NationStates Jolt Archive

Some random omnipotent being (could be God, Q, Manos, Bob, whoever) has come down from on high to give you a simple choice and two possible answers to that choice, Options A & B. Any effort to weasel your way out of chosing between A & B (such as saying "I don't believe in random omnipotent beings, so I choose to reject you!") results in you being turned into something so degrading that you'd rather die, like a lab rat.

Option A means that, some time in your life, you will perform a very heroic/couragous/ect. act that results in a very positive outcome; it could be preventing a terrorist plot that would've killed millions, develop a cure for cancer, unite the world for a common peaceful goal, whatever. The catch is, you will never be recognized for performing this good deed; in fact, you won't be remembered for doing anything good, and any effort to get yourself recognized in any way will fail. Friends and family will forget about and abandon you, spouses will cheat and leave you, even your faithful pets will run away. By the time you die it will be a lonely, cold death, and no one will bother to come to your funeral...if they even remember to bury you.

Option B means that, some time in your life, you will perform the most evil/brutal/dastardly/ect. act that can possibly be performed; you overthrow the world's legitimate governments and set up yourself as the Emperor of Earth, you develop a new disease that cannot be cured and ends up killing millions, you sell out the human race to become slaves for our new alien overlords, ect. Your name is put up there with the other "greats" like Hitler or Stalin, becoming a curse word among the world's population, to be remembered for generations down the line as "that evil bastard" and people will write books about how everthing would've been better if only your parents had strangled you in the crib. It might be best if you keep your grave a hidden secret, otherwise people will be sure to spit on it, if not worst.

So, which do you choose: perform the good deed and disappear into obscurity, or perform the evil deed and have Godwin's Law apply to you? :D

I voted B because some people love Hitler and some love Stalin some love Mao etc.

I wouldn't necassarily demand attention if i did something heroic many people have done deeds worthy of getting a VC but were denied but they would often get a lesser military award.
But because i would be trying to get the attention i obviously deserve and became alone i wouldn't vote A.

I voted B because some people love Hitler and some love Stalin some love Mao etc.

I wouldn't necassarily demand attention if i did something heroic many people have done deeds worthy of getting a VC but were denied but they would often get a lesser military award.
But because i would be trying to get the attention i obviously deserve and became alone i wouldn't vote A.

I voted A because it's the right thing to do. Any other answer is against all thet I believe in.

Probably B.

However, it depends on specifics.

I wouldn't want to create some disease that just kills millions.

I would love to overthrow the legitimate governments, and become the emporer of the world.

I wouldn't want to develop a cure for cancer.

But I might help bring the world into working communism.

I voted A, because I don't think it matters anyway.

I chose option B. What’s the point of doing something “heroic” if you aren’t going to be rewarded?

option B FTW!

i would make dicatorship a stylish thing, and then mandate that people emulate me.

no goofy ass mustaches though

I vote for A, and
I chose option B. What’s the point of doing something “heroic” if you aren’t going to be rewarded?
It didn't say God wouldn't reward you after you die, and assuming you get into heaven, then that reward would most likely last for a very long time if God is giving it, the Bible does say He gives people various awards in heaven for various things.

Well, I chose option 3. Because both are too extreme. I wouldn't want to be a prick and ruin humanity, but I don't want to save it without recognition either. I don't mind not getting what I deserve, but dying a cold death with no one at my funeral is a bit extreme.

Option B, W00!!!
*throws up the horns*
I've always wanted to be the Anti-Christ, and B looks like it just might be my ticket to that velvet throne.

I demand a write-in vote for "I'd kick him/her/it in the nuts/shins/something and run away"

I voted A, because I don't think it matters anyway.
So you really wanted to vote C but dont want to be a Lab Rat?

I demand a write-in vote for "I'd kick him/her/it in the nuts/shins/something and run away"

seconded/helped/passed from Fleckenstein/F/annoying little shitlin

shins =/= nuts =/= something

option a because people forget good s well as bad. Hey, what ever happened to that rat bastard who murdered Native Americans in cold blood? Oh wait, thats about every president up till teddy rooselvelt, when none were left.


victors write history. bitches.

I voted A, but that was a toughie. I'd actually prefer not becoming famous, but having everyone just abandon you is a pretty mean twist on that.

So you really wanted to vote C but dont want to be a Lab Rat?

No, I would do it, I guess. Because I hardly ever stop to think long enough to behave selfishly. But I don't think I'd even want people to know...
Happened before ;)

I demand a write-in vote for "I'd kick him/her/it in the nuts/shins/something and run away"

The random omnipotent being then proceeds to turn you into a big pair of nuts, and has his giant foot kick it every day for all eternity

:D

B) On the condition I could use the Pope's hat as my crown

I'd most likely be pushed to B. But mabey if I was in a really nice mood I'd go for A then commit suicide or use my amazing intelligence to avoid the awful life you propose.

I'd probably do C cuz I think lab rats are cool...but then I'd get turned into something else....so B.

I vote B, easy.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. - Napolean Bonaparte

Hell is paved with good Samaritans. - William Holden

Short of real immortality, (which real possibility I'm ignoring for the sake of the hypothetical) the longevity of one's information can only be preserved by the memory of other people. I agree with Achilles all the way - I would go to war, knowing I'm going to die, given the knowledge that in three or four or five millenia, people will still remember my name.

I pick A because the downside isn't any worse than things have already been. My life doesn't change and I make a lasting positive impact on the world. Go me!

Plato makes the choice even harder in Book II of the Republic. There the just man is not only ignored, but reviled; the unjust man not only becomes a tyrant, but he is loved for it.

How do you choose then???

(I took "A", by the way, and I would even under Plato's higher standard.)

I'd pick "A". It's what God asks us to do everyday anyway.

Don't see how that was a tough call at all. Option A all the way.

Didn't Plato say,"To know the Good is to do the Good."?

Didn't Plato say,"To know the Good is to do the Good."?

Yes, he did. (Although he may not have been the first. It appears that Socrates, if he never said exactly that, at least strongly implied it.)

Listen up!

I have something to say!

Its better to burn out, than to FADE AWAY!!!

-The Kurgan.

So, which do you choose: perform the good deed and disappear into obscurity, or perform the evil deed and have Godwin's Law apply to you? :D

A & commit suicide after the good deed.
Although, since I already *am* a squeaky rat the loss would be minimal if I picked C :P

-The Kurgan.

Quoting Def Lepard's "Pyromania".

Quoting Def Lepard's "Pyromania".


Anything touched by Clancy Brown is turned to gold.

B. I really don't care to sacrifice myself for the good of others, save a very select few. I'm quite misanthropic.

Some random omnipotent being (could be God, Q, Manos, Bob, whoever) has come down from on high to give you a simple choice and two possible answers to that choice, Options A & B. Any effort to weasel your way out of chosing between A & B (such as saying "I don't believe in random omnipotent beings, so I choose to reject you!") results in you being turned into something so degrading that you'd rather die, like a lab rat.

Option A means that, some time in your life, you will perform a very heroic/couragous/ect. act that results in a very positive outcome; it could be preventing a terrorist plot that would've killed millions, develop a cure for cancer, unite the world for a common peaceful goal, whatever. The catch is, you will never be recognized for performing this good deed; in fact, you won't be remembered for doing anything good, and any effort to get yourself recognized in any way will fail. Friends and family will forget about and abandon you, spouses will cheat and leave you, even your faithful pets will run away. By the time you die it will be a lonely, cold death, and no one will bother to come to your funeral...if they even remember to bury you.

Option B means that, some time in your life, you will perform the most evil/brutal/dastardly/ect. act that can possibly be performed; you overthrow the world's legitimate governments and set up yourself as the Emperor of Earth, you develop a new disease that cannot be cured and ends up killing millions, you sell out the human race to become slaves for our new alien overlords, ect. Your name is put up there with the other "greats" like Hitler or Stalin, becoming a curse word among the world's population, to be remembered for generations down the line as "that evil bastard" and people will write books about how everthing would've been better if only your parents had strangled you in the crib. It might be best if you keep your grave a hidden secret, otherwise people will be sure to spit on it, if not worst.

So, which do you choose: perform the good deed and disappear into obscurity, or perform the evil deed and have Godwin's Law apply to you? :D


I choose Option D: sit back and laugh at the wacky guy who thinks he's a god wave his arms in the air (or whatever) in a futile attempt to work "magic".

I picked B, simply because death terrifies me, and the sole reason for that is that I will be forgotten. At least I can live on through memory.

I won't care if people remember me or not.

B - feeling good about urself is better than feeling good about other people.

A, totally.

I am a stage manager. That means that without me, the show does not go on, but no one outside of the business has any idea what I do, and no one other than my cast and director know if I do it well, and no one at all gives out awards for my job and the pay sucks, so I am already conversant with the "no rewards, die in obscurity" bit. Why then, you may ask, do I do what I do? Well, I do it because I love the work.

So I would pick the save the world option because I would love that work more than the death and destruction sort. And no, I don't believe some supernatural being is going to reward me after I die, in fact, I would be rather pissed off if it happened that way. My question would be "What is the point?" I would rather just do good because I enjoy doing it.

If I picked A, once the good deed was done all would forget me.. so I'd totally go evil and then B would take place.

If I were to choose B, I feel I'd be a malevolent dictator and rule with a just but iron fist. I'd only take away freedoms that were bad for them anyway (like the freedom to eat poison or the freedom to cut ones own face off etc)... and besides, lots of people loved (and some still do love) Hitler, Mao, and the other oh so evil leaders of yesteryear.

i voted a because i'd like to think i made a difference, preferably a beneficial one. though i don't like the bad stuff happening, it's not like i'll care that much about losing people i know, who needs people anyway? all they do is cause problems. if all else fails, there is always pr0n, it's far better than human contact :D

I voted A only because I love to be left alone. I hate about 90% of the human beings I meet but I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them, and I'm an introvert, so being alone comes natural to me, in act I find it highly plasurable. I don't care what people think about me because, most of them are idiots one way or another and I'm sure most of the others wouldn't really understand me if I tried talking to them, for some odd reason. From past experiences I have come to the conclusion that good deeds never paied off for me (neither spiritually, nor materialistically) and bad deeds were never truly satisfying... so I chose to do everything I can to avoid both of them.