Discussion: Would You Want to Know Your Future?

Please complete the following as preparation for this discussion.

Materials

• Read The Week’s article, “No, You Don’t Want to Know Your Future“
• Listen to the abridged Freakonomics podcast, “Do You Really Want to Know Your Future?” (transcript here).
• Vocabulary Flash Cards (write down additional words/phrases you were unfamiliar with)

Questions

Answer the following questions, and bring your answers typed and printed to class. You can use these questions and any other notes you bring during the discussion.

1. Do you believe in fate/destiny? Why or why not? Does your culture generally believe in fate/destiny? Why or why not?
2. Would you want to know your future, even if you could not change anything about it?
3. If you could know one thing about your future, what would you choose?
4. After reading this article and listening to the podcast, do you think you prefer to have a “blissful ignorance” about your future?
5. Do you think it’s better to know in advance about our health problems, or even our own death? Why or why not?

Structure

We will follow a “Round Robin” discussion format. Each person will share his/her ideas, and then the person on the right will respond and then add his/her ideas.