I read this, and while I felt immense sadness, I will obviously move on with my life soon enough and forget about it. I wondered, if I were ever in the same situation, and someone read what I wrote before dying, they might empathize for a bit, but then they'd move on as well.
I just really wish that there's something beyond death, that there's something out there, and that all the suffering and unfairness and randomness in life is not for nothing. I hope we someday truly figure out what the fuck we are doing here in this universe. And if not that, at least we reach a point in biology where we have the ability to solve a lot of problems of the mind and body and make life better for everyone.
When there is nothing beyond death, there is no death. We won’t be sitting on the sidelines blindfolded. We won’t exist. From our perspective the death never actually happens.
I’m surprisingly okay with my lack of experience of the billions of years before the earth existed, and I won’t experience the billions after.
That said, just because we can’t stay at Disneyland forever, we might as well go on the rides while we are here.
We are all dying. Some sooner than others. As a student of philosophy, this perspective has driven me to avoid the common status concerns that many people chase.
All though you're correct it is rational to not fear death. I personally, and likely many other people here, have a very very strong aversion to it.
I DO NOT want the cessation of experience.
Ideally, I'd like to continue in perpetuity, to see the sun rise from Venus, or visit my tenth generation offspring on Saturn.
All of those missed experiences would be deeply saddening. To see our species conquer to universe, to see intelligent life bloom in the darkness of space, that is the goal.
I would also like to continue in perpetuity, it's why maintain general fitness and I generally avoid some life-shortening things like smoking (though I do consume alcohol). The problem is that life in perpetuity doesn't actually happen even from treatments of even our wildest sci-fi fictions. By extending life, we merely kick the can of death down the road...
Actual immortality achieved would just push concerns to the heat death of the universe, and folks acting as Cyber-Punk Holden Karnofsky would be spilling ink about the need to invest in star-moving technology to create a big crunch. I don't mean to be trite here. The point is 10 years, 100, years, 1000 years, or 100 billion years, the dilemma is the same, because the linearity of time means any non-infinite amount of life is ultimately minuscule.
The psychological dilemma of existentialism is a challenging one, I'll fully admit that. It's one I've accepted. The benefits also exist though. It forces you to live in the moment to some extent, when others are solely focused on the future.
What you want isn't always what you get. There are a lot of people that have all kinds of urges that they know aren't going to happen. That's perfectly normal, but for so called 'rational' people that fraction that has these irrational desires is a bit strange to me. Rationally: everything dies, sooner or later, and so will you. So the way to get the most out of it is to make sure that you make every minute count.
I'm not overly concerned about death on its own (I feel it's going to be kind of like being asleep), neither am I that concerned about my role in the universe. Instead, I feel more for people who truly suffer in life maybe due to poverty, or due to disease, etc. who don't get to go on Disneyland rides. It makes me feel what was the point of it all? It has to be teaching us a lesson beyond the "simulation" and if not -- that's what makes me sad -- not my personal fear of death, or anything to do with status.
And even to a lesser extent -- why do we suffer -- is it a law of physics that can't be bent? I don't agree with people who believe more pleasure equals more pain. There will be people who live amazing lives, and those who don't. And so I feel that we as intelligent beings can reduce randomness, and take control of our environment and make sure we can all go on Disneyland rides at least to some extent, and hopefully eventually figure out what's outside of Disneyland.
I completely agree. Ironically, the existentialist should be more concerned about general welfare, not less. There is no afterlife to set things right. We should not be surprised that ethical hedonists like Peter Singer are so concerned about animal welfare.
We suffer almost certainly because it's an evolutionary adaptive feature for us we picked up somewhere along the way. It is no surprise that the general suffering we find in developed countries, namely loneliness, is directly related to human reproduction.
Is it a generally happy or sad state of affairs? Who's to say. It's our state of affairs, and we best do what we can to make the most of it.
Let us say that there is nothing beyond death, does that really mean that life is ultimately pointless? I'd argue that the idea that there is nothing beyond death is what makes life all the more meaningful. We are only going to get one shot at all of this, we better make it count.
From this I derive the motivation to work hard at what I do and ultimately try to contribute to the problems we face as a species before I pass. It also makes me appreciate the raw human connection that we can all experience: love, passion, friendship.
I may not be the one to light the altar of discovery that allows us to say, cure cancer or become a spacefaring species, but I will proudly carry the torch and pass it on.
You can philosophise yourself into just about any position: death is real & life is meaningless, death is real and life is meaningful, death is but a transition & this life is meaningless, death is merely an illusion and life is meaningful,
I believe that Jesus is Lord, and everyone who seeks him finds him.
Matthew 7:17 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
I was given a very clear sign 17 years ago, not when I asked God to prove himself, but only incidentally when I was seeking his guidance on something; it's nevertheless lasted as an undeniable proof for me. Though, it's better to believe without seeing.
John 20:29 - "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Acts 2:38 - "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins."
Disclaimer: I do not identify with American/political 'Christianity'.
Wishing is one thing. Hope is the better thing. There is something beyond death. I don't know how anyone can think otherwise. Who else has the words of life?
You quoted evidence without providing any, and conflate evidence with belief. That also doesn't really add anything to the conversation.
The smart money says 'there is no afterlife, so use what you've got'. If you - or anybody else - is so sure that an afterlife exists then it would be nice to present some actual proof and absent that to admit that you're making it up or that it's hearsay.
No, I think they made that up because they fell for the exact same trap as most other religions did: a desire to explain that which they didn't know anything about. They obviously didn't do it 'just for show' so I'm not sure why you would make it seem like I was thinking that.
Religions are several thing: power structures, coping mechanisms, focal points for social functions, explanatory mechanisms, scams and stories (origin myths etc) all rolled into one. Depending on which religion you are looking at one or more of these traits may be more dominant.
Every religion lays claim to some unique knowledge and tries to explain a lot more than they can and as a result they are - to me comically - incapable of adjusting to knowledge as it became available. The result is dogma, in one form or another.
I don’t know man. How many people do you know in your immediate circle that would say that they wholeheartedly believe that we only live once?
Do you not feel like life on this planet would be very different if that was the case? It’s a really deep question and I would prefer you contemplate it if you plan on responding.
Haha, ok, seriously: any answer I give you that you don't like and I haven't contemplated enough?
It's not a deep question at all, it's super superficial: the afterlife is a ruse to keep the gullible beholden to various power structures. It's a man-made construct that requires at a minimum something extra-dimensional for which there isn't a shred of evidence. How people live if they believe or if they do not believe is entirely up to them, and if they would live in a different way if they didn't believe in an afterlife means they've bought into the lies. I'd much rather people make their decisions eyes wide open informed by an ethical framework that does not rely on fairytales or outright lies.
And yes, pretty much everybody in my immediate circle except for one believes that we live only once and that one is a catholic priest of whom that would be expected. But I can't look in his head so who knows what he really believes...
It sounds like you're not up for a discussion whatsoever. And I respect that. I just dislike when people dismiss thousands of years of history because they themselves have no inherit experience with something.
Hacker News is sometimes crazy like that. You stumble into ideas/people who present to you concepts that perhaps are too crazy to take it all at once.
I agree more/most folks ought to try them under the right circumstances (yada yada mental health caveat here), but I also know plenty of psychonauts who are complete pricks, even some who have broken through on DMT and are still complete wastes of oxygen as humans. Go figure.
They are a doorway to new perspectives. You still gotta internalize the message.
I just really wish that there's something beyond death, that there's something out there, and that all the suffering and unfairness and randomness in life is not for nothing. I hope we someday truly figure out what the fuck we are doing here in this universe. And if not that, at least we reach a point in biology where we have the ability to solve a lot of problems of the mind and body and make life better for everyone.