If you were offered the choice between having the knowledge of everything in the universe, or remaining blissfully ignorant, what would you pick? On the one hand, if you turned down that kind of opportunity, you would probably wake up every morning and kick yourself for not taking the chance. On the other hand, that amount of knowledge, and knowing not only the good but also the horrors of the entire universe, would probably drive you completely insane in a matter of minutes. Would you be able to handle that amount of responsibility? I don't think anyone could.
And would taking that kind of risk be worth the amount of things you could do to benefit society? You could predict the future! You could prevent disease! You'd pretty much be set for life, because you would know everything. But would that be worth your sanity? I guess that really depends on how selfish you are. If you really wanted to help the rest of your species, you'd probably take the knowledge. Unless, of course, it drove you mad the instant it was given to you, like that universe-viewing machine from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Actually, I suppose that's exactly what I'm describing. Could you handle that? Probably not.
Then again, maybe you'd end up like Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen,* and you wouldn't be able to actually do anything about it, because you would be interfering with events that, to you, are entirely pre-determined. Of course, if you know the future, and it's guaranteed to be accurate, you could basically do nothing, because you know the outcome will be the same. But what if KNOWING that is what caused you to do nothing? That's a paradox, isn't it? That would probably drive you mad. And then I'm pretty sure you have to go to Mars and create life or something.
*Besides being blue, naked, and kind of a prick.
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