If you were offered one hundred million dollars in exchange for one year of your life, would you accept?
The only reason I can think of not to do this would be if (unbeknownst to me) I was already in my final year of life — i.e., taking the money would mean I would die now, or within the next few days, rather than 365 or 368 days from now.But, even in such an extreme case, I would almost certainly accept this deal. There are two reasons:If I have only twenty years (now nineteen) or ten years (now nine) left to live, those years will be wonderful and luxurious — though money cannot buy happiness per se, it can certainly free up possibilities and dispel mundane worries. I could live on a cruise ship, or on a never-docking private yacht, for Chrissake. Even if I end up childless and divorced, with 60.4% of my money gone, I’m still in very good shape to go hobnob with the best and brightest, acquire concubines, whatever. Not to mention my medical care during this time will be top-notch.If I don’t have any remaining time to live, or, conversely, if I am somehow unable to enjoy this money during my lifetime (unable to access it, incapacitated by stroke, etc.), I think I would still take this deal. We can see our future generations (our children/grandchildren) as “the spiritual successors of ourselves,” or, more scientifically, as “the sole continuation of our semi-immortal DNA.” Either way, I want for my line to have the best possible future, and to accrue the best possible advantages. Tens of millions of dollars is an excellent path to same.Now, I guess the next Quora questions of interest are: Would you exchange ten years of your remaining life for $100M? Would you exchange twenty years of your remaining life for $100M? Would you exchange one year of your life for $10M? Would you exchange one year of your life for $1M? For $100K? For $50K? And so on. The responses to those questions might actually yield decent data concerning perceived-value, the back-bending labor supply curve, etc.