3 ms·
The "Tolstoy Problem" is an interesting phenomenon that occurs to me from time to time. Paraphrased, if I know I am close to death, maybe an hour away, and I k
by kitd 2y ago
The "Tolstoy Problem" is an interesting phenomenon that occurs to me from time to time.
Paraphrased, if I know I am close to death, maybe an hour away, and I know there's no time left to change things, how will I feel about my legacy or net outcome of my existence?
I find it a useful contemplative exercise that everyone could do from time to time, especially a few world leaders IMHO.
It's easy for one's subconscious to feed the line that, yes, I'll sort it all out tomorrow. But it's the "no time left" constraint that focuses the mind.
- smokel 2y agoThis doesn't seem to work for me. I'm slightly convinced that when I'm an hour away from dying, I won't have to care about anything anymore very soon. It just seems to make me care even less. I wouldn't be surprised if the new techno-oligarchs have similar or even worse wiring.
- stronglikedan 2y agoI already know, and I hope I'm not close to death. Happiness is the net outcome of my existence. Ashes to ashes is my legacy.
- weakfish 2y agoI feel like this also only works if you care about having a net impact. Though I suppose that’s a definition problem. My first read assumes it means an impact on the world, but I tend to believe that my life purpose is more “local” - I’d be happy to say I lived with kindness and made those around me happier.