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Would you be buried alive for 48hr for a million dollars? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by TheGiantKorean@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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You are buried in a coffin 6ft deep, with no light or cell phone. There is only a small tube connected to the coffin from outside that allows you to breathe (edit: you can breathe with no difficulty). After 48 hours, you are dug up and given 1 million dollars. Do you do it?

Edit: No food and water, no diaper, and no contact with the outside world. Once buried, they leave for 48hr and come back to dig you up. The coffin is only wide enough for you to lay on your back (no rolling around), and the inside is wood and not particularly comfortable. The only items you're allowed to bring with you are life sustaining medication (e.g. an asthma inhaler). No knocking yourself out with pills or anxiety meds. The money is a briefcase full of cash.

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[-] traches@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Which matters more in this scenario, actual reality or your perception of it?

[-] Serdan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've tripped balls where the concept of time was torn asunder. Wasn't a great time, but time still passed by, and my mind didn't "break" or whatever it is people believe will happen.

You can't actually experience a lifetime in those moments of eternity.

[-] traches@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

There are absolutely experiences that will permanently traumatize a human mind which take less than 10 seconds.

The circumstances described by the OP are worse than you think. Minutes would be fine, hours would progress from misery to torture fairly quickly. Those of us saying it’s not worth it aren’t saying it because we don’t want a million bucks, we just value our sanity and understand how life-ruiningly horrible it would be.

[-] Serdan@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

You're just asserting things without evidence or reason.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/donald-o-hebb-effects-extreme-isolation/

Most people in voluntary isolation (with sensory deprivation too!) will quit after a couple of days. I don't know what $20 a day amounts to in today's money, but it ain't a million.

[-] traches@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Well, in your study they still got to eat, drink, and walk to the bathroom. They had rooms, beds, and tables, and they were fed by humans. They could stop at any time. OP’s scenario has none of that; you’re in an uncomfortable wooden box with no room to move for 48 hours.

I couldn’t find any studies that extreme, and maybe you’re right that it might be tolerable for some, but I’m pretty sure I’d come out of that box broken in a bad way.

[-] Serdan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They were sensory deprived to an extreme extent. It doesn't matter that there are people around if you can't see them, can't hear them, can't feel them. You're severely downplaying the effect of that to make the box seem worse.

In the box, you can stimulate your hearing so you won't get auditory hallucinations. You can also feel things and tap the side of the box, etc. I assume it's dark, so you may get some visual hallucinations. I'm not sure how darkness affects that. It's manageable, though.

Isolation is torture when it's a very long or even indeterminate duration. Two days is a duration that most people can endure, as per the experiment. You know that going in and can prepare yourself mentally.

I've endured severe pain, I've endured panic attacks, and I've endured bad trips without time and a fractured reality. I don't know what kind of life you've led, but my experience tells me that while two days in a box is absolutely going to be a miserable experience, it will quickly be forgotten.

Edit: And with a million bucks, I can pay for a good therapist, which I need regardless.

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this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023

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