Immortal Snail Thought Experiment Explained

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Can you avoid the immortal snail and survive?
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The Immortal Snail scenario is a popular online hypothetical where you have to outrun an immortal snail who will chase you around for the rest of time. You’re both immortal in the scenario, so it makes sense that it’s spawned a host of hypothetical ways to survive. In this article, we explain what the Immortal Snail scenario is and how it spread online, and we’ll also go into ways to survive this unique threat. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the Immortal Snail!

Immortal Snail Meme Explained

The Immortal Snail is a hypothetical scenario in which you’re paid $10 million and given immortality to outrun an immortal snail for the rest of time. The catch is that the snail is always in pursuit of you, and as soon as it touches you, you die, challenging you to brainstorm ways to survive.

Section 1 of 4:

What is the Immortal Snail scenario?

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  1. The Immortal Snail is a scenario in which you get $10 million to avoid an immortal snail. In this hypothetical scenario, you’re granted eternal life and $10,000,000, which sounds like a pretty good deal. The catch is that you must also avoid an immortal snail, who will chase you across the world for the rest of time. As soon as the snail touches you, you die. The snail is constantly trying to end your life, but it moves at a snail’s pace, so your challenge is to figure out how to stay alive in these circumstances. [1]
    • This unlikely scenario has variations all across the internet, ranging from one where you get $1,000 to another where the snail is intelligent.
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Section 2 of 4:

Ways to Survive the Immortal Snail

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  1. 1
    Live as a traveling nomad. Since the snail moves at a snail’s pace, living your life as a nomad who travels the world will help you avoid it. Make sure you choose spots far from the snail, and once you notice it in your vicinity, immediately get to the next farthest area. You’ll have to uproot your life every few months, so choose the areas you reside in wisely.
  2. 2
    Live in a bubble. Grab one of those human-sized hamster bubbles and spend the rest of your life in one. That’s probably the best bet for your sanity and ability to retain shelter. Only leave the bubble when you need to perform essential tasks, like pee, poop, and shower. Even then, make sure you observe your surroundings for the snail every time you plan on leaving the bubble.
  3. 3
    Launch a smear campaign against snails. If you aren’t afraid to severely throw off the population of snails, use your funds to launch a smear campaign against them, urging people to capture all of the snails they find. Once the snails are captured, set up collection centers in populated areas and collect all of them. Set them on a shelf in the middle of your garage, then wait for them to die out.
    • Have your supporters kill any of the remaining ones, and trap the one that doesn’t die in a ring of salt in an impenetrable, maximum security prison.
  4. 4
    Bury the snail in a Mason Jar. This one’s going to be a bit tricky, as you have to catch the snail without actually touching it. So, set up a trap using a Mason Jar, and once you’ve caught the snail, seal the jar up as tightly as you can. Once you’ve managed to get the snail captured, head to the far corners of the Earth with a shovel. Find the most remote part of the area, dig a hole, and bury the snail in it.
    • Executing this plan successfully will give you time to live your life and formulate your next move, as it’ll take the snail years to get out of the jar, dig itself up from under the dirt, then make its way back to you.
  5. 5
    Go to space. Use your money to get a spot on the next trip to the International Space Station, or better yet, hop on a rocket by yourself. Bring enough food and water for 6 months, then live your life in zero gravity. To increase your chances of survivability, keep in contact with a crew on Earth and have them alert you if there are any snails headed to space.
    • Every six months, go back down to replenish your rations, but make sure the area is clear before you do.
  6. 6
    Move to Antarctica. You’ll have to be willing to tolerate the cold if this is the route you decide to take. Start by reaching out to the international community to take a trip to Antarctica. Offer to fund all expenses yourself, including shelter, food, and water. Make sure your shelter has protections, like a salt moat, booby traps, and land mines for when the snail makes it to you.
    • Although Antarctica is remote and will give you lots of distance between the snail, it’ll eventually catch up.
    • Consider moving locations to the North Pole or the Amazon rainforest once it catches up.
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Section 3 of 4:

Variations of the Immortal Snail Scenario

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  1. 1
    The snail has human intelligence. The money you receive for this scenario is usually $1,000,000 or simply “millions of dollars,” but the catch is that the snail is just as smart (if not smarter) than you. In this scenario, you won’t be able to simply outrun the snail, you’ll have to find ways to outsmart it for the rest of time. You better hope it doesn’t figure out how to develop opposable thumbs.
    • How to Survive: Use your money to fund a defamation campaign against the snail. Include merch and products. Use the money you make from the campaign to fund a private army of trained mercenaries and have them protect you.
      • Continue building your investment so you can replace the mercenaries when they become less effective. You may be immortal, but your soldiers aren’t.
      • Even if the snail can’t die as a result of bullets, rocket launchers, or weapons of mass destruction, they may be able to slow the snail down.
  2. 2
    You receive $1,000. In this scenario, you only get $1,000 to fund your efforts to avoid the snail. Although the snail is still moving at a snail’s pace, you may run through the money fast if you don’t manage it right. Due to the amount you start with, this is a tougher scenario to deal with, as the snail is still determined to touch you.
    • How to Survive: Use half of your money on a plane ticket to the farthest affordable place. Once you get there, use your money to invest in shoes, clothes, and essentials. Pocket what you have left, then live as a nomad to throw the snail off your trail.
  3. 3
    You receive $1,000,000. This is one of the most popular versions of the scenario, as it’s the one that went viral on r/AskReddit. In this scenario, you’re both still immortal, but you receive a hefty sum of $1,000,000 to go towards your efforts. The snail still moves at a snail’s pace, but it’ll be after you for the rest of time. The best way to go here is to grow that $1,000,000 into billions or more; that way, you have a fighting chance for the rest of time.
    • How to Survive: Invest your money into valuable stocks and pull when you’re able to profit. Use your increased funds to build a giant, impenetrable castle equipped with salt moats to weaken the snail. Relocate every hundred years.
      • Build the castle far from where the snail is, so you’ll have more time to live before relocating.
  4. 4
    You receive $1,000,000,000, but the snail is super-intelligent. This variation of the Immortal Snail scenario gives you the best chance of living, as you have a lot of money to spend. But the snail is super-intelligent, so you must spend wisely to avoid being outsmarted by it. There are countless ways to protect yourself once your money gets to that bracket, so think smart and spend wisely.
    • How to Survive: Invest $500,000,000 into advancing AI technology, and make sure you recoup. Use your returns to buy an island far from your current country, fund a private AI army to protect you, and build a deep underground bunker.
      • You may want to relocate every few hundred years, so make sure to continue investing in AI advancements to keep your army up to date.
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Section 4 of 4:

Where did the Immortal Snail scenario come from?

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  1. 1
    The scenario was born from the Rooster Teeth Podcast in 2014. One of the hosts of the popular podcast, Gavin Free, proposed an unlikely hypothetical scenario where you receive $10 million for an immortal snail to follow you for the rest of time, with the catch being that the snail would kill you as soon as it touches you. The podcast’s popularity helped the scenario spread to platforms like iFunny and Reddit, where users talked about ways they would fend the snail off. [2]
    • For example, one Reddit user said that they would pay another snail to fake a loving relationship with their pursuer, then after 6 months, they’d have the paid snail leave and plunge the immortal snail into a heartbreak so severe that it ends its pursuits.
  2. 2
    The Immortal Snail scenario saw a TikTok resurgence in 2021. Although the scenario had remained relegated to iFunny and Reddit’s corners of the internet for some time, it eventually made its way to TikTok under the #immortalsnail hashtag. Users even made jokes from the perspective of the snail, with @immortal_snail_official posting a video with the caption “I thrive knowing you will never rest,” on October 21, 2021. [3]
    • Since it’s made its way to TikTok, the Immortal Snail meme has evolved exponentially. Some users have gone as far as to give the immortal snail empathy towards the human, knowing the torment of being chased for their entire life.
    • Others have developed their relationship into one of enemies-turned-friends, where they are the only ones left on earth after the death of humanity and decide to befriend one another instead of continuing their pursuit.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.distractify.com/p/what-is-the-snail-on-tiktok
      2. ↑ https://mashable.com/article/immortal-snail-tiktok-trends
      3. ↑ https://mashable.com/article/immortal-snail-tiktok-trends

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