In my younger days I was forced to take P.E classes, because the teacher said ‘what if you were unarmed?’ surely, if I was unarmed I need to be the physical stronger to defend myself. but ‘what if I had a gun’ that would make physical contact unneccesary.
I hate the what ifs. they are meaningless, pointless and stupid.
‘what if I am God’, ‘what if I had 1 billion dollars’, ‘what if this or that’… they are all day dreamers! we ought to concentrate on tangible benefit and not imaginary scenarios which would not likely to eventuate.
‘what if I was invisible?’ how would one even answer such a question without being invisible? how could one imagine what can’t be imagined? what if I had two heads, or two arms or two ass. I hate those scenarios which can not be verified, they are just plain dreams, people who ponder about them are dreamers.
All you really gotta do is eat and sleep, man. I got time to burn.
Besides, when I become god and have a billion dollars, I’ll be better of than you, because I’ll have already wasted the time you’ll have to spend making a decision.
I’ve been waiting for someone to post the most famous “What if?” quote last century:
“What if one were to run after a ray of light?.. What if one were riding on the beam?.. b if[/b] one were to run fast enough, would it no longer move at all?â€
Albert Einstein
how can something that governs every moment of our lives be so pointless or despised. all of our actions are governed by what ifs. if they werent we’d be future tellers, every outcome and consequence already known.
we cant perceive the future in such a perfect way, therefore we MUST rely on proababilities (What ifs) to live our lives.
Not what I meant. I meant that it is like a child looking at the world. We all know that speed is relative without Einstein pointing it out. To point it out, and be called a genious is just unbelievable.
There’s two schools of thought here. First, the ‘what if?’ of the child or one playing devil’s advocate: ‘What if we’re actually just brains in a vat, dude?’ But second, there is the ‘what if?’ that serves as a philosophical tool par excellence: the first step toward examining consequences, for example.
As with so many things, the strength or validity of a ‘what if?’ would depend entirely upon who’s asking the question, and in what context, with what desired effect.
A blanket statement like ‘I hate the what ifs … they are meaningless, pointless and stupid’ is unworthy of any serious thinker.
I think the point that PoR was trying to make was ‘some people need to pull their heads out of their asses and deal with reality rather than waste their time on fantasy’ (at least that’s what I got out of it)
I agree completely with this sentiment. However, throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn’t my style. ‘What if’s’, in the hands of those with sufficient motivation and ability, become realities. Without them we would never grow on a technological scale, and would still be waiting on lighning to start our fires to warm our caves.
Now do you understand why people like me don’t even try (anymore) to understand this idea called “God”?
In effect, you’re saying you can’t imagine being invisible or having two heads but, being a good catholic as you are, you can imagine what “god†is about?
You do use ‘What If’s’ (hypotheticals) all the time, you’re simply being selective about which ones you ponder.
what if: Hemingway was right when he said: “When you have shot one bird flying, you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.”
Dr.Satanical got it right on the spot again. People ought to face reality and not dream about what could have been. if I say what if I changed a variable in the chain of causality, what makes it not possible that another variable changes? for example if I were to save the person I love from dying what makes I am so sure that the person won’t fall in love with someone else?
All I am saying is, we are to learn from the past and not to dwell over them all day thinking, what if this changed, that changed, or what the hell. to ponder about possible outcomes are perfectly normal, if it is considering future outcomes, in this way, we exercise our free will which was given by God.
