To be able to make such choice implies that I already exist in some form.
And I'd probably be too afraid of non-existence to choose not being born.
Life sucks, but I also don't want to "not-exist". Its terrifying.
Can I just be a ghost floating around and just "chill" and observe? Perhaps in the company of other ghosts to talk to...
Absolutely.
A. Even with how shit the world is there's enough good that exists for it to be worth it.
B. If I didn't exist, I would never have a chance to help improve the world in my small way.
Same view but I also have had it pretty good. Great family and support, passed that on to my kids, and I’ve had a lot of support with great teachers through my years so now I pass that on to those less fortunate and it just does it for me. It’s a great feeling helping others.
Here’s your Christmas advice kids: care about other people, nothing else will actually fulfill you.
no.
Same
No. And thats the reason i don't have kids.
Humanity is rotten, and personally i don't think we'll ever change. The best thing that can happen to earth is for humanity to collapse and become extinct.
Certainly yes.
Fuuuuuck no.
No. Not even remotely. Not even if I was assured it was a simulation. No.
I'm echoing a lot of the replies here by saying “No.” Even if I'm given a choice as to what kind of life I'd live, still no.
Even if people say there's a lot of good things in life, or that there are people living their dreams in this world, still no. I don't play the lottery, even if I might end up with more money than I could ever hope to spend. The same logic applies here.
There would be no me to regret not existing if I don't exist.
What if you could choose to be born with absolute power, like an emperor of old, and mold society into the shape you wish it were?
I know myself enough that I'm likely to let that absolute power absolutely corrupt me and hence, make things absolutely worse for everyone around me.
I'm not that good of a person to be able to be sure that I won't abuse that power, nor am I wise enough to know what to do in order to use that power for the good of everyone. Worse, I'd fall under the delusion that I'm the only person with the will and power to able to do good, and that my ideals are the only ones that count.
So, unfortunately, no. I must decline.
Fuck no.
Others have already answered this well, but I'll repeat it anyway: No.
Even if my life currently is not bad, there are and have been bad times. Not existing is never bad. So no.
Not existing is neither bad nor good, existence is the experience of both good and bad things. Don't only focus on the bad ones.
No
Hell no
Oh fuck no. For my entire life I've resented having to be alive. You try being a suicidally inclined 7 year old and see how you like it. The fact that it's impossible to ask someone if they want to be born is enough for me to never want to have kids, always had been. Forcing existence and cognizance on a human being is unspeakably fucking cruel.
I mean, the universe is just an experiment in experience. Even with the bullshit, it's better to have been than to never have been
I reckon so, yeah. Better than nothing, right? Been plenty of good with the bad. That's about all a disembodied energy form could really hope for, after all.
No
Yeah, it's worth it. Plus maybe I can help.
Question, can I change my sex at birth?
Sure!
Hell yeah then!
No, your the gender you are now
I've been through some terrible things in life.
But yes, I'd still choose to be born. The universe is an amazing place, and despite everything that has happened and is going on, there truly isn't anything as wonderful as getting to experience a small, brief slice of the universe.
Yes! I'd rather there be something than nothing. It's a wonder that anything exists at all
Yes. If I'm actually some kind of cosmic being that can choose to be born yes, I am taking that pill. I'm taking all the experience pills.
Yes!
I think I would have preferred to just manifest as a being of energy that could take corporal form at will.
Would have been a lot easier on my mum.
Warning: ITT, lots of nonresponse bias.
Life dissatisfaction guides people to type no;
neutrally satisfied folks will skip;
the relatively contented might type a "yes" or be offline.
With today's historical context, there's a bit of a skew, especially for those hanging out online o( ; ´ ﹏ `;)oAs for me, I'm excepted. I have decent dissatisfaction rather often, but arrogantly -- I'd be born a million times, every time (unless you ask me at a bad moment).
Even at my worst, why do I not roll over and die? "I want to see how my story ends."
No is not such a pleasant decision in this question, in order to answer this way you need to really feel or witness really bad things. Therefore, a large number of such answers says something...
Damn right I would.
I lean no, but it's close. On the one hand, life is meaningless and hurts. On the other I've gotten to see some cool things.
So far, yes. I think being able to be physically embodied is so remarkable. And on top of that, to be able to hear and see (sort of) and think and feel? It's not gonna last forever, so I want to feel it while I can. Absolutely yes.
Yes. Everything is pointless and nothing is forever. Might as well enjoy the life we've got. Non-existence is better for some people, but I think on the whole life is worth living for most people.
Fuck no!
Just like how we don't know what it would feel like to be dead, and we dread dying, I suppose choosing to be born would feel like death of that self that is given this choice, so I guess the question can be rephrased as "if you could die in this moment, would you choose that?"
I guess not.
Absolutely. I'm not terribly privileged, but while the difficulties of life are non-trivial, overall I've experienced enough joy to justify the expense.
Seeing as how shit everything is, no.
God no. And I won't have kids either. Spare them having to think about it.
If I had the choice ahead of time? No, I wouldn't choose to be born.
If it's a retroactive thing though, I wouldn't undo my birth
Absolutely.
If I'm just being asked to be born in a randomized way in a randomized location to a randomized family in randomized situations .... then no
If I had a choice of where, when and what circumstances I would like to be born in? ... then yes I would like those odds better and would like to be born.
Depends. What's the alternative?
No alternative. You will not exist
So did I exist before? Am I effectively offing myself? There's too many unknowns here.
Purgatory
What does that entail?
Yes. We have to persist through the horrors, thats just how it is on this bitch of an earth
Life sucks. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll see that it doesn't.
I don't know what I would choose, I was just a little baby at the time
Yes, but with better teeth.
Yes. Alternative doesn’t actually exist, to some degree.
Even being able to process this question means some amount of knowledge to understand it.
Even then, yes. Every time. Existing is the best we know we’ve got.
Maybe if I had the choice of where and when to be born. Much too risky to leave it up to chance though
Like, now? No way. I would choose to continue my unborn existence. However, if I could choose a time period, that would be a different story.
Hard to say.
absolutely, I'm a fucking delight. Eudaemonia, baby!
If it was before I’d had my kids, probably. Now with my kids existing in the world, I’d essentially be deleting their existences too, so no.
only under certain conditions; mostly pertaining to wealth & vanity. lol
Now? No.
If I had the choice I'd wait a century or twoSome religions -old and new - believe we choose the lessons we come to learn. If we learn quickly, we can advance to more advanced lessons, if we refuse or aren't capable of understanding our lessons, we repeat them, in one life or another. Just as settings, teachers and teaching styles vary, so do the subjective experiences and understanding of the lessons. Repeating them is karma. Demonstrating grasp and practical application is dharma. Choosing to incarnate to help others learn because one feels a deep empathy and compassion for everyone on the wheel of Samsara is bodhisattva.
Some of these religions believe we reincarnate until we have lived every experience from every possible perspective.
That said, back to my own cultural religious teachings, would I eat again from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? If I'm honest, on my worst days, no. On ok and best days? Yes. It's good to experience things from various perspectives. Our imaginations have been constrained and lack ability. Physical and intellectual exercise is the remedy.
Absolutely! Life is a precious gift, and I hope to continue living for a long time. It's not always good, it's not always easy, it's not always fun, but it is beautiful, interesting, challenging, and better than the alternative.
We all had a choice (well, maybe not ivf babies), we were just so dumb (single cell sperm) that the "choice" was not informed.
Not even true, contrary to popular belief it doesn't take one sperm cell in order to fertilize an egg it takes a bunch of sperm cells to fertilize an egg. This is why when men ejaculate they don't just ejaculate one sperm cell they ejaculate at least half a shot glass.
