You have just been told by a source you trust implicitly that a meteor is going to take out life on earth; there is nothing that can be done to stop it, and they have no intention of alerting the public. You have four days until impact/game over. What would you do with your time?
The logical thing for one to do in such a situation would surely be to spend time with loved ones. That, or pull out the bucket list and see how much you can get ticked off before time runs out. Maybe it would be wiser still to confess. To get all of those things off your chest so that you might transition into the after life with no baggage to weigh you down. I suppose the very best thing to do would be an amalgamation of all three. For example; find your loved ones, tell them everything you have ever held back, and then help each other accomplish your final feats together.
That would surely be a wise way for one to spend their last days on Earth. But it would certainly not be what I would do with mine. It matters not how much trust I have for the one who broke the news to me. It matters less that I know there's nothing that can be done about it. Because I know something far more important than both of those things. I know that knowledge is power.
If you would like to convince me that a meteor will destroy all life on this planet in four days, then go ahead. But before you do, be aware that I will spend the following hour convincing myself that you are wrong. It is not within my nature to accept the worst, and so I simply would not.
The choice is mine whether I want to believe it, and I can see no good reason why I should. Better, I would say, that I made it my mission to spend the next four days alerting the public.
But, don't be mistaken. I would not alert them to the meteor. Should every one of them know about the meteor, then it will most definitely come to visit- because knowledge is power. But, should I throw the entirety of my will behind informing the public of the coming of the Messiah, the arrival of Planet X, or even a deadly terror attack that will kill a hundred people; as long as whatever I inform them of is happening five days from now- and as long as I'm able to convince them, then that meteor won't be able to make it here- because knowledge is power.
The will of man is the most powerful thing in this world we share. If you don't believe me, just look out your window. We have made this world ours, and though we may not have made it the way we would have liked, they, who are also human (as much as they might try to make you believe they're something more), have certainly made it how they wanted it. Either way, it is man who has been blessed with the power to pave the way forward. It is through human will power that this world progresses or regresses, so allow me to ask you one thing.
If a few hundred, or a few thousand people, know that the Earth will be struck by a meteor in a few days; and if a few billion others, knew that a meteor was going to fly right by the Earth, but avoid a collision due to its magnetic field; which do you think would occur?
Once, I would have believed that that there's not enough information in the above question. I would have believed that whatever was going to happen, would happen regardless of what people know. But now - somewhat ironically - I don't know.
But I do know that the moment you accept defeat, you have lost. Which is why I never would- and neither should you.
I'd like to say a quick thank you to @dreemit for this contest. I now have an entirely different understanding of the phrase "knowledge is power," and see it as one of the most plainly stated secrets of the universe. One that we may have been overcomplicating for far too long.
The never-ending post