SIGforum
Take $30M or go Back to When You Were 18 yrs old to Correct Your Mistakes - Which Would You Choose?
August 29, 2017, 03:30 AM
DetonicsMk6Take $30M or go Back to When You Were 18 yrs old to Correct Your Mistakes - Which Would You Choose?
The cash. I could assuage a whole lotta guilt with $30,000,000.00 (and have a couple dolla's left over!)
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”
― H.L. Mencken
-All views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect those of the author's employer- August 29, 2017, 03:35 AM
lechiffreBack in time.
_______________________________
Do the interns get Glocks?
August 29, 2017, 03:58 AM
flashguyAlthough at age 79 it would be nice to be 18 again, I wouldn't do it. I don't really need the $30M either, but I'd take it.
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth August 29, 2017, 05:30 AM
PHPaulI'm glad I read through all the responses first.
My immediate response was "Back to 18!!" because I've made several mistakes I'd dearly love to correct, and the extent of my financial stupidity as a yute is staggering.
But, as pointed out, our scars are who we are, and I'm pretty happy with who I am at the moment. With $30M, I could set my kids up, tuck a couple of million away for me and SWMBO and give about $20M away.
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
August 29, 2017, 07:04 AM
dewhorseTake the cash, sure I sometimes wonder "what if" but I am very happy how things turned out.
August 29, 2017, 08:02 AM
Leemurquote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
$30 million please. I'll take cash or certified check.
The past is the past.
This, twice.
August 29, 2017, 08:03 AM
mikeyspizzaIf I was younger I would take the cash, but at 64 I'll take the redo.
I have no regrets and didn't make any big mistakes.
At 64, there is only so much fun I can have pissing away some of the $30M and then leave the rest to my kid and grandkids, and that's it.
I rather have another 40 years to do even better.
August 29, 2017, 08:09 AM
GustoferIf I could go back to 18
when I was 18, I'd do it in a second and skip the $30M.
If I had to be 18 from today going forward? Not a chance. Gimme the cash.
________________________________________________________
"Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton.
August 29, 2017, 08:13 AM
MNSIGI think I'd have to go with the cash. There's no guarantee that my attempt to fix a small mistake wouldn't lead to an even bigger one in the new version of my life.
August 29, 2017, 08:21 AM
fpuhanWhat mistakes?
You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member August 29, 2017, 08:28 AM
JALLENIf it wasn't for mistakes, I would not have done anything!
The one mistake I have always wished to have a Mulligan on was quitting Boy Scouts a couple of Merit Badges short of Eagle. That was before I was 18, though.
Some say, well, what about that first wife? Trouble is, once you start changing things, the future goes careening off in unpredictable directions, just like the first one did. Star Trek proves that.
Another trouble is that some mistakes actually worked out pretty well. You wouldn't want to mess with those, and unless you can look back, how would you know? Practically everything I did was a mistake on some level.
Having the leisure of the last 5 or 6 years to think over all these numberless incidents and episodes and choices of 5 decades, I might not have the time or energy to correct them all, and might end up squandering those resources on committing new mistakes instead. After all, I've had a lifetime of experience at making mistakes.
When I was 18, I imagined myself blessed with unlimited potential, intelligent, honest, responsible, industrious. It's lucky I didn't realize how wrong I was for several decades. Otherwise I would have never tried anything and never gotten anywhere.
The Old Rancher explained that if your hindsight isn't better than your foresight, you've got your head up your ass.
Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.
When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown August 29, 2017, 09:13 AM
SevenPlusOneI'd give $30m to go back a year.
"Ninja kick the damn rabbit" August 29, 2017, 09:25 AM
blueyeI would go back and do a road trip and find Bill Gates
August 29, 2017, 09:44 AM
Scoutmasterquote:
Originally posted by JALLEN:
If it wasn't for mistakes, I would not have done anything!
The one mistake I have always wished to have a Mulligan on was quitting Boy Scouts a couple of Merit Badges short of Eagle. That was before I was 18, though.
Some say, well, what about that first wife? Trouble is, once you start changing things, the future goes careening off in unpredictable directions, just like the first one did. Star Trek proves that.
Another trouble is that some mistakes actually worked out pretty well. You wouldn't want to mess with those, and unless you can look back, how would you know? Practically everything I did was a mistake on some level.
Having the leisure of the last 5 or 6 years to think over all these numberless incidents and episodes and choices of 5 decades, I might not have the time or energy to correct them all, and might end up squandering those resources on committing new mistakes instead. After all, I've had a lifetime of experience at making mistakes.
When I was 18, I imagined myself blessed with unlimited potential, intelligent, honest, responsible, industrious. It's lucky I didn't realize how wrong I was for several decades. Otherwise I would have never tried anything and never gotten anywhere.
The Old Rancher explained that if your hindsight isn't better than your foresight, you've got your head up your ass.
One of the other problems is that for many things in our life (not everything) much of the time we can't say for certain, had we chosen B rather than A xx years ago, our life would be better today. Had I continued in engineering rather than switch to business, had I married K instead of B, would my life have been better or worse over the past 45 years??
If there were such a mathematical/statistical model to predict such, some might find out their choice in this post would put them in a worse situation. Someone's tagline here was something like "two tragedies in life, one is to not get your dreams, one is to get your dreams" (I apologize for lack of memory, I have reached the turning point where I am no longer expected to remember details.
)
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it"
- Judge Learned Hand, May 1944 August 29, 2017, 09:47 AM
Scoutmasterquote:
Originally posted by blueye:
I would go back and do a road trip and find Bill Gates
I have a scientist friend, outdoorsman, who was a customer in a bicycle shop in Palo Alto CA when two kids walked in trying to sell a homemade computer to the owner, to help him better run his business. My friend was interested in the product and technology, the shop owner not so much. The two kids names were Jobs and Wozniak.
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it"
- Judge Learned Hand, May 1944 August 29, 2017, 10:10 AM
ShneaSIG30 Mil. No question!
-ShneaSIG
Oh, by the way, which one's "Pink?" August 29, 2017, 10:18 AM
JALLENquote:
Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
If there were such a mathematical/statistical model to predict such, some might find out their choice in this post would put them in a worse situation. Someone's tagline here was something like "two tragedies in life, one is to not get your dreams, one is to get your dreams" (I apologize for lack of memory, I have reached the turning point where I am no longer expected to remember details.
)
That was George Bernard Shaw. While searching for that one, I found this:
quote:
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." George Bernard Shaw
Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.
When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown August 29, 2017, 10:38 AM
Vero8I've made mistakes, but not 30 million dollars worth, I take the money and put a stripper through nursing school
God bless America...and no one else
August 29, 2017, 10:43 AM
sigspecopsI'm not sure that fixing mistakes would make that much of a difference. I would like the time back though, especially if I could take a list of past winning lottery numbers, sports outcomes and stock performances.
No one's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session.- Mark Twain
August 29, 2017, 10:51 AM
frayedendsCompletely dependent on what knowledge I can take back. If I can't take back knowledge then I'll take the cash now. Then again would I pay 30 mill for an extra 20 years of living? Maybe.
These go to eleven.