4 ms·

Yes, I would. Thinking about that I will cease to exist sometime is most terrifying.

grugagag 6y ago
To me it’s more terrifying to think that I might loose my mind to dementia or alzheimer’s, that I might not know who i am, who i was, who my children are.. that’s terrifying. Though I think this experience is even worse for the others. My grandmother had alzheimers and in the last stage she was serene and smiling..
- JoshTriplett 6y ago
  > To me it’s more terrifying to think that I might loose my mind to dementia or alzheimer’s To me, that's equally terrifying, in that both are nearly equivalent (you are your mind) and the only difference is that dementia or Alzheimer's might potentially be reversible/repairable.
- pc86 6y ago
  If your mind is gone, are you still you? Unless you believe that each human has a unique soul, there's not much left to make you you except your mind. And after a disease has attacked your mind, you might as well already be dead physically because you are a completely different person.
  - guerrilla 6y ago
    Does that matter? If you poke that person, won't they still hurt regardless of who they are?
    - pc86 6y ago
      That seems irrelevant. I didn't say they weren't a person, I said it seems unlikely they're the same person. You seem to be trying to ascribe some sort of ill intent or meaning to my question when there was none.
      - guerrilla 6y ago
        No ill intent ascribed. What I mean is that it'd still be an immense suffering regardless of whether you'd still be you or not.
        grugagag 6y ago
        Yes but if it's not you anymore you can't connect empathically with the future you who doesn't know who they are anymore. It's a relief in a way but also scary at the same time. I've seen a guy in his early 40s afflicted with earl onset dementia and alzheimer and he was loosing it little by little every day and it was terrifying. At some point he stopped knowing who he was and he seemed peaceful. He also could not communicate, care for himself, I don't think he couldn't even feel pain anymore.
  - grugagag 6y ago
    Yes but the idea terrifies me nonetheless. It terrifies me now to think about it. If I could, but I know that's not feasible, I'd ask my loved ones to terminate me as soon as I don't know who I am and start pooping my pants, playing with feces and attacking my grandchildren. Seeing a loved one go through Alzheimer is agonizing and degrading the memory of the patient. You'll forever remember them as what they ended up being in their last stage of life.
picodguyo 6y ago
Interesting, thanks. I suppose I am terrified that others I love might die in my lifetime, but my own end of existence elicits only sadness/empathy.
NikolaeVarius 6y ago
How do you get to sleep at night
- garaetjjte 6y ago
  I just try not to think about it too much. It seems that this fear is quite widespread, given amount of religions that promise some sort of afterlife. I feel that believers have somewhat chosen "easier" way, so that instead of worrying about ceasing existing they have perspective of heaven/hell/whatever. But given the amount of logical contradictions involved, I'm just intellectually unable to accept religion.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
Interesting. The you who thought those words has already ceased to exist, in the same way as the 10 year old version of you no longer exists. There is no exist/not exist, really, there is only the continuous rearrangement of energy.
- garaetjjte 6y ago
  Technically true, but I still feel consciousness continuity with these previous states of 'me'. And while I'm aware that fear of nonexistence is pointless and unactionable (because when I die there would be no more 'me', no more thoughts, so really no point to worry about something that I would never experience), that knowledge doesn't actually help with my primal fear of nonexistence.
  - david-gpu 6y ago
    You didn't exist a hundred years ago, either. Does that bother you? Countless people die every day and the rest of us go on. I personally find a lot of comfort in knowing that the world will keep turning just fine without me. Maybe a therapist would be helpful.

To me it’s more terrifying to think that I might loose my mind to dementia or alzheimer’s, that I might not know who i am, who i was, who my children are.. that’s terrifying. Though I think this experience is even worse for the others. My grandmother had alzheimers and in the last stage she was serene and smiling..

JoshTriplett 6y ago
> To me it’s more terrifying to think that I might loose my mind to dementia or alzheimer’s To me, that's equally terrifying, in that both are nearly equivalent (you are your mind) and the only difference is that dementia or Alzheimer's might potentially be reversible/repairable.
pc86 6y ago
If your mind is gone, are you still you? Unless you believe that each human has a unique soul, there's not much left to make you you except your mind. And after a disease has attacked your mind, you might as well already be dead physically because you are a completely different person.
- guerrilla 6y ago
  Does that matter? If you poke that person, won't they still hurt regardless of who they are?
  - pc86 6y ago
    That seems irrelevant. I didn't say they weren't a person, I said it seems unlikely they're the same person. You seem to be trying to ascribe some sort of ill intent or meaning to my question when there was none.
    - guerrilla 6y ago
      No ill intent ascribed. What I mean is that it'd still be an immense suffering regardless of whether you'd still be you or not.
      - grugagag 6y ago
        Yes but if it's not you anymore you can't connect empathically with the future you who doesn't know who they are anymore. It's a relief in a way but also scary at the same time. I've seen a guy in his early 40s afflicted with earl onset dementia and alzheimer and he was loosing it little by little every day and it was terrifying. At some point he stopped knowing who he was and he seemed peaceful. He also could not communicate, care for himself, I don't think he couldn't even feel pain anymore.
- grugagag 6y ago
  Yes but the idea terrifies me nonetheless. It terrifies me now to think about it. If I could, but I know that's not feasible, I'd ask my loved ones to terminate me as soon as I don't know who I am and start pooping my pants, playing with feces and attacking my grandchildren. Seeing a loved one go through Alzheimer is agonizing and degrading the memory of the patient. You'll forever remember them as what they ended up being in their last stage of life.

picodguyo 6y ago

Interesting, thanks. I suppose I am terrified that others I love might die in my lifetime, but my own end of existence elicits only sadness/empathy.

NikolaeVarius 6y ago

How do you get to sleep at night

garaetjjte 6y ago
I just try not to think about it too much. It seems that this fear is quite widespread, given amount of religions that promise some sort of afterlife. I feel that believers have somewhat chosen "easier" way, so that instead of worrying about ceasing existing they have perspective of heaven/hell/whatever. But given the amount of logical contradictions involved, I'm just intellectually unable to accept religion.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

Interesting. The you who thought those words has already ceased to exist, in the same way as the 10 year old version of you no longer exists. There is no exist/not exist, really, there is only the continuous rearrangement of energy.

garaetjjte 6y ago
Technically true, but I still feel consciousness continuity with these previous states of 'me'. And while I'm aware that fear of nonexistence is pointless and unactionable (because when I die there would be no more 'me', no more thoughts, so really no point to worry about something that I would never experience), that knowledge doesn't actually help with my primal fear of nonexistence.
- david-gpu 6y ago
  You didn't exist a hundred years ago, either. Does that bother you? Countless people die every day and the rest of us go on. I personally find a lot of comfort in knowing that the world will keep turning just fine without me. Maybe a therapist would be helpful.