Comment by zamadatix

Comment by zamadatix 9 days ago

1 reply

Thought experiments are a springboard for an area of thought, not necessarily a literal question to be answered. When someone asks you "what would you do with a billion dollars" responses like "but I don't have a billion dollars" or "nothing, I'd be investigating how I got it" completely miss the point. It's not about whether the scenario would realistically play out it's about setting the stage for certain types of thoughts without prescribing an exact question on everyone. Maybe you'll never realistically be at a train track with a fork in a road, 1 in the alternate path and 5 in the active path, with nothing more than the option to flick the switch and no other consideration to make... but it sets the stage for interesting thoughts to consider and talk about.

It can lead to much more varied and interesting discussion that direct questions, if you're willing to get over the non-literalness.

jappgar 5 days ago

Yes I know what a hypothetical question is... this question presumes that downloading content is something I would do in this scenario.

Like asking: "If you could meet one celebrity in person which Kardashian would it be?"