I agree with you: a “new me” with the same talents and preferences wouldn’t be me, any more than an identical twin would be. I am my memories, my experiences, and my choices, and, to a lesser extent, my habits and patterns of thought. With none of those, it wouldn’t really be me.
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For me, the key attraction to the whole hypothetical endeavor is the awareness that This Is A Second Trip Through The Funhouse, and that hinges upon keeping my memories of the first time through. Otherwise, yeah, i might as well just be some rando who was born after I died or something.
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one day in the past. because tomorrow i could be dead, who knows. why jump forward into that, when i could have one more day by going one day backwards?
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Mind if I check a few race results first?
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The past couple of days, I’ve had responsibility/work that took up pretty much the whole day. I’d just have to slog through that again, and I don’t think I’d improve much of anything by having the chance to live that day out again. Whereas tomorrow, I have as much time as I’d like to do whatever.
Now, if I got the chance to Groundhog Day yesterday, and spend multiple iterations optimizing the day, including multiple iterations where I just don’t go to work, that’d be a different story.
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Most ambiguous 
“No change to your aging” could mean I’m the same age I am now or it could mean I’m the same age I was in the other time.
Am I jumping into my own body or do I have to worry about meeting myself?
And can I do this ONCE or as many times as I want?
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I assume I get isoted 1 day into the past, like Martin Padway or all of Grantville. Just not as far. That day doesn’t have to follow the same course. I suppose there would be 2 of me.
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Jump into the past, no question. Savescum for life, yo!
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Would you rather:
- Eat hot lead.
- Say hello to my little friend.
- Say “what” one more goddamn time.
- Make my day.
0 voters
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Would you rather:
- Live aboard the Starship Enterprise (any of them).
- Live in a magical world with wizards and dragons.
- Live in a sitcom world.
0 voters
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I’m not even a big fan of Star Trek and that seems like a no-brainer, given that one could use the holodeck to simulate the other two options…
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Sitcoms don’t enter into it
And as much as I would like the wizards annd Dragons, I’d probably be some peasant in the field.
At least on the Enterprise, you have food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and all the other perks even if you are a Material Handler 1 in cargo bay 6.
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The problem is that you have a very specific science fiction here (a future full of hope that is post scarcity) where the average person lives a life pursuing their passions, and then the entirety of generic medieval fantasy. I don’t want to physically be in Warhammer or some other grim cursed land, and like every one of them has an evil empire full of slaves that probably has the most people so chances are I end up less than a dirt farmer. There are a few hope-filled generic fantasy settings, where magic is used to undo the bad parts of living in the past, but even then the future has TV and holodecks.
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Also @DaakSyde: this.
A magical world of wizards and dragons can be anything from robed figures and fire breathing monsters to a world where mythical creatures take part in reality TV dance competitions while talking mice religiously watch over everything.
My only problem with the holodeck angle is the suspension of disbelief. In the end it’s all still just a video game. And you’re just as likely to have been on decks 6 through 12 when the hull breach occurs.
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I just mean I would rather have my medical needs taken care of by magic science wands in a setting I can casually tour space and play video games than any fantasy setting I can think of. However, I would not want to be in Star Wars where the premise is that most of the Galaxy is a terrifying wreck of organized crimes and or evil empires.
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-
Live
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Probably die
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Very special episode
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Wizards and dragons sounds like the KKK.
“A magical world with wizards and dragons” = “a world with weird shit I can’t control, can’t defend against, and could do way worse to me than simply kill me”.
Hard pass.
I’m not suitable to live in a sitcom world either. I wear glasses and use a computer for work, which automatically makes me a geek. I sometimes eat alone and go to the movies alone, which makes me a “AHAHAHA LOOK AT THE NEEEEERD!!! HOW PATHETIC” [cue laugh track] geek that not even The Big Bang Theory would touch. Moreover, my house is not nearly neat enough, and I’m not sure how the crew would position the four cameras in such a way that wouldn’t disrupt my day-to-day living.
So, it looks like it’s the Enterprise for me.
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Sitcom is out; my life is stagnant enough already without resetting to the status quo every week, and I really don’t want to give further encouragement to the portion of my brain that thinks I’m the protagonist of some weird dramatic story.
I think that people longing to be on the Enterprise are overlooking that every week, the Enterprise gets captured by omnipotent aliens, or overrun by malfunctioning androids, or involved in battle against the Klingons or Romulans or Cardassians. Most of the crew survive each mission, but it seems a rare week that someone doesn’t die, or almost die.
As others have said, there’s just not enough detail to choose “a magical world with wizards and dragons.” Is this Westeros? Middle-Earth (and, if so, in what age)? Magical Britain (from Harry Potter)? The Dresdenverse? The Buffyverse?
If it’s the world we’re in, but just with magic hidden below the surface, I think that’d probably be my choice. If it’s a medieval swords-and-sorcery land, though… I think I’d take the Enterprise, risks and all.
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Or you could recreate schlocky 50s sci-fi movies on the holodeck. Possibilities are endless…
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