So, here's the hypothetical situation: A random planet-sized rock floating around in interstellar space has had the bad luck to be on a direct collision course with Earth. It is about 2.5 times the size of Earth, and has a 100% chance of having a direct hit at extremely high speed.
It was detected 17 days before impact time, and made public today, 8 days before impact.
All the functional spacecraft on Earth have already departed, trying to get out of range, where they'll try to cooperate to get to another planet or moon and set up a colony. That, however, is a fate that only a very select few have, and even for them, chances of survival are tiny.
(For the sake of discussion, we'll assume the world doesn't break out into chaos and riots all over.)
So, now that you've got the news, how do you spend the last 8 days of your life? What about the last day? The last hour?
Personally, I'd be with horses the entire time, maybe being distracted from them only at the end to watch the tiny bit of the collision I'll be able to see before being wiped out.
The second before it hits I'll jump off a plane 70,000 ft from the ground and enjoy the view of deessstrruuucctioooonn. (I'll wear a parachute just in case)
I'll make a B-Line for the ocean doing a "live-on'board" trip around the Red Sea. Make sure I get some diving in, we could stop at some of the beaches from time to time. I love the water. Can even be arranged to be diving at the time when the last minutes are ticking.
Alternatively I would go for the highest peak in one of my favourite mountains. So that I can see for miles and miles around me. I love the exhilaration that goes with that feeling of being at the "top" of the mountain, in the middle of nature and having a "big view" of the world.
Assuming I don't get to be in the select few who escape, I will try to live my last days to the fullest. Hm...try wacky things which your parents saw you are not supposed to do as a child. If they ask..you have an excuse right? "I am going to be killed in 8 days!" 
hm, isn't there a Johnny cash song; 5 mins to live... And the story is that he took his gun!
For my behalf: sex... after 7 days it will prob fall off and I also pick up the gun 
| spinout wrote: |
| and I also pick up the gun |
Why commit suicide if you're going to die in a day? Why not wait a day, and at least see the fireworks of the impact?
(On that thought, I wonder how many stupid people would be out there taking pictures or video of the impact? Pictures and video that will never be seen by anybody.) | Quote: |
| On that thought, I wonder how many stupid people would be out there taking pictures or video of the impact? |
Honestly, I could easily imagine plenty of people out in the middle of their yards doing just that.
____
I would simply spend the last few minutes I could with my family, maybe tell the person I like that I like them and perhaps get lucky by the end; more or less, I'd try to just live my life to the fullest. I don't care about any amazing action like sky diving at the last minute, scuba-diving, whatever. I would just want to enjoy the last bit I had.Well, I'd start by calling up or visiting every person I ever cared about and letting them know just how much they meant to me. Then I'd call up ever person I've ever hated or had a beef with and let them know exactly what I think of them. Then, I'd go see all the places I've always wanted to see: The Pyramids, Stonehenge, London, Paris for the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Rome, Venice, Pisa, Athens, ride the Orient Express, Haigia Sophia, Casablanca, a souk in Marakesh, Timbuktu, then off to Hong Kong, the Great Wall of China, then Machu Pichu, the Nazaca Lines, the Temple of the Sun. The world's fastest tour of the highlights.
Every meal would be rich delicious food, calories be damned.
Then the dangerous stuff, in order from least to most dangerous - skydiving, bungee jumping, progressing through cocaine and heroin, just to see what they are like.
Then, on the last day I would gather with my loved ones to watch the fireworks.
Last edited by Jinx on Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:16 am; edited 1 time in total
Overseas travel would be out of the question,unless you have your own plane,as its unlikely that pilots,or anyone for that matter will carry on working.
I assume we could communicate with the spaceships that had left. Assuming, as the OP does, that chaos does not overtake the world and we still have freedom to choose our action, I would want to __send__ some of those pictures to the spaceships, in the hope of preserving the knowledge of how the event unfolded. I would also plan to spend lots of time with family saying goodbye, and lots of time alone to think, probably visiting new and somewhat exotic places.
I would not want to do extremely dangerous stuff or go to extremes though. I would prefer to face the end calmly. In reality I might go a little crazy and do lots of ridiculous things. But I also doubt that the world as a whole could or would remain sane enough for me or anyone to act in a calm manner.
| truespeed wrote: |
| Overseas travel would be out of the question,unless you have your own plane,as its unlikely that pilots,or anyone for that matter will carry on working. |
OK, good point. Travel will be almost impossible. Probably lots of traffic jams as well, and absence of services. Guess one would have to "leg" it to wherever you feel would be the nicest to be. I would drive to the closest port to sea where there is a boat for hire. Take my scuba gear with. Or if I'm too far from a port, drive to the closest mountain range and start climbing a mountain. | truespeed wrote: |
| Overseas travel would be out of the question,unless you have your own plane,as its unlikely that pilots,or anyone for that matter will carry on working. |
Many pilots would probably commandeer their assigned planes and fly wherever they pleased, and to heck with the consequences.
Can you imagine an air force F-16 landing at a strip in Jamaica, because a pilot decided he wanted to spend his last days there? | ocalhoun wrote: |
| truespeed wrote: | | Overseas travel would be out of the question,unless you have your own plane,as its unlikely that pilots,or anyone for that matter will carry on working. |
Many pilots would probably commandeer their assigned planes and fly wherever they pleased, and to heck with the consequences. |
All the reason for not flying, imagine all the air crashes when they are flying in every direction the care to choose? One flight that would be interesting though would be the Challenger. | ocalhoun wrote: |
| spinout wrote: | | and I also pick up the gun |
Why commit suicide if you're going to die in a day? Why not wait a day, and at least see the fireworks of the impact?
(On that thought, I wonder how many stupid people would be out there taking pictures or video of the impact? Pictures and video that will never be seen by anybody.) |
The story was not about shooting yourself! 
Shooting mean people... Is it a satisfaction??? Well at the last day, if it isn't a satisfaction well it didn't hurt anybody!This is a very difficult one for me, and I put a lot of thought into it.
I want to answer, but I don't know how. Let me try to explain.
In this scenario, there is space travel. Meaning the human race, at least to an extent, will survive the impact. Taking away that option from the rest of us, leaves us with the only option of 'waiting for death'. Different people will fill the time in different ways, but I can't get my head around the fact that space ships were built, and left the earth without me. Not that I am all that important to those aboard, mind you. Just that I don't believe in giving up, which is ultimately the only course of action left after 8 days. I have never given up on anything, and I honestly don't know how. It's a total mystery to me. I see people give up in the back of my ambulance from time to time, and it confuses me, I just don't get it.
So I can't say how I would spend the 8 days after the ships leave, if no other survival option is available. But I can say exactly how I would spend the 8 days before they left: Finding a way to slip onto a ship, hijack it, and gather as many people on board as possible.
If this scenario doesn't allow for that, then I really have no idea what to say, except that I would still spend the final 8 days trying to find a way off earth. Resigning to death when there might be a chance of survival, no matter how small or seemingly impossible, is not in my nature, and I don't have it in me to compromise that.
Easy. I would pull all of my money out of savings (assuming the banks are still in tact) and then jump on an airplane (if I still can - although that probably wouldn't work because all the pilots would be spending their last days having fun rather than working) and accomplish one of my life goals of visiting every single continent. I would really like to see every continent in detail (although this would be an accelerated trip... way more accelerated than I'd like. I'd like to spend 8 years seeing the world - not 8 days). However, this probably wouldn't work because why would pilots want to work any more than I'd want to work? So in reality, I would probably try all the drugs that I've never tried (I've never used any drug except alcohol - which I must admit I have used in excess during my life). I've never used any other drugs but I've always been interested in LCD and acid... I've always despised drugs (except alcohol, of course) but I only have eight days left anyways...
Oh, and I guess STD's do not matter since I only have 8 days left... So I might go that route also...
| Ophois wrote: |
I would spend the 8 days before they left: Finding a way to slip onto a ship, hijack it, and gather as many people on board as possible.
|
^.^ That's why the various governments didn't announce the impending doom until after the ships had taken off.
Even worse than stowaways and hijackers, what about the people with the mentality of 'If I can't leave, nobody can!'The problem i have with answering this question is that i can't imagine it without the chaos,otherwise the question may as well be,you only have 8 days to live as you have been diagnosed with an incurable disease,what do you do in those 8 days,
So we have 8 days,the government will have those who will sacrifice their last days to try to keep some kind of order,and perhaps some civil servants (Police,army ect ) will also do the same,but there won't be enough of them to stop any widespread chaos.
There will be no power,with nobody to run the power stations,everyone will fill up at the petrol stations as soon as it is announced,so the pumps will be dry very quickly,so those who didn't fill up will have no way of travelling.
So most people i imagine, will spend their last days,at home with their families,with no power,living off stolen crisps from the supermarket.
Wonder whether there would be family suicides during a crisis like that? People deciding that that is the best way of ensuring they will always be together, and to leave earth on their terms?
What about having a cooking party all days and not have to worry about G I and owerweight!!! 8 days left to live? I would try anything. Especially the ones I'm afraid to try, like bungee jumping or parachuting or anything dangerous but thrilling. I'm about to die anyway. I'd eat all my favorite food and be with my family and friends. and maybe go on a travel for 8 days. I've always wanted to travel without any place specific in mind. just go where the road takes me. it's exciting.
