why are we humans so fucking afraid of death? if you're worried about it, that means you haven't experienced it yet. further, if we haven't experienced it yet, how can we be so sure it's a bad thing?
obviously, it is a fear that seems to be quite universal among the living. but logic -- based on what i do know to be true -- would say i have nothing to fear, that death is really just the absence of life, and i didn't know i wasn't alive before i was born, so why would i know i was dead after i'm gone?
and the promises of eternal life and everlasting spiritual existence after you die by the delusionoids running the religion rackets? HA! they're sellin' wolf tickets, my friends. they're scared shitless (again, why? i dunno) and one way of feeling better about not existing is the group mind fallacy (so far as we can actually prove) that all the delusional folks get to go on living forever.
if our species doesn't destroy itself with weapons of mass fucking destruction, one day our sciences will make it possible to live forever. i truly believe that. exponential law leads us down that path and it's going to happen, eventually.
i wonder what ethical questions will come from that... and i wonder if the delusionoids will, by then, be seen for what they are: INSANE. maybe they'll even be banished to the crazy corner so they stop meddling in the affairs of the educated.
The circumstances leading to my death scare me a lot more than being dead. One millisecond after I die it will be as though I never existed at all, at least from my perspective.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't like the thought of not being alive. There are things coming in the future I would like to be a part of. It bothers me that I will never experience those things that might happened the day after I die. (I feel the same about things from the past I wish I could have experienced.)
But, in a lot of ways I feel I am living my life after death right now. That every second I live after 7 AM, mountain time, December 19, 2003 is one I stole. Or, maybe is a "bonus". In a lot of real ways, I died when The Love of My Life left me on that date. After that whatever happened to me was not important. I ceased to care. Until my youngest daughter was born. Now I care again. But I am living with consequences of things that happened while I didn't care.
So, why would I live forever (in real life, not some hellish "Heaven") if given the chance? Because of my insatiable curiosity. You can't discover when you are dead.
you make valid points, indeed. and i am with you in that i would like to be around for the days when life is able to be extended on and on, without any foreseeable end. however, there will undoubtedly be consequences to such a situation, and considering how backwards and tyrannical our society is now, it would be silly for me to assume it'll be all roses by then, if we even get to "then".
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'm afraid of the end. I don't see it as an adventure, more as something that I was told, from the first day I was born, to accept as the inevitable. I was going to die.
ReplyDeleteI was in and out of hospitals until I was 9, having my parents be told constantly to "enjoy the time with her now because she won't make it past 7...or 8...or 9".
I don't see each day as a blessing, so much as a burden.
I will admit I'm afraid to hear the words that I have been saying to myself for years "She wasn't supposed to live past 9"
I think I'm just waiting, like this was supposed to have been over with 14 years ago. Its like a bad sitcom that wont get cancelled.
Oh, I know things won't ever be perfect. I don't even care about that. "Perfect" would be boring. I'd just like to see the first Mars colony, and the first interstellar expedition. Science and discoveries are what really excite me. Plus, I don't think I even mind the thought of living through a social collapse. It's the painful personal things that bother me. And those are inevitable whether you live 10,000 years or 20. Might as well hang around and see what's around the next corner.
ReplyDeleteTNW- It must be awful living with that hanging over you. You might still outlive me- you never know. I hope you are able to make the most of whatever time you have. That's the same hope I have for everyone. Just know I'd hang out with you if you were near me.
TNW -- i imagine growing up hearing those words would be tough, would definitely take a toll. but my hope for you would be that you embrace what you have and not see each day as a burden. i believe we have the ability to make what we want of any situation, no matter how dire. i'm not saying that it would be easy, but i think it sure beats the alternative of defeatism.
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