What would the African you do?

[Aimless]

Bear in mind that you'd be a tiny malnourished kid, not some super-beefy super-connected warrior.

[GGT]

You are you, with all your experiences and memories and knowledge etc, although I don't know how long you'll retain your present identity under these circumstances, or stave off brain damage.

Bear in mind that you'd be a tiny malnourished kid, not some super-beefy super-connected warrior.

We'd be tiny malnourished kids in Africa, but still have all our first world nation experiences and memories and knowledge? That's not quite what you laid out in the OP. What are you asking of us, anyway?

[Aimless]

We'd be tiny malnourished kids in Africa, but still have all our first world nation experiences and memories and knowledge? That's not quite what you laid out in the OP. What are you asking of us, anyway?

I'm asking you to read the OP

If you found yourself suddenly living the life of the most miserable child in the most miserable "household" of the most messed up country in, I dunno, the worst part of Africa...

... would you prefer to die?

Honestly, this isn't much of a trick question or anything. You can replace the conditions with any other supremely miserable collection. The essence of the question is basically: would you, personally, prefer death to a hopelessly miserable life of the sort led by very many on this planet.

[GGT]

I'm asking you to read the OP

I did read it, and you asked us to suddenly be children, living in a hellhole! You didn't say we could magically take our adult knowledge and experience with us, to analyze this hypothetical childhood hell.

Honestly, this isn't much of a trick question or anything. You can replace the conditions with any other supremely miserable collection. The essence of the question is basically: would you, personally, prefer death to a hopelessly miserable life of the sort led by very many on this planet.

Again, you're asking us to make decisions based on what we know, when people living in those situations don't necessarily know much beyond their own misery. Our own life experiences cancel out the hypothetical.

[Illusions]

The essence of the question is basically: would you, personally, prefer death to a hopelessly miserable life of the sort led by very many on this planet.

Why then does the hypothetical require suddenly becoming the worst off child in all of Africa, when there are plenty of people living in First World countries who commit suicide, thus demonstrating that you don't have to live in squalid African conditions in order to consider death an answer to what is perceived to be a horrible life?

Besides that, your hypothetical, if taken seriously, leaves too many loose ends. If I've suddenly found myself as an African child, with all my memories and experiences intact, that means that a) Something is horrifically wrong with reality and I have bigger things to worry about than being an African child b) There are now either two people who believe themselves to be me, or somewhere in the USA, someone is filing a missing person's report, and all I have to do to end my situation is make a long distance phone call, and make up some story as to how I've ended up in Africa. c) I'm not really me, but an African child with some type of mental illness causing them to believe they are someone else.

[CitizenCain]

Bear in mind that you'd be a tiny malnourished kid, not some super-beefy super-connected warrior.

Which would miraculously render my skills, knowledge and trigger finger obsolete? (Not to mention my disposition - those who have made my life not worth holding onto don't get to outlive me.) I thought you said I'd get to keep those.

So the scenario is really: If we believe we live an undeniably hopeless and miserable life, would we contemplate suicide?

Right, no kidding. And nothing wrong with suicide, but at least be a fucking man about it and remove a bunch of your enemies from the world with you... or at least, the nearest government agent, in the event you're too depressed to have enemies. You know, leaving the world a better place than you found it and all that.