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You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/ki

You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? I'm of the opinion that, barring another technological revolution, we're at the top inflection point of an economic S curve, at least from a global perspective. The insane growth of the past century is an anomaly, and future economic opportunities will be fewer and harder to access. Which means I need to build an Ark for my family to weather the coming flood. Fortunately I'm starting from a relatively favorable position as a US-based software engineer. If I can die with 10 million dollars from a lifetime of investments and work, that ensures my kids can take advantage of the fewer opportunities that will exist. And maybe my work can do some good for others along the way. And yes in the grand scheme of the heat death of the universe my family's welfare is meaningless. But that perspective only produces excess suffering for no purpose. If you require fundamental, universal, logically substantiated meaning to feel like life's worth living, that's vanity. No human has ever had that or will ever have that, why should you? Being comfortable with "I don't know" is part of being an adult.

falcolas 4y ago
> You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? Corporations and the government are, short sufficient (0.1%) wealth to protect your assets upon death, finding ways to confiscate any left over wealth, and prevent it from transferring to children/spouses/charity/etc. Medicaid cost recovery, for example.
- scottLobster 4y ago
  Given that last year I inherited a substantial amount of money from my deceased great aunt that was tax-free, clearly they haven't succeeded in that just yet. And they probably won't, I don't see how taxes on middle-class inheritances win elections with either party. Sure perhaps we are heading to a Cyberpunk 2077 dystopia, but there's no guarantee of that. Even in such an apocalyptic dystopia, where every non-0.1 per-center's family wealth is directly or indirectly confiscated, I foresee a thriving black market for money-laundering and other services, and knowing how to navigate it will be routine for the successful and expected by the powerful. Regardless, my family will be as best positioned at my death as I can manage. I can only manage so much. There's no use in living life assuming an extinction-level asteroid strike or similar. Worst case scenario at least I'll have done my best, the alternative is stagnation and despair, stuck in an endless cycle of wondering if I could have done better interrupted by periodic hedonistic numbing with vacations/video games/alcohol/other vices. I already did that for most of my twenties, it was perfectly rational (given my circumstances at the time), miserable and unproductive. Much worse than having some assholes steal all my shit at the end of my life, which I don't think is terribly likely anyway.

falcolas 4y ago

> You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? Corporations and the government are, short sufficient (0.1%) wealth to protect your assets upon death, finding ways to confiscate any left over wealth, and prevent it from transferring to children/spouses/charity/etc. Medicaid cost recovery, for example.

scottLobster 4y ago
Given that last year I inherited a substantial amount of money from my deceased great aunt that was tax-free, clearly they haven't succeeded in that just yet. And they probably won't, I don't see how taxes on middle-class inheritances win elections with either party. Sure perhaps we are heading to a Cyberpunk 2077 dystopia, but there's no guarantee of that. Even in such an apocalyptic dystopia, where every non-0.1 per-center's family wealth is directly or indirectly confiscated, I foresee a thriving black market for money-laundering and other services, and knowing how to navigate it will be routine for the successful and expected by the powerful. Regardless, my family will be as best positioned at my death as I can manage. I can only manage so much. There's no use in living life assuming an extinction-level asteroid strike or similar. Worst case scenario at least I'll have done my best, the alternative is stagnation and despair, stuck in an endless cycle of wondering if I could have done better interrupted by periodic hedonistic numbing with vacations/video games/alcohol/other vices. I already did that for most of my twenties, it was perfectly rational (given my circumstances at the time), miserable and unproductive. Much worse than having some assholes steal all my shit at the end of my life, which I don't think is terribly likely anyway.