A thought experiment

[brin_bellway]

Inspired by a choice game I saw once and perhaps somewhat by torture vs dust specks.

[fairly strong cw: death, aging; FWIW, I would probably advise a version of me who had not already thought of this not to read it]







Say you were granted the power to, once per day, steal one day of lifeforce from a human with which you are in skin-to-skin contact. On each day that you use the power, you do not age, and the target you stole from ages two days.

(You *cannot* store up charges: if you *don't* use your power on a given day, that opportunity is lost.)

Would you use it? To the extent that you consider this a distinct question, *should* you use it?

Follow-up questions in a comment, to give you a chance to think it over first.

Comments

[thedarlingone]

This may say more about my current level of touch deprivation than about the thought experiment itself, but my first thought is "where are you getting access to any targets?" Presuming a handshake or high-five is sufficient, I'd have... three days this year where I could have used this power, all high-fiving various supervisors at work. If I can do it through clothing (but it has to be an intentional touch, not just an accidental bump), that adds two more people and a few more days from shoulder-pats and hugs. So it's not like I could slow my own aging or accelerate anyone else's to any appreciable amount, quite apart from my actual attitude toward the concept (which as you can guess is pretty much "meh, why would I bother?" I never expected to make it past thirty. Which is apparently a PTSD thing, but still. If I live long enough to die of old age I'll be very startled.)

[brin_bellway]

They do not need to intend to touch you: bumping into someone ""by accident"" works, as does, say, a cashier's hand brushing against yours while they're giving you change. For that matter, even *you* don't necessarily have to intend to touch them: while the power will not activate by accident, if an accidental contact lasts long enough for you to have the thought process "hey, this is an opportunity to steal some lifeforce, I'm going to do that", you are free to act on said thought.

(Also, ouch.)