NationStates Jolt Archive

For the purposes of this, there is no God or afterlife.

You have a friend whose life's work was to do something. He tries to successfully complete it, but he's injured and near-death before he can see the result of what happened.

What actually happened is that he failed, and all of his life's work has gone down the drain. He is now on his deathbed.

For the purposes of this hypothetical scenario: only you can speak to him, he will certainly die, and no-one else, not even you, can continue with his life's work and maybe finish it. Also, you can't talk about anything else with him to divert his attention from the matter.

As he lies on his deathbed with minutes to live, he asks you whether he was successful in his quest. What do you do?

*sniff sniff* Nobody likes me... :(

You don't lie; just tell him what aspects of his life he was successful in.

You don't lie; just tell him what aspects of his life he was successful in.

Well it was all gathering up for the purpose of his life. It was either he succeeded, or he failed and whatever things he was successful in didn't matter anymore.

Take Lord of the Rings for example. If he didn't get the ring to the volcano, then it didn't matter how successful he was in the past, his ultimate purpose in life which was gathering up, had failed.

To put it simply, all or nothing.

Well, since his quest was to kill a million innocents so he wouldn't die, I suppose his dying would tip him off that he had failed. In which case I would show him these pictures of some other couple having sex, because that would make him feel happy in his last minutes. Then I'll be really depressed, but I'll feel better after I have beaten a woman (whom I saw stealing bread) to death with this wallet I just found on the ground.
When that's done, I'll round out the evening by doing the dew and pissing on Bush because the man set himself on fire again.

I'd tell him he was successful. I couldn't not only see him on his death bed, but then see his heart break as I told him he failed.

Well, since his quest was to kill a million innocents so he wouldn't die, I suppose his dying would tip him off that he had failed. In which case I would show him these pictures of some other couple having sex, because that would make him feel happy in his last minutes. Then I'll be really depressed, but I'll feel better after I have beaten a woman (whom I saw stealing bread) to death with this wallet I just found on the ground.
When that's done, I'll round out the evening by doing the dew and pissing on Bush because the man set himself on fire again.

For the purposes of this thread, him being your friend means that you share views on various matters including his ultimate intention in life.

For the purposes of this thread, him being your friend means that you share views on various matters including his ultimate intention in life.
Yes, and I too think that the ultimate purpose of my life is to kill a million people so that I won't die. That is why beating the woman to death with the wallet makes me feel better; 1,056th down, just 998,944 to go.

Tell him that you'll continue his work? Or does he know that no one else can do it? Either that or shoot the poor bastard in the head and get the moral dillema out of the way.

You don't lie; just tell him what aspects of his life he was successful in.

I could never do something so monstrous. Of course I'd tell him that he was successful.

I would make a thread.