Would you take the coin?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-19 09:21pm

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:But Mike, Russian Roulette doesn't have the biggest payoff ever attatched to it.

So? You could offer me $10 billion, and I still wouldn't play Russian Roulette. What the fuck use is all that money if I'm dead?

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-10-19 09:39pm

I have shitty luck, so if I'm allowed to cheat I'd take it (eg: flip coin, but don't catch it, if its tails, go "hey, that doesn't count! I didn't catch it!" repeat), but no cheating, no coin.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2003-10-19 09:48pm

Darth Wong wrote:
StormTrooperTR889 wrote:But Mike, Russian Roulette doesn't have the biggest payoff ever attatched to it.
So? You could offer me $10 billion, and I still wouldn't play Russian Roulette. What the fuck use is all that money if I'm dead?

But the difference here is that it is win-win.

If you get heads you win all your dreams, if you get tails you never existed, so no harm is done to the universe, and thus you, because you never existed at all.

Shadow WarChief · Post by **Shadow WarChief** » 2003-10-20 12:24pm

Straha wrote: And you never existed, and because you never existed your existence couldn't be wiped out. But because you never existed you also can't come back, so you be gone!

But if you never existed, you wouldn't be able to flip the coint–but you have the coin, You do exist, meaning that the circumstances leading to your existence do not involve having it erased by flipping tails when you....ah fuck it. We're just going around in circles.......

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-10-20 12:27pm

The real problem is that whole retroactive erased from existence...thus you flip till you have won.

Literally if it was death instead of retroactive nonexistence...then it would be better balanced as a question.

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2003-10-20 01:07pm

I guess I'm a pussy, but I wouldn't take the coin. Hell, even if I had a 9/10 chance of winning I wouldn't take the coin. Keep that damn coin away from me!

*runs away*

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-10-20 01:10pm

Darth Wong wrote:
StormTrooperTR889 wrote:But Mike, Russian Roulette doesn't have the biggest payoff ever attatched to it.
So? You could offer me $10 billion, and I still wouldn't play Russian Roulette. What the fuck use is all that money if I'm dead?

I don't know about you, but usually you tend to either get the money or the bullet, can't have both. Or in other words, have your cake and eat it (I know you love that phrase!).

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-10-20 01:35pm

Casualty loops aside, taking failure to be oblivion (ie. no afterlife), I would not flip the coin.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-10-20 01:42pm

Straha wrote:If you get heads you win all your dreams, if you get tails you never existed, so no harm is done to the universe, and thus you, because you never existed at all.

Some people like living, and want to go on doing so.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-10-20 04:15pm

Just spread some butter on the side you don't want, and that's the side the coin will land on.

Anyway, I would probably not take the stupid coin. I'd rather take smaller risks for smaller gains, not one big all-or-nothing risk.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2003-10-20 05:50pm

Yes. Without hesitation.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-10-20 06:27pm

Probably not. I do take risks every now and then, but the coin thing goes way over the line of what I'd do. Ever hear the phrase "There's no such thing as a free lunch"? Theres bound to be a catch to the coin thing besides flipping it.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-10-20 06:33pm

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention. You become my personal bitch once you flip that coin, oops, too late. I have a tendency to keep speaking after they've flipped. So that's 300 odd sex slaves for me so far."

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-10-20 07:19pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Both alternatives don't sound nice. On the one hand, I have life handed on a silver platter, what's the point in living then? On the other hand, I never exist.

That was my line of thinking.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-10-20 07:33pm

Zaia wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Both alternatives don't sound nice. On the one hand, I have life handed on a silver platter, what's the point in living then? On the other hand, I never exist.
That was my line of thinking.

If that don't scream soulmate-you-have-to-get-with, I don't know what does.

Or maybe we just both use our brains.

Nova Andromeda · Post by **Nova Andromeda** » 2003-10-20 10:50pm

AdmiralKanos wrote:Who the fuck would bet their lives on 50/50 odds? Even a Russian Roulette player has better odds (83% chance of survival per attempt).

--You have most of what you want now don't you?
-Others of us stand only a sightly better chance of getting what we want verses getting what we don't want. A 50% chance to get everything or failing that oblivon would be a huge improvement. It completely eliminates any chance that I will EVER suffer (unless I "want to" that is) and there is a very good chance I'll get everything I could possibly want.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-10-20 11:57pm

I love my life. I love my mediocrity and daily challenges of the idiots around me.

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-10-21 12:41am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Zaia wrote:That was my line of thinking.
If that don't scream soulmate-you-have-to-get-with, I don't know what does.

Or maybe we just both use our brains.

LOL--You're absolutely right! *hops on a plane to the UK*

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-10-21 04:55am

Hooray!

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2003-10-21 05:28am

Who dares wins...

I'd take the coin.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-10-21 12:32pm

Gandalf wrote:I love my life. I love my mediocrity and daily challenges of the idiots around me.

You said it better than I could have.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-10-21 04:40pm

Would you be allowed to have people pay to flip it themselves, as a moneymaking scheme? Is it some one-use-only thing?

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-10-21 08:22pm

Nova Andromeda wrote:--You have most of what you want now don't you?
-Others of us stand only a sightly better chance of getting what we want verses getting what we don't want. A 50% chance to get everything or failing that oblivon would be a huge improvement. It completely eliminates any chance that I will EVER suffer (unless I "want to" that is) and there is a very good chance I'll get everything I could possibly want.

And then what? You don't learn anything by having the world handed to you. What the hell do you do with the rest of your life?

Don't even think for a second that any of that would come for free. So you were naïve enough to gamble your existence on a coin toss. You think that's the extent of what you anty up? I don't think so. Everything comes from something, and somewhere along the line, you'll have to pay up, and pay up BIG. And for what? A nice car, a plasma TV and a better computer?

Nova Andromeda · Post by **Nova Andromeda** » 2003-10-21 10:08pm

Zaia wrote:
Nova Andromeda wrote:--You have most of what you want now don't you?
-Others of us stand only a sightly better chance of getting what we want verses getting what we don't want. A 50% chance to get everything or failing that oblivon would be a huge improvement. It completely eliminates any chance that I will EVER suffer (unless I "want to" that is) and there is a very good chance I'll get everything I could possibly want.
And then what? You don't learn anything by having the world handed to you. What the hell do you do with the rest of your life?

Don't even think for a second that any of that would come for free. So you were naïve enough to gamble your existence on a coin toss. You think that's the extent of what you anty up? I don't think so. Everything comes from something, and somewhere along the line, you'll have to pay up, and pay up BIG. And for what? A nice car, a plasma TV and a better computer?

--Your message doesn't make much sense, but I'll try to interpret it.
-I get everything I want and everything I will ever want. You are confusing the ends with the means. If I want to solve complex problems I'll get it. If I'm lazy and just want X, Y, or Z I'll get that too. What this coin toss gives me is a 50% chance to get EVERYTHING I currently toil and suffer to get plus EVERYTHING I would like to get and cannot. What is the price for this benefit? I'm consigned to oblivion with a 50%. For some this might be a significant loss (such as Darth Wong who has most of what he wants), but for me it is not and probably a gain since there is no chance I will ever suffer again.
-I don't know what you are taking about when you say "any of that would come for free." Are you saying there is a hidden clause in the coin toss rules that says there is some terrible price to pay besides the 50% chance of oblivion? That's just silly or a copout at best.
-What else am I gambling besides my own existance?
-I don't know where you get this idea that I'm going to "pay big" if I win the coin toss. Do you beleive in Karma and that it applies to this hypothetical scenario despite not being stated? Seems rahter odd to me....
-"A nice car, a plasma TV and a better computer?" If I want this stuff I could already get it. Do you really think my desires are so pathetically insignificant?

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