4 ms·
It's simple really. I want to exist because I exist. I exist because I want to exist. This mutually recursive loop belies the bottom of everyone's motivations f
by NoToP 4y ago
It's simple really. I want to exist because I exist. I exist because I want to exist. This mutually recursive loop belies the bottom of everyone's motivations for everything. All wants and urges, from an evolutionary standpoint, stem from wanting to keep existing. Wanting to exist stems from already existing, as anything which exists without wanting to will readily lose out to those that do exist and want to. That's all "point" there is at the bottom of it all.
What's the point of extending our life? The same as the point of eating and breathing. I want to keep on existing.
- brutusborn 4y agoI think your logic makes sense, but in some cases may be wrong. The underlying assumption is that living longer personally will lead to a longer existence for your descendants, which is probably true but not always. E.g. life extension may accelerate resource extraction to the point that your descendants die out sooner than they would have if you had died normally. Although you are living longer, your lineage isn’t. Also, I suspect that the cycle of life and death is like a computer reboot in that it is a reset of state. Leaving it too long without a reboot might cause existential level issues. Don’t get me wrong, I support life extension research, but I’m just skeptical of how ‘good’ it would actually be for society and the life extender themselves. Hopeful, but cautious.