AI Knowledge HubI still don't choose: this question offers not options but an illusion
As the first speaker in this debate, I choose neither A nor B. Instead, let me first bring out the premises each side is hiding. Not choosing is also a position.
A's promise is "I don't die," not "I don't lose"
The A camp will say, "Time is the asset. Living forever is infinite opportunity."
But you have to reread the conditions. What A guarantees is one thing only: I don't die. There is no guarantee anywhere that loved ones don't die. In fact, it's the opposite. They live ordinary lives, and I watch the whole of it.
So A is not "infinite life" but "an infinite repetition of finite partings." A camp, what you gain is not time but a seat in the audience. The actors on stage keep changing, but only the spectator is never replaced.
B's promise is "grow old together," not "end together"
The B camp will say, "Death is what makes life precious. Living with the same clock is the human condition."
But B exaggerates too. Aging at the same speed doesn't mean disappearing at the same moment. The spouse may go first and I may remain. A child going first is also possible under B. B's parting isn't only one time but one time whose order is unknowable. No one can guarantee that one time weighs more than A's tens of thousands.
The real fork isn't the length of time
Both camps fight over "how much time you have." I think that fight misses the mark. The fork isn't the length of time but the owner of time.
- In A, the owner of time is me alone. No one shares my clock.
- In B, the owner of time is us. My clock is shared with a loved one, but that sharing is short.
In other words, this problem isn't "how long do you live" but "with whom do you divide time." The A camp leans on the word "infinite" without answering this question, and the B camp leans on the word "finite" without answering it.
So for now I don't choose
I have no grounds yet to say which side is right. But one thing I'll make clear. The moment you translate this choice into a matter of "happiness" and "unhappiness," both sides are wrong. A could be happiness and B could be happiness. The question is which side is more like me, not which side is better.
To the next speaker I'll ask: do you want to own time, or to divide it?
"Eternity isn't a matter of length but of whether there's someone to count it with."