What would you think if you heard someone say that they "wouldn't learn how to drive a stick-shift even if their life depended on it."?

When you drive a stick you are in control. Otherwise the car is in control. So it depends on if you just want to go along for the ride as a passenger or if you want to have fun along the way! :)

That they are an individual who probably doesn't have much ambition in life and is unwilling to take risks.

I insist on driving with a stick-shift. I don't think it's a good idea to refuse to do it.
You limit yourself very much with such an attitude.

If they can't set aside a few hours of their life to practice something as simple as a standard transmission then I wouldn't depend on them for much of anything. "Wouldn't" is one thing, "Couldn't" I can understand.

Congratulate them on their wise decision. The point of learning how to drive is to enable you to get yourself from one location to another. Why choose to make things difficult for yourself learning how to drive a stick-shift when clearly automatic transmissions were invented to simplify your driving experience? Learning how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission rather than one with an automatic transmission is like trying to consume a bowl of soup with a fork when there's a spoon available.

Well ain't you special!

I would think that person is very ignorant and narrow minded. It is still a valuable skill to know.

Pretty much everyone in the UK can drive a stickshift (we call them "manual" as opposed to "automatic"). It's very unusual to take a driving test for automatics only, and I think most of those who do would be disabled drivers.

It is the norm here.
Automatics are a little frowned upon y some as needing less skill.
Get a licence to drive automatic and you have to have another test if you want to drive a manual.
It seems like a unreasoned prejudice to me or anyone else who is capable of simple gear changes.
+5

That they are quite lazy. Driving a manual doesn't require that much effort, if they cannot be bothered to master something that simple I'd not trust them to pour pee out of a boot with the directions written on the heel.

I wonder what there is to be gained from NOT knowing how.