"Knowledge of the future" - Would you feel cheated?

Take care - the following is hypothetical and should be treated as such.

You're an office apprentice working in a small firm, 7YP2**. Recently, a new starter, a young woman, has been eagerly befriending you in the past few days. It's quite clear that she really wants to be really good friends with you (as in "most close of close friends") - but nothing more than that (she's made that clear).

Passing over many details (the science, rational explanation etc), you find out that your new friend has been trying to become really close friends with you because of her strong belief (she says "strong knowledge" - she fancies herself a "seer of the future", you see) that you're inevitably going to be (2 decades from now) the founder and owner of 8X3F**, a successful company worth hundreds of millions of pounds (see below).

Would you feel betrayed? (We're assuming of course that you believe that she has really "seen/experienced the future". Therefore, believing that she really has experienced the future, would you feel cheated by her motives for friendship?)

**

8X3F - A British company, with Scottish origins. Its operations are primarily concerned with selling specialised software (and support) to certain consumer firms (vague for a reason, duhh). Its origins trace back to 7YP2, a small Scottish firm.

7YP2 - A small Scottish firm with an office in southern England. It was started by 2 postgraduates, one of whom had previously worked in a well-known international software company. It currently serves a dozen clients (small businesses), selling specialised software etc and support to them. In the 2020s, you and another worker left to start your own outfit, before you finally parted ways, leaving you to start 8X3F, a firm which would go on to win clients across Europe and East Asia, earning seven figures in profit in only its 4th year of trading.


1. If you have read this far - well done.

2. If you understand what the entire story means, write a post explaining what you believe it to mean/signify.

3. If you understand what '7YP2' and '8X3F' stand for, write a post detailing such and then provide the next 4 characters in the "sequence".

4. If you have gotten this far without frowning in confusion - answer this question: "What planet is intrinsically related to this scenario?"

5. Finally, if you sincerely believe that this scenario is true (and the characters starring in it - namely, the apprentice and the young woman), then write a post explaining why.

6. Finally (I'm being serious now!), let us hypothetically imagine for a second that a secret evacuation of Earth is quietly and secretly being planned and prepared for. Please post the exact date (within 4 decades from now i.e. from 2015 to 2055) that you think the actual evacuation will take place, thoroughly explaining your answer (even if it's just "I dunno, I'm just guessing").

I'm deciding to be literal--but not about the hypothetical that you posed.

Believe it or not, I received knowledge of the future as a small child--and it all came to pass.

It was traumatic. And very strange. And makes me feel kind of alone in a sense--even to this day. But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. It was exciting and awful but...it's hard to explain. It makes me want to see what's going to happen next in life. Since I don't remember all of what was said unfortunately.

It also sure causes a ton of deja vu experiences when you saw it before and then it ends up happening way later. Kinda trips me out a bit sometimes

a reply to: SonoftheFuture

If someone came along, and got into my life because they had this vision giving them expectation of my imminent success, I would tell them, in no uncertain terms, to go and jump in a very deep, very wide lake, with a horrific undertow current which leads to an underground river with no air pockets.

I have had far too many people in and out of my life, who harboured hope that I would become something other than what I am at some point, who thought that in order to meet with their insane expectations I would undergo some sort of near magical metamorphosis. The bottom line is, if people want to know me, and be a part of what I am and what I do, then they have to want to do so because of who I am, because who I am now, is who I intend to be every day for the rest of my life. Do not get me wrong, I am not intensely proud of being who I am, but I am determined that I will continue to be who I am until either I die, or the universe does, whichever happens first.

If they need me to be stunningly wealthy, then they ought to get out of my life. If they need me to be powerful, then they need to get out of my life. If they need me to suddenly develop dynamism and proactive attitudes toward all things, or get a different job, or rob a bank, or any other bloody thing, then those people need to stop hanging around for a miracle. If people want to be around me, they can want to for reasons to do with who I am today, because todays me is the best me that there has ever been, and I have no plans to make drastic changes to myself based on someone else and their almost invariably idiotic preferences!

Is this one of them lead a person to an answer type of situations? The questions are odd and I don't think they mean much
but I will play along in case.

Would I feel betrayed?

The first question is so complex that it has to be looked at from several angles. Let's be honest; we all look to be
friends with people who offer us something even if it is just a laugh. If we knew somone would become very rich and famous chances we might try to befriend them before hand as well. Just because intentions start out as something different doesn't mean that they will stay that way. For example a man just wants to sleep with a girl he meets at a bar. However, it turns outthey click and are married one year later. His intentions were for a one night stand but things went differently.

That could be the case here. Maybe we would get along really great and just because they started out with selfish motives doesn't mean something more can't develop. Are we already friends in this future scenario they saw? If we were then maybe we were meant to become friends in some fashion anyways. In the end we don't have to stay friends if we discover we just don't get along. So, no I wouldn't feel betrayed. I would be more curious than anything else.

2. What does the story mean?
Since I wont dig to deep on the surface it seems to be a moral question about friendships etc.
It also sounds like the product is somewhat predictive based like the software used to track what buyers may like, buying
trends much like a trend forcaster. Could there be other subtext sure but I don' think it is relevant to go into it.

3.Those look like model numbers they use for parts. I would bet the next 4 digit code would look something like 9WY4
The P and F threw me a bit and the only pattern I saw was a reduction in 8 letters. Again, I'm not gong to dig to deep.

4. What planet? The answer would have to be Earth unless there is another planet that has Scottish and British companies that use a currency called pounds.

5. We were told this a hypothetical situation so on face value I would have to say this is not a true story in and of itself. Could it be based off of one? Yes it is possible.

6. I would guess here that most people would say somewhere between 2034-2049 simply for the fact the article gave time frame references like 20 years in the future plus 4 years for this etc. I can even see the company code names being some type of subconscious clue or maybe I missed the whole point.


(Sorry about spelling and spacing. On break while at work.)