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Ah thank you for this. I'm a little too early in my physics career to feel comfortable speaking authoritatively when people come out like this. Besides, if eve

Ah thank you for this. I'm a little too early in my physics career to feel comfortable speaking authoritatively when people come out like this. Besides, if everyone is you than isn't that a pale approximation of unending life? I hate it when people either read or think up an interesting philosophy of existence but then become convinced that they know The Truth. If existence is a vast and strange as claimed is it not equally if not infinitely more likely that they have no idea what the hell they're talking about? I mean, no matter how many human lifetimes you traverse you're still just a human. That is, unless your philosophy also involves you being the One True God, which i think devolves into narcissism pretty fast. I must admit i have found myself wishing that i had been all of them in separate times. It's just so alluring to think i was Einstein and Feynman and Turing and everyone else. I can almost convince myself that i can see enough similarities to make it possible. But that's actually crazy. It's a sensation, a desire. A way of fighting off both the fear of death and the fear that this life won't matter as much as I'd like. After all, who cares, one day I'll be the leader of the free world and i guess also an asshole most likely. It's just a cope for me. It's also sad that so many purely pull to the authority of physics to justify their personal philosophy. "Quantum" has been butchered by popular media in such a way that everyone just takes it to mean what they want it to mean. Anyways, I'd love to read or hear about your PhD in theoretical physics, I'm about a year away from starting a PhD

photon_lines 3y ago
You're not understanding the message at all. There is nothing narcissistic about what I posted - the message is supposed to be more about how interconnected we all are and how the human experience is in fact an illusion. "A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein
bowsamic 3y ago
Sorry for the very late reply. /u/dang has imposed a severe rate limit on my account Honestly I think it's just best to accept the life that immediately presents itself to us: totally localised to each separate being, facing death as exactly the horror that it seems. I think that, unless you have genuine insight into some kind of deeper reality, then anything else really is just wishful thinking. I just think it's quite sad to go so far in that wishful thinking so as to wish away the reality of the life you currently have. > It's also sad that so many purely pull to the authority of physics to justify their personal philosophy. "Quantum" has been butchered by popular media in such a way that everyone just takes it to mean what they want it to mean. Anyways, I'd love to read or hear about your PhD in theoretical physics, I'm about a year away from starting a PhD I totally agree. I'm pretty jaded about science communication because of it. Also it really implies that we have some really strong philosophical ideas about what physics means, when we really don't. We actually have no idea how to interpret the results of quantum mechanics and relativity.

photon_lines 3y ago

You're not understanding the message at all. There is nothing narcissistic about what I posted - the message is supposed to be more about how interconnected we all are and how the human experience is in fact an illusion. "A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

bowsamic 3y ago

Sorry for the very late reply. /u/dang has imposed a severe rate limit on my account Honestly I think it's just best to accept the life that immediately presents itself to us: totally localised to each separate being, facing death as exactly the horror that it seems. I think that, unless you have genuine insight into some kind of deeper reality, then anything else really is just wishful thinking. I just think it's quite sad to go so far in that wishful thinking so as to wish away the reality of the life you currently have. > It's also sad that so many purely pull to the authority of physics to justify their personal philosophy. "Quantum" has been butchered by popular media in such a way that everyone just takes it to mean what they want it to mean. Anyways, I'd love to read or hear about your PhD in theoretical physics, I'm about a year away from starting a PhD I totally agree. I'm pretty jaded about science communication because of it. Also it really implies that we have some really strong philosophical ideas about what physics means, when we really don't. We actually have no idea how to interpret the results of quantum mechanics and relativity.