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"Enjoying life for the ephemeral experience it is" is something we do out of hard necessity. But we don't do it. We sit here worrying about dying and trying t

"Enjoying life for the ephemeral experience it is" is something we do out of hard necessity. But we don't do it. We sit here worrying about dying and trying to ensure we will live forever instead of enjoying the time we do have alive. Read experiences of people who suddenly find out they are going to die relatively soon- the richness of their life takes on a whole new dimension. These are problems to solve independently of death. And why do you have 100% faith they will be solved? Is that how the world generally tends to work? Or will things just get worse and people will blame it on the government instead of the thing that changed and allowed things to be bad? This happens all the time. Technology comes in, makes peoples lives shit, "It's not a problem with the technology it's how we use it". What does that matter if we're not capable of using it better? If the world is going to be shit if people can live forever, then people living forever is shit. It is arguable that life and freedom are meaningless if... If you look at how people behave, it is actually the opposite- things don't have value unless they are scarce, limited. We value our life and youth because it runs out.

xvector 5y ago
> And why do you have 100% faith they will be solved? Is that how the world generally tends to work? Or will things just get worse and people will blame it on the government instead of the thing that changed and allowed things to be bad? This doesn't change the fact that using death to solve inequality is like using a nuclear bomb to heat your dinner. We ought to find a better solution and solve it independently. I do not understand your pessimism. Historically speaking, humanity tends to solve the problems it encounters. A look over the past few centuries alone reveals this. We'll solve this problem too.
- mehwoot 5y ago
  This doesn't change the fact that using death to solve inequality I'm not saying it will solve inequality, I'm saying it is preventing it from being far, far, far worse than it already is. Do you feel like we're solving the inequalities we currently have enough to unleash something that will make things one hundred times worse? Knowing that once it is unleashed it will be almost impossible to reverse? is like using a nuclear bomb to heat your dinner. You're proposing that we remove the nuclear bomb that has been heating the food we've been eating for the last 1 billion years and assuming we'll just figure out something else. I do not understand your pessimism. Historically speaking, humanity tends to solve the problems it encounters I guess my pessimism stems from a different perspective of what it means to "solve our problems". I look around the world as it is today and I don't feel like we genuinely have solved any of the problems at the core of human existence.
kiba 5y ago
But we don't do it. We sit here worrying about dying and trying to ensure we will live forever instead of enjoying the time we do have alive. This is a false dilemma. People can enjoy the time being alive while optimizing for the long term. Exercising increases our health and make us enjoy life more. Read experiences of people who suddenly find out they are going to die relatively soon- the richness of their life takes on a whole new dimension. This is a rationalization or terror management. Moreover, the richness of life should come before having to face one's own mortality. We always have a choice of living life to our fullest, or don't at any given time, immortal or mortal.
mLuby 5y ago
> Technology comes in, makes peoples lives shit So pessimistic. Basically all tech (except perhaps certain weapons advances) improves our lives. Yeah doomscrolling sucks but is it worse than watching the grass grow while you get drunk on the porch a hundred years ago? (Assuming you had a porch, or booze for that matter.) Yeah biased AI sucks, but is it worse than overtly racist societies from 50 years ago? We certainly can and must keep improving our collective lot in live, but "all is shit" is fundamentally lacking perspective. > We value our life and youth because it runs out. No, we value life because it affords us agency and positive experience. We value the memory of youth for its limited responsibility, higher fecundity, and being earlier in our life's decision tree.
- mehwoot 5y ago
  Yeah doomscrolling sucks but is it worse than watching the grass grow while you get drunk on the porch a hundred years ago? Do you think the Amish live a life vastly inferior to yours?
  - mLuby 5y ago
    The Amish knowingly choose lives of less capability, opportunity, and range than modern ones.

xvector 5y ago

> And why do you have 100% faith they will be solved? Is that how the world generally tends to work? Or will things just get worse and people will blame it on the government instead of the thing that changed and allowed things to be bad? This doesn't change the fact that using death to solve inequality is like using a nuclear bomb to heat your dinner. We ought to find a better solution and solve it independently. I do not understand your pessimism. Historically speaking, humanity tends to solve the problems it encounters. A look over the past few centuries alone reveals this. We'll solve this problem too.

mehwoot 5y ago
This doesn't change the fact that using death to solve inequality I'm not saying it will solve inequality, I'm saying it is preventing it from being far, far, far worse than it already is. Do you feel like we're solving the inequalities we currently have enough to unleash something that will make things one hundred times worse? Knowing that once it is unleashed it will be almost impossible to reverse? is like using a nuclear bomb to heat your dinner. You're proposing that we remove the nuclear bomb that has been heating the food we've been eating for the last 1 billion years and assuming we'll just figure out something else. I do not understand your pessimism. Historically speaking, humanity tends to solve the problems it encounters I guess my pessimism stems from a different perspective of what it means to "solve our problems". I look around the world as it is today and I don't feel like we genuinely have solved any of the problems at the core of human existence.

kiba 5y ago

But we don't do it. We sit here worrying about dying and trying to ensure we will live forever instead of enjoying the time we do have alive. This is a false dilemma. People can enjoy the time being alive while optimizing for the long term. Exercising increases our health and make us enjoy life more. Read experiences of people who suddenly find out they are going to die relatively soon- the richness of their life takes on a whole new dimension. This is a rationalization or terror management. Moreover, the richness of life should come before having to face one's own mortality. We always have a choice of living life to our fullest, or don't at any given time, immortal or mortal.

mLuby 5y ago

> Technology comes in, makes peoples lives shit So pessimistic. Basically all tech (except perhaps certain weapons advances) improves our lives. Yeah doomscrolling sucks but is it worse than watching the grass grow while you get drunk on the porch a hundred years ago? (Assuming you had a porch, or booze for that matter.) Yeah biased AI sucks, but is it worse than overtly racist societies from 50 years ago? We certainly can and must keep improving our collective lot in live, but "all is shit" is fundamentally lacking perspective. > We value our life and youth because it runs out. No, we value life because it affords us agency and positive experience. We value the memory of youth for its limited responsibility, higher fecundity, and being earlier in our life's decision tree.

mehwoot 5y ago
Yeah doomscrolling sucks but is it worse than watching the grass grow while you get drunk on the porch a hundred years ago? Do you think the Amish live a life vastly inferior to yours?
- mLuby 5y ago
  The Amish knowingly choose lives of less capability, opportunity, and range than modern ones.