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I question why leaving behind a legacy is important. Personally, if I leave nothing in my wake (as far as practicality allows) when I die I will be very happy.

I question why leaving behind a legacy is important. Personally, if I leave nothing in my wake (as far as practicality allows) when I die I will be very happy. Leaving behind a legacy only inconveniences whoever it is who has to pick up the reins and clean up after me.

soco 3y ago
Because we are afraid of death, of the annihilation of our everything it brings. So leaving a legacy alleviates that a bit - we die but we are not dead-dead as long those memories are alive. For some it will be an immortality project, for others a silly endeavour, but I say as long it makes one happy (less scared) let them all have it.
ljm 3y ago
Everything is temporary, a legacy makes it slightly less. Brings an element of continuity to our existence as people learn or are inspired by the impressions other people leave behind.
phkahler 3y ago
>> I question why leaving behind a legacy is important. Just leave things better than when you found them. Not for you, and not for those who follow, but for the thing itself. I suppose in this framing people are things too - help them to be better versions of themselves if you can. Other than that, have fun and enjoy the ride.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Leaving a legacy (a good one anyway) kind of validates that you did something that outlived you in your time on earth. To be sure we should try to take care of the loose ends if we can before we die — not knowing when that is means we should probably keep a tight ship as regularly as we can - especially more so as we get older. This thought crosses my mind fairly regularly when I look across the garage, in the storage room at all the crap I've accumulated. (Nevertheless, if the kids just want to toss everything, have an estate sale that's cool.)
mindcrime 3y ago
I struggle with this sometimes. There is a part of me that cares greatly about "legacy" and would really like to accomplish something significant in my lifetime... something that will be remembered, something that will matter. But. I am reminded that, over sufficiently long time scales, no one is remembered. There is no such thing as "legacy", really. As somebody pointed out once: how many people are remembered now from even, say, the last 2500 years? Alexander the Great, and, uh... maybe a handful more. But will even Alexander the Great, or Napoleon, or Genghis Khan, or Albert Einstein, or Ramanujan, or Marie Curie, or $INSERT_CELEBRITY_HERE be remembered in another 2000 years? 10,000? 100,000? 2 million? 10 million? It seems likely (assuming the human race even persists that long) that we're all forgotten in the end. So I dunno. I still go back and forth in my own mind about whether or not "legacy" is even worth caring about or not.

soco 3y ago

Because we are afraid of death, of the annihilation of our everything it brings. So leaving a legacy alleviates that a bit - we die but we are not dead-dead as long those memories are alive. For some it will be an immortality project, for others a silly endeavour, but I say as long it makes one happy (less scared) let them all have it.

ljm 3y ago

Everything is temporary, a legacy makes it slightly less. Brings an element of continuity to our existence as people learn or are inspired by the impressions other people leave behind.

phkahler 3y ago

>> I question why leaving behind a legacy is important. Just leave things better than when you found them. Not for you, and not for those who follow, but for the thing itself. I suppose in this framing people are things too - help them to be better versions of themselves if you can. Other than that, have fun and enjoy the ride.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Leaving a legacy (a good one anyway) kind of validates that you did something that outlived you in your time on earth. To be sure we should try to take care of the loose ends if we can before we die — not knowing when that is means we should probably keep a tight ship as regularly as we can - especially more so as we get older. This thought crosses my mind fairly regularly when I look across the garage, in the storage room at all the crap I've accumulated. (Nevertheless, if the kids just want to toss everything, have an estate sale that's cool.)

mindcrime 3y ago

I struggle with this sometimes. There is a part of me that cares greatly about "legacy" and would really like to accomplish something significant in my lifetime... something that will be remembered, something that will matter. But. I am reminded that, over sufficiently long time scales, no one is remembered. There is no such thing as "legacy", really. As somebody pointed out once: how many people are remembered now from even, say, the last 2500 years? Alexander the Great, and, uh... maybe a handful more. But will even Alexander the Great, or Napoleon, or Genghis Khan, or Albert Einstein, or Ramanujan, or Marie Curie, or $INSERT_CELEBRITY_HERE be remembered in another 2000 years? 10,000? 100,000? 2 million? 10 million? It seems likely (assuming the human race even persists that long) that we're all forgotten in the end. So I dunno. I still go back and forth in my own mind about whether or not "legacy" is even worth caring about or not.