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A lot of comments are talking about the inevitability of death due to physical laws as a certainty. 1. I think there's a big difference between 100 years and q

A lot of comments are talking about the inevitability of death due to physical laws as a certainty. 1. I think there's a big difference between 100 years and quadrillions of years. 2. I think that in quadrillions of years our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it, and our knowledge of the physical universe, may shift enough that "death" is not actually inevitable. 3. I'm no physicist but it seems a bit extreme to believe that we can predict quadrillions of years into the future based on an extremely limited view of the existing world and past. Is heat death inevitable? I don't know.

philwelch 6y ago
> I think there's a big difference between 100 years and quadrillions of years. Maybe so. Or maybe this is a defense mechanism borne from denial and the urge to put off the inevitable. You’re talking about outliving the stars themselves when we can barely get piles of rocks to survive a few millennia. > I think that in quadrillions of years our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it, and our knowledge of the physical universe, may shift enough that "death" is not actually inevitable. But it was already thousands of years ago that our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it reached the understanding that death was not to be feared in the first place.
- staticassertion 6y ago
  >Or maybe this is a defense mechanism borne from denial and the urge to put off the inevitable. Sure, could be. > You’re talking about outliving the stars themselves when we can barely get piles of rocks to survive a few millennia. Maybe so. I won't pretend to understand what would go into such a thing. I don't personally believe our understanding of the universe is sufficient to rule it out. > But it was already thousands of years ago that our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it reached the understanding that death was not to be feared in the first place. I guess I missed that! I mostly see a lot of mental gymnastics or denial in the form of believe in an after-life.
  - philwelch 6y ago
    > I guess I missed that! I mostly see a lot of mental gymnastics or denial in the form of believe in an after-life. I guess I don’t see the big distinction between some science-fiction fantasy of living for a quadrillion years and disproving the second law of thermodynamics and just believing in an afterlife. The alternative to either approach is discussed in OP :)
    - staticassertion 6y ago
      Ha, that's definitely fair. I suppose the false premise is that either is necessarily achievable. Sometimes there isn't a good answer.

philwelch 6y ago

> I think there's a big difference between 100 years and quadrillions of years. Maybe so. Or maybe this is a defense mechanism borne from denial and the urge to put off the inevitable. You’re talking about outliving the stars themselves when we can barely get piles of rocks to survive a few millennia. > I think that in quadrillions of years our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it, and our knowledge of the physical universe, may shift enough that "death" is not actually inevitable. But it was already thousands of years ago that our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it reached the understanding that death was not to be feared in the first place.

staticassertion 6y ago
>Or maybe this is a defense mechanism borne from denial and the urge to put off the inevitable. Sure, could be. > You’re talking about outliving the stars themselves when we can barely get piles of rocks to survive a few millennia. Maybe so. I won't pretend to understand what would go into such a thing. I don't personally believe our understanding of the universe is sufficient to rule it out. > But it was already thousands of years ago that our interpretation of life and the value we derive from it reached the understanding that death was not to be feared in the first place. I guess I missed that! I mostly see a lot of mental gymnastics or denial in the form of believe in an after-life.
- philwelch 6y ago
  > I guess I missed that! I mostly see a lot of mental gymnastics or denial in the form of believe in an after-life. I guess I don’t see the big distinction between some science-fiction fantasy of living for a quadrillion years and disproving the second law of thermodynamics and just believing in an afterlife. The alternative to either approach is discussed in OP :)
  - staticassertion 6y ago
    Ha, that's definitely fair. I suppose the false premise is that either is necessarily achievable. Sometimes there isn't a good answer.