Death or the Oubliette

Another question - you're forced to make one of these two choices:

1.) Commit suicide.
2.) Spend the rest of your natural life in a small concrete cell. 23 hours a day are spent in the cell. You're given 1 hour a day to walk around in a small yard, open to the air. You don't ever see guards, because everything in your cell is controlled remotely, and you never see any other prisoners. You can have books brought to you.

An oubliette is a sort of pit-in-the-ground jail cell, you know, one where they lock the person up and throw away the key - I think it means "place of forgetfulness"

hmmm...

Tough choice, though an interesting question- I think being alone all the time would finally drive you completely insane, but with life, there's hope, and perhaps in time you could find some way to escape. But if you never see any guards, how would they make you go back in your cell? And what kind of food would you be fed?

2.- I'd rather have a life comparable to a living hell than no life at all.

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Originally posted by Jeremy
2.- I'd rather have a life comparable to a living hell than no life at all.

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Is that why you post here? ;)

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Originally posted by Dolemite
Tough choice, though an interesting question- I think being alone all the time would finally drive you completely insane, but with life, there's hope, and perhaps in time you could find some way to escape. But if you never see any guards, how would they make you go back in your cell? And what kind of food would you be fed?

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Jail cafeteria food, I guess, probably nothing to write home about.

Hm...I'm not sure how they force you back into the cell.

I know that some places have rubber-bullet-shooting gun ports near the yards where you're allowed to walk, so I imagine that they could just incapacitate you and then drag you back in, if you refused to return on your own.

Some super-high-security prisons probably let you exercise around other prisoners, that sort of thing, I'm sure the various restrictions difer at time.

I'd imagine that any hope of escape would disappear pretty quickly if you were in a place like this.

One thing - in some religious, committing suicide condems you to a life in hell, while dying naturally still leaves you a chance at a good afterlife, which would probably simplify this decision for a lot of people.

Good one, Dolemite. And you only mentioned one of the statements in my post that could be used against me.:)

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Originally posted by Stone
Jail cafeteria food, I guess, probably nothing to write home about.

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Well, that's better than just, say, bread and water.

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I know that some places have rubber-bullet-shooting gun ports near the yards where you're allowed to walk, so I imagine that they could just incapacitate you and then drag you back in, if you refused to return on your own.

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That's an idea. Or maybe you would be forced to wear some sort of collar that could start shocking you until you returned to your cell.

Well If I could not have any contact with friends and Family I'd rather be dead.

Well, as long as they provided me with books...

I would end up turning into a Monk.

Option 2, provided I could have access to any book I wanted.

A monastic lifestyle might not be so bad. I could teach myself how to draw, read Sanskrit, paint, write philosophy, and do all the other things I don't have enough time for.

I would miss human interaction, though.

Well, considering how I was raised, I'd probably just live out my life in solitary. Wouldn't be so bad, I'm already used to spending the great majority of my time indoors, that one hour outside daily actually wouldn't be too bad. And if I could read any book I wanted, I'm sure I wouldn't go TOO crazy. :)

A really hard decision to make, but I think I would go with a life in solitary. I can deal with access to any number of books and an hour outdoors, I imagine I wouldn't go too insane. Besides, suicide is one thing I've never thought I could do, ever. I love myself too much.

I'd go with life in the cell, even if I couldn't have books I'd still take that over death. Killing yourself is senseless no matter what, even a life of eternal (as long as you lived) pain would be far better to me.

Hmmm that is a tough question. No one knows what happans to you when you die, and there is no one on the planet that can convince me that they have a good idea of what happans because none of them have come back from the dead. So Suicide might be tempting I guess, but I would only do that if I got so sick of just reading in a box all day.

Plus I wonder how much stuff you would forget in a cell like that, like what things look like and such. Who knows.

But I would figure if I was in that box for so long and I die eventually anyways I would stick it out. Just to see how crazy I get, and to read some good books.

I'd take the oubliette.

Once you're dead there's no escaping. You do have a chance of escaping an oubliette.

To steal from one of my former neibors to the north: "live free or die!"

No TV, internet, or games would destroy me mentally. I vote for death.

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Originally posted by GohanX
Well, as long as they provided me with books...

I would end up turning into a Monk.

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Me too.

Bulletproof Monk, that is!!! Mwhahahaha!!

I would probably take the solitude, though it's very likly that anyone would go mad.

...I would provided there were books to read.

ºTracer

I'll tell you right now though, put me in a concrete cell for the rest of my life and I just might get around to reading Lord of the Rings.

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Originally posted by Rick
I'll tell you right now though, put me in a concrete cell for the rest of my life and I just might get around to reading Lord of the Rings.

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:(

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Originally posted by Rick
I'll tell you right now though, put me in a concrete cell for the rest of my life and I just might get around to reading Lord of the Rings.

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You should be locked in a concrete cell for not reading it!

I'll live in solitary. When I go crazy, I'll kill myself. Best of both worlds.

I'd take the easy way out.. :D

Option 2, easily. Being able to think and take in new information is easily better than being dead.

Can I play games while I'm in here?

Could I still get beer and Newports?

If so, send me to the little room.

Am I on like a desert island, completed alone, with nothing but food and water? or am I where I am now, just without anyone else? Cause my votes would be different acourding to which it is.

Can you have books sent to you simultaneously? I can't stand reading without a dictionary within reach.

Hmm, It seems like I had totally skipped over the first post. It answered my question for me.

Haha, it's not often when I post first, then read later. >_<