undistrubed, but you could not recall having done it, and that year of your life was lost?

[thirddan]

IMO there is no point in having an experience if that experience leaves no mark on your life or has no meaning...

[ThaSaltCracka]

I said no, because whats the point of living one awesome year if you can't look back and reminesce about it?

[pshreck]

Yes, because the things I would learn and experience would clearly affect me in my future life, whether or not I could remember doing them.

Or... are we supposed to assume that we wouldn't be affected at all after we were done?

[Clarkmeister]

The natural follow-up to this question is, what's the point of life in general then? One's life, taken in its entirety, is almost certainly the equivalent of that "one forgotten year".

The natural conclusion is that doing anything with your life that doesn't leave a long-term mark for the benefit of others is the equivalent of voting "yes" to the original poll question. Right?

Just thinking aloud, I always thought this was a fun question to discuss.

[thirddan]

[ QUOTE ]
doing anything with your life that doesn't leave a long-term mark for the benefit of others

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe im taking this wrong, but why do people feel the need to do something for the benefit or "others"...when most people say others it seems like they mean mankind of a large group of people...why aren't people happy to just be happy and live an enjoyable life? i have no desire to do anything for the good of mankind (that sounds heartless, but i don't mean it to be) I will feel that my life was worthwhile if i enjoy myself, and have a nice life with my current girlfriend/hopefully one day wife and that is all i really want from life...

[daryn]

some people believe in an afterlife where they do have recollection of the life they lived.

[Zoltri]

Yes. That is my life story...live for the moment.
Gets me in trouble all the time.

Sigh.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
doing anything with your life that doesn't leave a long-term mark for the benefit of others

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe im taking this wrong, but why do people feel the need to do something for the benefit or "others"...when most people say others it seems like they mean mankind of a large group of people...why aren't people happy to just be happy and live an enjoyable life? i have no desire to do anything for the good of mankind (that sounds heartless, but i don't mean it to be) I will feel that my life was worthwhile if i enjoy myself, and have a nice life with my current girlfriend/hopefully one day wife and that is all i really want from life...

[/ QUOTE ]

See, to me that's inconsistent with your "no" vote.

[cnfuzzd]

Sure, why not. Its not like i would miss that year of my life. I wouldnt even remember losing it. Why not give myself a chance to be happy at least once even if i cant remember it.

peace

john nickle

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
some people believe in an afterlife where they do have recollection of the life they lived.

[/ QUOTE ]

True. I'd guess that most posters on this board don't share that view. I could be wrong though.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
some people believe in an afterlife where they do have recollection of the life they lived.

[/ QUOTE ]I thought that was the point of afterlife.

[thirddan]

but saying yes to your poll is basically giving up a year of my life...i would rather have some happy + some unhappy times during a year that i can remember than just waste a year...

[The Dude]

There is another concept to consider. Many people I know in the waning years of their lives take great joy in the memory of their past. If I were, say, 25 when i had the opportunity to take this year of bliss, would the joy during that time outweigh the cumulitive joy that year of experience and memory would bring me over the course of the rest of my life?

I want to note that this is not the reason I voted "no," but it is something I think many have not considered.

[Sooga]

Why wouldn't you do it? You're going to have to live that one year regardless, so why not make it a great year? Yea, I know, if I don't live the blissful life, then I would do things and have things happen to me that I could learn from, but really, that could happen in any other year as well.

I guess I'd much rather go for a sure-thing great experience (whether I remember it later or not), than to have a year where bad things might happen to me.

[Alobar]

I think it's an easy yes. Not being able to remember it means basically that in the future it might just as well never have happened, cuz who cares, you cant remember it. But as long as like it didnt set me back a year for any of my life goals, then why wouldnt I want to be in bliss for a year? Even if I dont remember it later on, it sure as hell beats not being in bliss.

Again, this is only if it doesnt set me back. If it did, then I would change my vote to a no

[dr. klopek]

I wouldn't want to wake up tomorrow and look at the calendar and see that it was jan 30th 2006. That's essentially what would happen, you'd simply lose a year of your life. It would just bring the end of your life closer. Wait...change my vote to yes.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]
The natural follow-up to this question is, what's the point of life in general then? One's life, taken in its entirety, is almost certainly the equivalent of that "one forgotten year".

The natural conclusion is that doing anything with your life that doesn't leave a long-term mark for the benefit of others is the equivalent of voting "yes" to the original poll question. Right?

Just thinking aloud, I always thought this was a fun question to discuss.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is so great. It poses the question of how important memories are to your life -- and then asks if it's better to have loved and lost and encountered romantic pain (and remembered it) than to have never remembered pain (or joy) at all.

[pshreck]

Did no one read my post?

Imagine the things you would learn/experience/accomplish if you were in a state of perfect happiness.

If this thing we are talking about is similar to amnesia, then the things you did in that year would still affect you the rest of your life, even if you couldn't recall the event.

I imagine I would help tons of people, make tons and tons of friends and learn a language or something. These things would come back and bless me, even if I didn't remember them happening.

[thirddan]

i assumed from the OP that the year would leave no lasting effect on your life, no memories no nothing...just a lost year...

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
but you could not recall having done it, and that year of your life was lost?

[/ QUOTE ]

I interpreted this as just having the same effect as amnesia, but it looks like I am the only one who interpreted it this way.

[Clarkmeister]

Yeah, I think the assumption is that there is no impact on your life. Of course, few of the things I would do during that year would have lots of lasting impact anyways.........

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I think the assumption is that there is no impact on your life. Of course, few of the things I would do during that year would have lots of lasting impact anyways.........

[/ QUOTE ]

You really think so? I think anyone in a state of perfect happiness would just be incredible for themselves and everyone around them. Some of the people who have had the strongest and lasting positive effects on me, also happen to be people that are highly satisfied with their own life/existence.

[Stork]

This is like freerolling with the nut straight and a flush draw against the nut straight w/o a flush draw. Easily yes. So what if you don't remember it afterward? It's not like you would've remembered it if you didn't live it either.

[Lazymeatball]

i did this for 3 hours last friday night. 3 hours I have no recollection of, and 3 hours I'm never getting back. Good Times.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
I interpreted this as just having the same effect as amnesia, but it looks like I am the only one who interpreted it this way.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think you are the only one.

-Zeno

[ozyman]

I think its an easy yes. I have heard this question in the past phrased as, "If you could go back and relive the best week of your life, would you if it meant that you could no longer remember it?" which actually has a much greater downside.

[Piz0wn0reD!!!!!!]

that wouldnt be very cool.

[GuyOnTilt]

If you want to get really solid answers to this question from people who really know what they're talking about from an acedemic standpoint, post here (http://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?s=b9bd47b7a3b3d2190f57460e31f14c3 2&f=112).

I voted no, but I'd be interested in hearing discussion other than just speculation from experts on this type of stuff. Philosophy really interests me.

GoT

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
The natural conclusion is that doing anything with your life that doesn't leave a long-term mark for the benefit of others is the equivalent of voting "yes" to the original poll question. Right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems so.

If you have talents that can benefit others is it selfish to keep them all to yourself?

What if the year of bliss is conceived by a particular individual as a year of selfless acts in helping others? Though the memory will be lost to the particular individual, the acts themselves would live on in the memory of others and compound as additional benefits to even more people.

Memory, like my current cognitive thoughts at this moment, is an elusive thing. The previous sentence your just read is now, at the present moment, a memory.


Life has no given or a priori meaning. It’s meaning is derived by the experience itself.

I think.

-Zeno

[andyfox]

I voted no because I think, as I get older, memories become more and more important to me. Not just memories, but the sum total of my life's experiences with all the people who are important to me. To have a year of that wiped clean would make it nothing more than a dream.

Maybe if I was more dissatisfied with my present life I might have voted yes.

[fnord_too]

I clicked "no" hastily, but on reflection, a year of perfect bliss for me would probably entail making some major discovery or breakthrough (maybe not a cure for breast cancer, but something of value to society). So the if the decision is between not having a year of memories of great accomplishments (and presumably the world forgetting who did this stuff, too) and losing a year of memories of my families (presumably they would not lose their memory of my purely familial encouters), I would forgo the memories and glory if it meant leaving behind some major accomplishment for the world (especially if it was a cure for breast cancer, since that runs in my wife's family and my second daughter is due in just over a month.)

But maybe you just meant bliss that did not have side effects, good or ill, for the rest of the world. In that case I stand by my "no".

[BusterStacks]

Yes. Although I do not think it is best for the longterm, I would still do it.

[DemonDeac]

nah

[tolbiny]

Yes-
I would read Anna Karenina and Les Miserables in their respective origanal languages to begin the year- and i would have months to savor and understand what was really being said (probably Dostoevsky as well).
A lot of the rest of the year would be spent writing and the last day of the year would be watching my work get published. Even if i never remembered what i had writted, or even that i had written at all- i could leave behind a part of myself.

[bernie]

Easy.

No.

Given what I've been through the last 4+ years, it was the memory of something better from the past, when things were much more 'blissful' that really helped and gave me something to look forward to as a possibility for the future.

I think the more a person experiences the big swings in life, on both sides, the more he will go to the No side.

The more naive and sheltered one is, the more they would go on the yes side.

Life is too short to waste a good memory.

Interesting question though.

b

[MMMMMM]

No, because I think the Quest For Truth is more important than Bliss.

[The Dude]

The primary reason I voted 'no' was because bliss is not at the top of the list of things I value and want to accomplish in life.

[Chap_Stick]

Did it really happen if you can't remember, relive, and enjoy the experiences. Memories are an important part of life in my book. Learn from the bad and cherish the good.

[PokerCat69]

I've known a girl for 12 years, we are such close friend she calls me big brother, but I'm madly in love with her. I'd take her over any other women. In the last year she has made me cum 3 times, and as recent as a week ago but its weird. I don't know if she has any romantic feelings towards me. True bliss would be for us to be lovers. I want to go inside her badly. However if that magically happened for 1 year, I know it would end and the memory erase. That in itself wouldn't be bliss but more of a torture. It has to happen natural.

[DBowling]

Whats the point? once the year is over, youll be left with nothing. yet you lose 1 year of, say, 50% bliss. Ill take the memories of 50% bliss over no memories of 100% bliss.

[astroglide]

i would think that having lived in bliss would have some sort of tangible effect on your outlook even if you don't conciously remember it

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
Why wouldn't you do it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have two young kids. I can't imagine choosing to miss one year with them (which is essentially what this would be.)

[DMBFan23]

oh yes, and it's not even close. do you see why? I'll let others elaborate.

carpe diem, biatches /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[M2d]

you watch charmed, don't you.

[andyfox]

You're setting the rules. Are we a year older after the year, or is the year just deducted from our "alloted" time? Or, if it's jut a dreamworld that happens and then disappears, perhaps it's happened to us already and we just don't know about it.

[witeknite]

I feel the point of life in general is whatever an individual wants to make of it. The major difference between life and the blissful year you mention is that of choice. I did not choice life. It was a choice that was never offered. If I was a self aware being before this life, I doubt I was offered the option if the outcome is that I don't remember any of it.

WiteKnite

[NLSoldier]

For those of you that say no...

Would your answer change if the length of time was changed? Would you do it for a day? A week? What if you had the option to have eternal bliss the rest of your life, but your memory would reset at the begining of each year?

I think anyone who has ever been really drunk (which i assume is all of you) has essentially taken this deal for a night or whatever, why does it change if you make it a year?

[quadzilla]

I didn't read all of the posts but, this is my take. If you said yes how would you deal with remembering how great things were vs how mediocre things are now? You would surely get depressed. A good example is steroid users, they get huge get off the roids and get really depressed. It's a good analogy because for meatheads being big is the greatest thing in the world. Getting off the juice and getting small is such a shock for them is highly depressing. Going from the greatest thing in your life to going to hard to deal with would be tough.

[pc in NM]

[ QUOTE ]
Pretend you could, for one year out of your life (say the next year), live in perfect bliss, whatever that means to you. When that time is over, your life continues on undistrubed, but you could not recall having done it, and that year of your life was lost?

[/ QUOTE ]
Uh, wasn't that 1969???

I can't seem to quite recall it....

[NotReady]

This reminds me of an observation made by a contemporary popular scientist, maybe Dawkins?. He rejected the idea of the recurring universe, because if it all collapses and then restarts so that nothing is held over into the new universe, each universe is meaningless.

Or reincarnation. What difference is it to me if I was once Rembrandt, Midas or a frog if I can't remember it?