But be that age now. Would you kill someone to do it? Anyone. A stranger or someone near and dear to you.
If you could be, say, 23 physical years old again. And your life ahead of you. All you have to do is kill someone. Would you?
Think about it. Even if you are seen or videotaped doing it, they are essentially looking for an older person. It can’t be you. You have a perfect alibi. I know this won’t be a question for the young people here. But for us old folks. Would you? And I’d like to take the religion part out of it. If you believe killing is a sin, forget that. In this particular case God is okay with it. In fact, since you are a truly righteous person he says go for it.
Of course I’d like to be young and indestructible again. Do great at MMA again, woo beautiful 20yo girls. But I wouldn’t have the confidence and centeredness being an adult gives. I wouldn’t have my son and daughter driving me mad and delighting me. Being 20something was great in a physical sense, but where it counts, I like being 40something better tbh.
Same reason I cannot use anything other than a catch-and-release mouse trap.
Nor will I kill a butterfly or even a moth if I can help it.
Flies and mosquitoes, however, I have no problem.
If I truly loathed the person however, that would make it a much more difficult question.
But only if that person had caused serious mental pain, physical injury, or death to a loved one. Or if I had witnessed that person torturing an animal. Then, yeah, I’d possibly do it even without the motivation of becoming young again. Youth would be a cool bonus though. I’d think of it as being rewarded for removing an evil scourge from society.
Was it a twilight zone episode? Outer Limits? Where a man and a box with a button offered that if you pressed the button, you would get a million dollars… but someone somewhere else would die.
Hmm. I feel that I have to answer “no” until I’d be old and crotchety and my kids all flown the coop and forgotten to call on my birthday for the 10th time… and then all bets are off.
I wouldn’t even do it if t didn’t require killing anyone. I’m good with how things are now. Could stand to lose some weight, but not quite ready to commit murder for that.
Yes. Twilight Zone. The 80s version. “Someone who, I can assure you, you do not know.” Then after they press the button the man comes to take the box. The couple asks whats going to happen to it and the man says it will be given to someone else. “Someone who, I can assure you, you do not know.”
No, as that would go against everything that I think of as me. But then, it might be different if the choice were not just a thought exercise. Who knows?
If I got to be my younger, healthier self while ridding the world of a Hitler type person? That would be quite the interesting dilemma. Saving thousands or millions of lives seems like a no-brainer by ridding the world of evil, and I get the chance to use modern medicine to stall my disease, get to do college again, and this time be healthy enough for medical school. Then I get to help save more lives as a physician.
Help me, I’m seeing no down-side. To be clear, no way am I taking an innocent life to save my own.
This leads to the other thought experiment… That box will kill anyone, anywhere in a completely untraceable way. You gain no specific benefit from doing so.
If I killed myself could I return to an earlier age? I’m near and dear to myself. Did I game this right? I think I found a loophole. Of course in the stories of wishes the wisher always thinks he’s outsmarted the game. What terrible fate will I suffer?
IIRC there was a psychology experiment years ago where actors were in one room, and test subjects were in another. The test subjects were told to press a button to inflict pain on the actors even if they screamed (or after they had stopped screaming!). The thing being tested was not so much whether the test subjects would press the button, but if they would press the button if an respected authority figure told them to do so (versus some non-authority figure). I.e. what are we willing to do if someone we’re supposed to respect tells us to do it?
Supposedly it was an famous test. Sorry I can’t recall more details.
