Choose your companion.

[Draconio]

Consider this scenario:

You've been captured by aliens who are going to use you as a specimen in their experiment. The experiment will last for 500 years, after which you will immediately die. During this time you will be kept in a comfortable living space, complete with all the items you need to live contentedly. You will remain youthful and healthy by means of the alien's advanced technology. The aliens will not interfere with your lifestyle in any way during the experiment.

There is one catch, you will not be spending this time alone. A single companion will live with you for the duration of the experiment. The aliens have selected three potential companions for you to live with. All are similar in outward appearance, but are inwardly very different. The aliens have decided to allow you to select which companion you like best. The companion you choose will be the only living thing you will come in contact with for the rest of your life. These are your choices:

A is a vastly intelligent and learned being. It can teach you many things, and hold interesting conversation with you whenever you wish. However, it is etherial, therefore incapable of physical and sexual contact, and also emotionless, incapable of holding any warm feelings towards you.

B is being that craves only for physical pleasure. It can have sex with you whenever you ask of it, and do so with plenty of vigor and stamina. However, it cares nothing for intellectual discussion, and is extremely self-centered. It will treat you decently enough when it is satisfied, but may become hostile if its desires are not met.

C is a warm, loving, and innocent being. It will always look up to you and regard you with the greatest of adoration. However, it is very clumsy and childish. It can only understand simple, basic concepts, and will often make mistakes without realizing it has done anything wrong. It also has no sexual functions whatsoever.

The aliens are waiting for you to make your choice. Who will be your sole companion for the last 500 years of your life?

[Scabbed Angel]

Hey just because A and C aren't inclined sexually, doesn't mean you can't have sex with it! I vote A or C! Besides, if they all look the same, there might be a chance you won't want to have sex with it!

[Arioch]

I'll go with A.

I figure I'll do without love or sex as long as my remaining uh extended life is somewhat intellectually stimulating.

That, after all, will be far more use to me in preventing boredom over the time span of half a millennia.

[AndrewB]

(Without reading any responses...)

A. Intellectual stimulation and idea-sharing is the food of the soul.

[Doom Fanatic]

Choose A

[Fletcher`]

Probably A but C is like a little puppy.

[Hobo]

Who needs sex, there's always wanking. I went with A.

[Sharessa]

C i suppose.

[Job]

Arioch said:

I'll go with A.

I figure I'll do without love or sex as long as my remaining uh extended life is somewhat intellectually stimulating.

That, after all, will be far more use to me in preventing boredom over the time span of half a millennia.

What he said.

[Amaster]

At first it was a tie between A and C, but then I realized that C would really piss me off. So A.

[zark]

Yeah I'd choose A too, but ideally there'd be elements of all three.

[Scuba Steve]

Oh my god! 'C' ! I would finally have the exact perfect soulmate who's just like me!

[Arno]

I voted B, because A is emotionless (like a robot) and C would get annoying pretty fast.

[nxn]

Whichever one of them comes with a gun.

EDIT: Actually if C has a mouth I'd go with that.

[nxn]

zarkyb said:

Yeah I'd choose A too, but ideally there'd be elements of all three.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/avatar.php?userid=335&dateline=1064530128

Yeah right.

[Isle]

I want c but with sex

[m0l0t0v]

A; can help me escape

[Mr. T]

Hey, that's pretty clever. I would say C or A (if sh/e could help me escape) though...

I can have sex with my hand!

[Darkstalker]

A>C>B

[Illdo]

A, because I don't need sex.
And I like wisdom.

[Sharessa]

So which one of these is Adolf Hitler?

:P

[Arioch]

The irony is that it's option A.

[Cyb]

mmm B

[Fredrik]

B sounds interesting, but it could be a trap and Afterglow's mom. Sort of like the Rancor pit in ROTJ, but with a sexual Rancor.

[Shaviro]

Neither of these 3 types are suited to be your partner for 500 years, but I guess A would be the best choice.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

If A is ethereal, it could walk through walls and stuff, and give you info on the ship, escape routes etc. It's also probably the best in the long term, whereas the others are more of a short term thing. So A it is.

[Tyockell]

I dunno, B would be fun but if your tired and it gets cranky I'd get pretty pissed so Im thinking I'd go with C.

[Reisal]

Something between B and C

[dsm]

A is a vastly intelligent and learned being. It can teach you many things, and hold interesting conversation with you whenever you wish. However, it is etherial, therefore incapable of physical and sexual contact, and also emotionless, incapable of holding any warm feelings towards you.

If it doesn't hold any warm feelings for you, why would it even help you escape?
Or consider this: If it's an alien construct, wouldn't it be allied with the aliens and therefore not interested in letting you escape?

My vote? Neither, A comes close, but if it's incapable of showing any warm feelings towards me, what's the point really? Conversations would be boring as Hell with not even a cordial relationship.

I'd prefer solitude everyday over any of those three.

[Ultraviolet]

A offers a great deal of opportunityand fulfillment for intellectuals. There was no stipulation stating how much it could or could not teach you, therefore it can help you to escape by teaching you to do it yourself. Of course, it won't give it to you flat like that, but you can pull the knowledge you acquire over those 5 centuries together and find your own way out. Even if one is not an intellectual person, if one is a patient person then A can help one get back home to find a more suitable companion. (The post did say that the subject dies at the end of the 500 year experiment, however, if A can teach the subject everything, then the subject can learn to find a way out of the death sentence and possibly into immortality.)

B offers conflict, challenge. It is truly a seperate individual entity like yourself, is self-interested, and therefore it is the only truly valuable human company. If escape is something one doesn't have any hope of, then this would be a realistic companion capable of supplying much of the necessary social interactivity (minus the intellectual discussion, obviously, but for one to have chosen this companion even without regarding the lack of intellectual capacity, one probably values sex and socialization exclusively) as well as sex.

C offers you the chance to be an elder-figure and supporter. If you are an emotionally giving person, this would be the companion one should choose, assuming one wouldn't want to go with A for the chance to escape and return home to choose from a broader assortment of companions.



For me it would have to be A. I've never claimed to be an intellectual, but I do have the patience and capacity for it. It could teach me things I've been working on anyway, like absolute control over my own body (not that I'm making much progress) and so on. A also provides the opportunity to return home and find companionship that is not exclusive to the above three types, perhaps a mixture of all three in one companion, a more rounded and fulfilling partner capable of being a lover, intellectual partner, friend, and someone to care for in general.

Depending on the goal of their experiment, though, I might be willing to die. Perhaps the choice itself is the data they hope to collect and the companion and extended lifespan is a reward? I would hope that if this ever happened consent would be requested first.