Entering stasis for a decade

[dallas27]

Imagine a world, where we have the science to put you to sleep for 10 years. It's safe at ten years or less, you don't age, no side effects, and relative cheap, let's say 20k a head.

Would you, at any point in your life, sleep a decade to boost investments? You can bring your spouse and anyone else who agrees.

Discuss.


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[Big_Hitter]

Who is going to do your tax returns, your j$b, maintain your house, take care of your kids/parents? Also, it would probably ruin your golf game.

 

[FUEGO]

If I was a loner I might be tempted.

As is, I'd say no. I would miss the rest of my oldest 2 kids childhood and my youngest would be 13 when I woke up. Unless DW joined me, she'd probably move on by year 10 .

But waking up and buying an xbox 4 or a playstation 7 would be pretty cool. I wouldn't look forward to learning windows 16 though.

 

[dallas27]

Who is going to do your tax returns, your j$b, maintain your house, take care of your kids/parents? Also, it would probably ruin your golf game.

Willing suspension of disbelief is very important in thought exercises.


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[highlow65]

if I was unattached I would as I love to see how things turn out, would probably do it a few times over the years because if you can do it once the technology to do it again would only get better

 

[marko]

Interesting question!

One could wake to find that they'd have been better off living those 10 years.

You could wake into a world where taxes have doubled on the very rich (which you'd now be) and your gains would be moot.

A lot can happen/go wrong in an ever accelerating changing world. Social, economic, cultural changes are moving faster and faster....10 years could bring 20 years of changes.

Might not be a world you want to live in unless you had 10 years to ease into it.

 

[CRLLS]

With my luck, the company I contracted with to do this went bankrupt and the power was turned off, never to awaken again. Or maybe, while I was asleep, there was a conversion to a single, worldwide currency and I missed the exchange grace period.


Nope, I'm happy living in the here and now.

 

[Lcountz]

All your friends would be 10 years older and on to other things, and they would be changed...

What if you had done this in 2006 and woke up this year?....Just think of all the things you'd have to catch up on .....I agree today in 10 years there seem to be 20+ years of improvements, if not more.

Of course, I'm ten years behind the times now as it is, so it'd probably work for me!

 

[W2R]

No thank you! I'm not optimistic enough to really believe that the world is becoming a kinder, gentler, more enjoyable place to live in as time passes.

I hope I'm wrong! But no, I wouldn't want to skip ahead 10 years like that.

 

[ERD50]

Willing suspension of disbelief is very important in thought exercises.

Yes, but for me (and many others, from what I've read/discussed), the key is a single 'suspension of disbelief' (in this case, the fact that you could be suspended for 10 years for $20K and not age, and no side effects ) - and then you have fun with the thought experiment, thinking about the consequences.

IIRC, that concept was covered in this book, which I really enjoyed:

Amazon.com: The Physics of Superheroes (9781592402427): James Kakalios: Books



So I think people made some good observations - DW would have aged 10 years more than me unless she went along. Your kids would have grown and you'd miss something that can't be redone. And when I think back to everything that changed since 2005/6 - I had not done anything with Linux, or Android, or an iPad at that time, and the first iPad was released in just 2010. I think it would be hard to catch up.

Which is why it's somewhat important to keep up with tech, it's easy to get left behind.

Plus all the on-going maintenance of anything you owned, taxes on the portfolio, law changes that require attention, - you'd pretty much need to be completly unattached. And then, there's no guarantee the market would rise after inflation.

But it can still be fun to ponder.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

Interesting question!

One could wake to find that they'd have been better off living those 10 years.

You could wake into a world where taxes have doubled on the very rich (which you'd now be) and your gains would be moot.

A lot can happen/go wrong in an ever accelerating changing world. Social, economic, cultural changes are moving faster and faster....10 years could bring 20 years of changes.

Might not be a world you want to live in unless you had 10 years to ease into it.

With my luck, the company I contracted with to do this went bankrupt and the power was turned off, never to awaken again. Or maybe, while I was asleep, there was a conversion to a single, worldwide currency and I missed the exchange grace period.

Nope, I'm happy living in the here and now.

Being of a similar pessimistic nature, I thought of the similar perils as above.

And let us not forget the chance of ReWahoo's asteroid hitting in the next 10 years, then you miss out on the remaining years of life. Oh well, at least you will be spared the period of panic and desperation, before the terrible death comes.

 

[hnzw_rui]

Futurama, Fry was cryogenically frozen for 1000 years. On the upside, the 93 cents in his bank account grew to 4.3 billion due to the power of compound interest.

Realistically, it probably would've just gone to the state's unclaimed property program.

On a shorter time frame, there's Captain America in Avengers.

Personally wouldn't want to. Sleeping for 10 years isn't living.

 

[aja8888]

Imagine having 10 years of bad dreams.

 

[donheff]

Doesn't appeal to me at all but if you could stretch it out longer we could try interstellar travel.

 

[Bestwifeever]

That would be Idiocracy.

 

[marko]

This reminds me of an old Twilight Zone (?) episode where a guy embezzles a modest amount of money from his company, instantly admits guilt and is sentenced to 20 years. He got 20 because he wouldn't disclose where the money was or give it back.

The show ends 20 years later with him sitting in a first class cabin on a cruise ship sipping a drink. His last line is "Do you know what $100,000 compounded over 20 years turns into?" (well, back then it was a lot of money)

 

[Nemo2]

This reminds me of an old Twilight Zone (?) episode where a guy embezzles a modest amount of money from his company, instantly admits guilt and is sentenced to 20 years. He got 20 because he wouldn't disclose where the money was or give it back.

The show ends 20 years later with him sitting in a first class cabin on a cruise ship sipping a drink. His last line is "Do you know what $100,000 compounded over 20 years turns into?" (well, back then it was a lot of money)

I seem to recall a similar show where the guy phones his bank and is told his account balance is in the high millions...then the phone operator interjects and tells him to deposit (something like) $10,000 for the next three minutes.

 

[Lucantes]

That would be Idiocracy.

+1
I actually just watched this again last week!

Just what I was thinking also, of course the timeframe is a bit longer but at the rate it feels we are going maybe it will only take 10 years!

 

[Bestwifeever]

+1
I actually just watched this again last week!

Just what I was thinking also, of course the timeframe is a bit longer but at the rate it feels we are going maybe it will only take 10 years!

And the guy in Idiocracy was supposed to be out for only one year!

 

[MichaelB]

Discuss.

Were you ever a high school teacher?

 

[Theseus]

I could imagine it being the sort of thing that might attract those who failed at the ordinary get-rich quick with no effort schemes that are apparently all too commonly believed in, like lottery tickets. Your wealth awaits you, for only $5.47 a day; arrive to your future with the ability to live out your dreams! Interesting construct it is though, as by being inexpensive it makes it available to those with less wealth, and displaces them away from day to day life – what changes might that mean for the non-sleeping folks? What impact might it have on society, economy, or job market?

For me the answer is no, as I’ve always felt the journey was just as, if not more enjoyable than the destination.

 

[bingybear]

I look at my MIL... completely lost with the technology and she has not been in stasis.
So 10 years of change and you come back possibly ill prepared to function in this world. You haven't exercised in a decade... so now you need to go through PT to get your body working again. Your friends that did not go into stasis are now a decade older....

And with my luck.. instead of having my investments go up... I would be entering at an 1989 like market that still is less than half the value of the 1989 value. So your retirement saving could have contracted significantly.

So many things can go wrong.

Don't get me wrong. Part of me would like to work on the technology down the road. We do live in interesting times.

I think I'd pass... this time around

 

[Ronstar]

I wouldn't do it. No way my car would start after sitting for 10 years. Lawn would be unmanageable. My gizmos would be outdated. None of the food in the house would be good. My beer stash would go flat.


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[athena53]

And with my luck.. instead of having my investments go up... I would be entering at an 1989 like market that still is less than half the value of the 1989 value. So your retirement saving could have contracted significantly.

Yeah, I'm a control freak. I don't trade frequently but I try to weed out the losers regularly. I could picture myself waking up with the 2025 equivalents of AIG, Kresge's, WT Grant and Enron.

 

[Theseus]

Yeah, I'm a control freak. I don't trade frequently but I try to weed out the losers regularly. I could picture myself waking up with the 2025 equivalents of AIG, Kresge's, WT Grant and Enron.

Or worse yet, it is now way too late to claim that winning lottery ticket that is among your personal belongings.