The end of the USSR was sort-of this situation in reverse, with government employees continuing to do their jobs for years after there was anyone to pay them and eventually stopping when they were no longer in a position to continue.
I’m guessing there would be a sharp uptick in suicide. At least, my initial reaction to the prompt was, “Well, if I knew with complete, 100% certainty that my life (and everyone else’s life) would end in 5 years, why wouldn’t I just go ahead and get it over with?”
The reason I have goals is to make a lasting impact on the world. To change my corner of the world (for the better, hopefully). If the world is going to end in 5 years, then nothing I do matters. Any impact I make, either on the world or on other people, will be erased in 5 years time. So what’s the point? Why do anything at all? Why not just get it over with rather than dragging it out?
Do you find your life actively unpleasant? For me, being alive seems like it’s generally net positive rather than negative utility, so merely knowing that it would end soon wouldn’t be a reason to end it sooner.
Interesting prompt, but I worry my models here aren’t good enough to predict other people well in this regard.
There are potential sorta-analogous situations we might be able to look at, though:
How people act when their neighboring countries get into war (and it seemed like they would eventually get embroiled).
How people react to incoming natural disasters in their area.
How people with terminal illnesses live after diagnosis.
The end of the USSR was sort-of this situation in reverse, with government employees continuing to do their jobs for years after there was anyone to pay them and eventually stopping when they were no longer in a position to continue.
I’m guessing there would be a sharp uptick in suicide. At least, my initial reaction to the prompt was, “Well, if I knew with complete, 100% certainty that my life (and everyone else’s life) would end in 5 years, why wouldn’t I just go ahead and get it over with?”
The reason I have goals is to make a lasting impact on the world. To change my corner of the world (for the better, hopefully). If the world is going to end in 5 years, then nothing I do matters. Any impact I make, either on the world or on other people, will be erased in 5 years time. So what’s the point? Why do anything at all? Why not just get it over with rather than dragging it out?
Do you find your life actively unpleasant? For me, being alive seems like it’s generally net positive rather than negative utility, so merely knowing that it would end soon wouldn’t be a reason to end it sooner.
Do the same feelings get evoked when you think about the heat death of the universe? (I am actively curious)