Would you take the coin?
 

This is kind of like the Red Pill/Blue Pill question with a twist.
I am going to give you a choice to take a magic coin I have or walk away. If you take the coin you must toss it. If it comes up Heads, you get everything you could possibly want. You get the mansion, the fancy cars, the private island resort, essentially anything and everything you ever wanted or will want. If the toss comes up tails, you disappear. Not die, no going to heaven or hell, no afterlife or reincarnation, just oblivion. It would be as though you had never existed.
So, your choice, do you take the coin or not?

For me, I would leave the coin and walk away. The first time I had this question posed to me my knee jerk reaction was, hell yeah I'd take the coin. Then I thought about it and realized my life isn't so bad, and even if it did suck I could always change it for the better.

Hmm... I said take the coin. Not that I don't like my life, but if I got tails, I wouldn't know I was even alive... Now if I got heads... well...

I think having everything i ever wanted would get somewhat ruined by my guilt at having really done nothing to earn it.

I'll just let the coin be. I'm not going to take a 50/50 chance with my existence. It'd be kinda tempting though.

Leave it. It's kind of a silly question.

it's a win-win situation to me.

if i lose the toss, it'd be like i never existed.

i'll take it

It may seem like a straight forward answer to you, but it was meant to get people to think about how much they value they put on living.

I need to know whether "everything you could possibly want" gives you the ability to help others. I'm not talking about the power to end human suffering altogether - just the ability to use my wealth and resources to help a bit here and a bit there. If that's the case, then the gamble is somewhat virtuous. You're accepting the risk of sacrifice for the chance to do some good in the world. (and enjoy yourself at the same time :)). I definitely wouldn't do it if I could only use my powers and resources selfishly or in a way harmful to others.

I'd say it's up to you what you do with your new found wealth. Heck, give it all away if you want to.

What if I dissapered but had kids? Do they disappear too? Would everything I did come undone? Would people have memories of me?

I think I'd probably walk away. I've got a pretty good life now.

I like me & my world.

no coin...theres no way to "get" everything i want. i'd like to live out what i want instead...

Leave it. I like my life. My wife and kids like me living too. Besides that, everything I want includes the satisfaction from having earned what I have.

This question could be replaced with "Would you rob an armoured truck?"

Success: Monetary gains.
Failure: Friends and family calling you an idiot, possibly giving up their relationship with you. Huge disappointment. Jail time effectively destroying your life as you know it.

Me? Nah, just recieved my diploma. I like it where I'm at. And for the first time in my life, I like my chances. No coin for me. No armoured truck either.

Given the perimeters I take the coin.

No coin for me.

My life is good right now and getting better :)

at the point i'm at in life, i'd take the coin and hope for the best. if the worst that can happen is that the world goes on as if i'd never been, then there's really nothing lost. so in my eyes, you don't lose anything, but you can gain everything. i'm in.

no coin for me, i like my life.

Nope, wouldn't take it. My life right now is just too good to risk.

Cars and mansions are alright, but friends, family, and a general appreciation of life are priceless.

I would ask to be God (or God-like). To me, it's worth the risk of oblivion for that kind of power. I could walk out into the street tomorrow and have oblivion handed to me by a 70-mph death sentence named 'Mack Truck.' At least with the coin it would be instant, painless (for everyone - since it would be as though you had never existed, all trace of you in people's memories and lives would be erased and history would essentially be re-written), and straightforward.

Win-win situation. I'd definitely take the coin.

Plenty happy as-is. Not worth it to me even if it were a 1% chance of vanishing instead of 50%.

"

yea, playing god with my life sounds a bit unfun. no thanks =)

i'd leave it.

sure, my life ain't perfect atm, but i've got a few things i have no desire to lose (my bf for example) :)

Yup, I'd hedge my bets and take my pretty good life rather than risk it.

i'd take the coin bcos there's nothing for me to lose.
i'm not afraid of *never existing* i actually quite like the idea.

I'm with anti fishstick here, it seems like a win-win situation.
That and for some stupid reason I ALWAYS win coin tosses :D

I'd take the coin. neither possibility sounds too bad.

C'monnnnnn heads heads heads!!

Yeah I'd take.

Even if I did get heads i wouldn't deserve it. I wouldn't live in happiness if i had everything and didn't earn it.
Life should be what you make of it.
If you do your best then you'll be fine.
If you try, you already failed and only then, i guess, you can take your chances.
Personally, I wouldn't take it. I'd like to see it though, that'd be neat :)

Same here!:D

I like things how they are right now. No coin. Thanks anyways.

Well, the whole not existing thing, to me, is just death.
So the coin toss becomes a game of Russian roulette, except with a 1 in 2 chance of dieing instead of 1 in 6.
You don't see me playing Russian Roulette, so I don't think you'll see me taking up this offer.

No doubt about it...it is tempting...but it's just too high a risk to take.
Lower the odds and I may consider risking my life, but in this case, I vote no.

It would be a little tempting. But the thought of losing all that I have right now and everything I've busted my arse to achieve over the years...

Nah, no thanks. I love what I have now, and how hard I worked and continue to work for it.

the coin toss is a win-win situation in the sense that you won't suffer any hardships or emotions regardless of what face the coin shows.

btw this post is so interesting, im goiing to start a similiar poll on another forum...

I love my life, and most of the people in it. I can't put a value on my existence because my SO is part of that very existence, so I think I'd deal with it. Besides, part of being a good person is learning from your crappy life, thats why the worst shit happens to the best people, its a cause effect process, but opposite of how people say it (being good attracts shit, not that shit attracts good).

Giving me the 'perfect life' would just make me a jackass in the end, probably, I dont trust my moral fibre that much. Even if I did, I'd know better than to take the coin anyway.

So its really a moral issure for me. If I win, I may as well have lost, in my opinion.

Ah, but there's the rub. You could make yourself happy if the coin came up in your favor, and afterwards you wouldn't know the difference. I think this raises deeper philosophical questions than the value of life.

For example, what if there was a drug that would perpetually alleviate sorrow, would you take it? What if it eliminated your memory of taking it? Stripped of "choice" what have we gained?

The way the question was originally propositioned is a bit ambiguous. Is the choice is between non-existence and godhood, or is it between non-existence and fabulous wealth? I'd never flip for the latter, but I might consider the former.

If one believes that non-existence is inevitable, what is there to lose by flipping the coin?

Very existential.

Personally I'd leave it. If I never existed, then everyone I have influenced may then have never been infuenced. I'm not saying the i'm the most important person in the world, but i'm not worthless either. My existance has so far been worthwhile both for me and for the people around me. To risk disappearing would really fuck things up.

On a smart ass note: Would I be able to "modify" this magic coin before I threw it? If I could, I'd put half a ping pong ball (or equivolent) around the bad half, that way it could never technically land on the disappear side. :) I could always just make it a dart and throw it straight up :)

I'm a betting man, and *shrugs* it doesnt look like i have anything to loose really....now where is that coin?