18 replies to this topic

[suncrafter]

Hypothetically speaking - lets say you have an opportunity to win $1,000,000 in a contest. To win - you must choose from one of the following five options:

"Punch" option ---- You will be punched in the face, just once, by a big fat man. The punch is guaranteed not to be fatal nor to cause brain damage, but you will likely sustain a nasty injury such as a split lip, black eye or perhaps even a broken nose. After being punched - you will be given the $1,000,000!

"Bomb" option ---- Nothing will happen to you. However, you will start the countdown on a huge bomb that is hidden deep inside the center of the Earth. The bomb is large enough that, when detonated, it will cause devastating earth quakes and floods all over the planet. The bomb is completely undetectable and can not be disarmed. However it will not detonate until exactly 5,000 years in the future. As soon as the countdown has started - you will be given the $1,000,000!

"Insults" option ---- Twenty people will shout terrible insults and obscenities at you for one full hour. These people will not come into physical contact with you nor harm you, but they will say all sorts of horrible and upsetting things to you. After one full hour of intense verbal abuse - you will be given the $1,000,000!

"Magic" option ---- Your personality and ethical convictions will be painlessly altered in some unknown way by a magic spell. The alteration will be instantaneous and will not affect your memory, cause brain damage nor result in any physical harm of any kind. After the alteration - you will be given the $1,000,000!

"Nothing" option ---- None of the above. Nothing happens to you or anyone else, but you will NOT be given any money.


Which option would you choose first? Second? Third? Etc...???

Please list them like so ... (with "1" listed as your first choice, "2" as your next choice, and so on...)

1 - option name
2 - option name
3 - option name
4 - option name
5 - option name

[Reedbeta]

What's the point of this?

I would choose the insults, easy.

[gardon]

Easily the punch. Not only would I be given $1,000,000 but I would have a fun time finishing the fight.

By the way, being punched by a "big fat man" is pretty lame. Edit that to "professional boxer". Fat has nothing to do with punching power. Skill and power does.

[vibhanshu]

how about I punch the fat ass face and then take the money home! :-)

[geon]

Other than being mildly annoying (in the same way as a screaming child in a mall would be), what's the catch with the "insults" option?

Getting a million $ for having people (who I don't know or care about) trying to insult me (but not succeding, since I know they don't really mean it) seems like a sure winner.



"However it will not detonate until exactly 5,000 years in the future."

I don't like radioactive waste either.

[.oisyn]

My order would be: Insults, Punch, Nothing, Magic, Bomb.

[Nils Pipenbrinck]

I take the bomb.

That way I will not only become rich, I will also get known as the evil genius that destroyed the world :-)

[.oisyn]

I think that you will be long forgotten when the bomb finally goes off

[Skavenger]

Can I set the bomb, take the money. Then disarm it?

[.oisyn]

No you can't, read the topicstart

[Rofar]

The bomb actually makes the most sense here but I would probably go with the painless insults.

[anubis]

Insults...

[karligula]

Insults, Punch, Magic, Nothing, Bomb

You'd have to be pretty odd not to put the insults first...

[Hertta]

Insults for 7 days a week would be better. The people would be everywhere! Letting everyone know everything you are ashamed for!

[Nils Pipenbrinck]

I stll want to set up the bomb

[Mihail121]

I would go with:

1. Bomb
2. Nothing
3. Punch
4. Insults
5. Magic

[anubis]

Quote

I stll want to set up the bomb

I thought about the bomb, too. But global warming will take care of us long before the bomb explodes. And destroying the earth with noone around to witness it... nah... that's boring :)

[Frank Skilton]

I would take the insults, tell the fat man that those 20 people were insulting him and his family, watch him wreak havoc and in all the commotion I would start the bomb detonation, unnoticed. Whilst all this was happening I would take the money, pay the magician half of it to reset the countdown on the bomb to 5 days as opposed to 5k years, punch the fat man in the face and leave. Then I would commission John Carmack to build a rocket in one day that would fly me and Nina Persson to the moon. Upon arrival I would play guitar and listen to her sing majestically until the bomb eventually erased the precious fragments of time and we ran out of oxygen.

[anubis]

Quote

I would take the insults, tell the fat man that those 20 people were insulting him and his family, watch him wreak havoc and in all the commotion I would start the bomb detonation, unnoticed. Whilst all this was happening I would take the money, pay the magician half of it to reset the countdown on the bomb to 5 days as opposed to 5k years, punch the fat man in the face and leave. Then I would commission John Carmack to build a rocket in one day that would fly me and Nina Persson to the moon. Upon arrival I would play guitar and listen to her sing majestically until the bomb eventually erased the precious fragments of time and we ran out of oxygen.

And to paraphrase the A-Team ... We all love it when a plan comes together :)