Hypothetical: You win a trip into space, or ...

[seclark]

I wanna trade for the chocolate milk.
sec

[Third Eye]

ISS, without a second thought. $150k is nice, but it's not really that much. Somebody said increase it by a factor of 100 and they'd take the money. Well, I wouldn't need that much to change my mind, maybe a factor of 10.

[Canofbier]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

ISS, without a second thought. $150k is nice, but it's not really that much. Somebody said increase it by a factor of 100 and they'd take the money. Well, I wouldn't need that much to change my mind, maybe a factor of 10.

Almost exactly what I was going to say. $150k isn't enough to change my life very much. Being one of a very select group of individuals who can have the experience of living/being in Space: nearly priceless.

If they're offering $1.5 million, I'd consider the cash.
If they're offering $10 or $15 million, I'd take the cash for sure.

[hometeam]

I love space. I would love to goto space.


But compare that to paying off my house and providing a better life for my family?

The value in time/usefulness on a space trip is not good.

[Katipan]

Originally Posted by hometeam

I love space. I would love to goto space.


But compare that to paying off my house and providing a better life for my family?

The value in time/usefulness on a space trip is not good.

No way the contest/trip couldn't be turned into a book that made way more than 150K.

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by Katipan

No way the contest/trip couldn't be turned into a book that made way more than 150K.

Not by me it couldnt

[alnorth]

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by alnorth

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

Who said that they were going to turn around and pay off their mortgage? You could in turn take that $150k and go to a bunch of different places that you've always wanted to see.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by alnorth

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

I don't think it's a beaten down thing, for me. It just doesn't appeal to me that much. I'd rather use the $150,000 to travel around on Earth. I'd rather go to Italy, Japan, Paris, and London than be able to look down on Earth for a few days.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by alnorth

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

That kind of cash would be huge career move for me.

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by alnorth

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

never said my 'dream' is to pay off my mortgage. But, on a practical level, sure going to space is ****in awesome. But, would I trade one week of that for a lifetime of financial stability? meh. Ill buy a trip in 2050 when its 200 bucks.

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by alnorth

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

All of this. $150,000 is not even close to a substitute for have spent time in space. Some of you guys need to talk to your inner child or something. The only drawback to the space trip would be what an insufferable blowhard I would be for the rest of my life because I'VE BEEN TO ****ING SPACE.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by alnorth

man, look at all those beaten-down domesticated people. $150,000 isn't much money. Paying off your mortgage? That is your dream?

Bizarre difference in philosophy, I guess. To me, the meaning of life is the accumulation of fantastic experiences which often but not always comes from vacations. These experiences don't end when you are done or get back home, they live on in your memory.

I don't get up every day and go to work to pay off my house, I do it so that I can hopefully save enough money someday to stop working, and then its party time.

The only reason why I'd probably take the money if it was $15MM is because even though the intangible value of the ISS voyage would be incredibly high, I can probably make up for it with that fat wad of cash because I could quit immediately and do stuff for an additional few decades more than planned.

I picked $150,000 as an amount primarily because that's a level where I would be on the fence. I'll admit that flying into space would scare the living pancreas out of me, so there's a value in avoiding petrifying fear and $150,000 might be enough for an excuse.

The other reason is that $150,000 can buy you a lot of good experiences down on terra firma. Would I go into space for a week, or would I do an epic trip around the world for a year?

The epic earth trip is really tempting, but in the end I envisioned myself sitting in the South Pacific in front of some overwater hut, and I would look up and see the Milky Way and think, "Man, I could've been up there." No matter where I went or how I spend the money, I would always look up on a clear night and say, "I could've been up there." In the end, I would do the space trip for that reason. It's hard to turn down a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that less than 500 human beings have done in the history of mankind.

Plus, what's more impressive at a party? "I spent a year traveling the world", or "Yeah, I was in freakin' outer space".

[Katipan]

Originally Posted by hometeam

Not by me it couldnt

It could be a book about nothing and it would sell. Document your bowel movements and it would be made into a coffee table book.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Katipan

No way the contest/trip couldn't be turned into a book that made way more than 150K.

People have been in space before, so not sure how much of a story it would be. Now, do something crazy up there, I'm sure you can think of something, and then maybe you'll have a story to sell.