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> By thinking about death – even the seemingly unbearable death of one’s own child – within the much wider context of a series of natural and inevitable process
by tshadley 10y ago
> By thinking about death – even the seemingly unbearable death of one’s own child – within the much wider context of a series of natural and inevitable processes of birth and decay that permeate all aspects of the cosmos, from microbes to galaxies, we might be able to gain some consolation that this is simply part of a much larger natural order of things.
This strikes me as a little bit similar to the comforting fiction that the article criticizes. Certainly disease/suffering/death are patterns, but patterns point to underlying mechanisms that can be understood and potentially controlled, not just accepted fatalistically as "the natural order of things".
- ianai 10y agoSure, and I file that attempt under living. I don't think it has to be fatalistic to acknowledge even the unavoidable or insurmountable and attempt to overcome it to whatever extent possible. I also think it helps to acknowledge aging as a reality in every day life. Literally, seize the day.
- jdietrich 10y agoThe odds are exceedingly high that you will die. Maybe we'll figure out some form of immortality, but it's overwhelmingly likely that we'll do no more than delay the inevitable. It is absolutely certain that you will experience disease and suffering. The transhumanistic attitude of "let's look for solutions to death rather than accepting it" is a form of avoidant coping, little different to religious beliefs about the afterlife. Maybe you'll live forever in the singularity, but you'll almost certainly suffer and die and rot. It's better to contemplate that probability now, rather than on your death bed.
- taneq 10y agoIf I can avoid suffering, dying and rotting until I'm on my deathbed sometime in the far future, then that sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Better yet if I can delay it until a time of my own choosing rather than being yanked out of existence "when my time comes".
- oever 10y ago> The odds are exceedingly high that you will die. A rough calculation shows that 5-10% of all people that were ever born are still alive.