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>It's just an accident that we happen to be on earth, enjoying our silly little moments, distracting ourselves as often as possible so we don't have to really f
by NovaS1X 13y ago
>It's just an accident that we happen to be on earth, enjoying our silly little moments, distracting ourselves as often as possible so we don't have to really face up to the fact that, you know, we're just temporary people with a very short time in a universe that will eventually be completely gone. And everything that you value, whether it's Shakespeare, Beethoven, da Vinci, or whatever, will be gone. The earth will be gone. The sun will be gone. There'll be nothing. The best you can do to get through life is distraction. Love works as a distraction. And work works as a distraction. You can distract yourself a billion different ways. But the key is to distract yourself.
I love this statement; there is so much truth in it. I find it is something that enters the realm of my thought quite often. The fact that at some time in my life the last event will rob me of everything I am, I know, and will render everything I have done useless to my then forgone reality. Between the truths of death of an individual and death of the universe, nihilism seems all too logical.
However, knowing this,I'm in no way a depressed individual. I don't think I could be any happier in my life. Nihilism has given me freedom.
- nostromo 13y agoMe too. I find that facing that fact makes life seem more precious and valuable. And not in an, "omg time is running out!" way, but in a "appreciate this moment" way.
- cclogg 13y agoMe too, but I am secretly hoping Elon Musk or somebody figures out how to let this generation live infinitely via mind transplants or organ re-generation. Come onnn!!!
- agumonkey 13y agoI'm under the impression that, pardon the sad thought, we'll be the con'd era. The last before major shift in medicine. We'll dream about it, maybe put our fingertips on it, but we'll go before it's there.
- jafaku 13y agoYou can always freeze your head and wait until they can give you a new body.
- pekk 13y agoNot only assuming this will be possible, but that in the future capitalism will be somehow suspended and they will start digging heads out of the morgue to resurrect for no reason.
- jafaku 13y agoThat's not what I meant. Besides does the morgue even keep bodies forever? I don't think so. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268011/Kim-Suozzi-23-head-cryogenically-frozen-reborn-cure-brain-cancer-found.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268011/Kim-Suozzi-2...
- agumonkey 13y agoOr wait for him to finalize head transplant procedures http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/06/head-transplant-italian-neuroscientist_n_3533391.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/06/head-transplant-ita... Granted I can provide a body...
- k-mcgrady 13y agoI'd be interested to see how many people would actual avail of a service like that. Religious people who believe in an after-life probably wouldn't but I'm sure a lot of others wouldn't either. Steve Jobs quote "Death is very likely to be the single best invention of life because death is life's change agent." appeals to me and people with that perspective probably wouldn't want to live infinitely.
- officemonkey 13y ago>Religious people who believe in an after-life probably wouldn't but I'm sure a lot of others wouldn't either. Once the certainty of death leaves, people will become a lot less religious. As Woody said, we're looking for distraction, and religion is a good distractor: "don't worry about death, there's this wonderful afterlife."
- ddeck 13y ago>Religious people who believe in an after-life probably wouldn't Perhaps not the very devoted, but for the rest, I'm sure they would. Just as they will avail themselves of healthcare services if they get cancer, wear seat belts, avoid flying with dodgy airlines, and a myriad of other ways they seek to avoid death.
- Zigurd 13y agoLife extension is not forever. Eventually, temperature, mass, kinetic energy, lack of sustenance, or chemical reactions will catch up to you in the form of accidental death.
- benpbenp 13y agoIndeed. Based on current mortality statistics[1], only 2% of us would manage to live 10,000 years without succumbing to accidental death of some kind, and the number that would make it 100,000 years is just vanishingly small. EDIT: This is more a consideration with respect to "cure for ageing"-type advances, not so much the mind-uploading scenario. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/acc-inj.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/acc-inj.htm
- Sven7 13y agoNihilism has given you a distraction you mean :P It also perfectly excuses the lazy. And I dont care what stories lazy people tell them selves, until it starts effecting the taxes I pay.
- dreamfactory 13y agoIf that's a reference to welfare, I'd say it has a small bearing. Looking at the UK for example (http://wheredoesmymoneygo.org/ http://wheredoesmymoneygo.org/), seems under 2% of tax goes on unemployment.
- Sven7 13y agoMy problem isn't with welfare for those born disadvantaged, its with lazy hipsters.
- dreamfactory 13y agoWhich would account for a much tinier proportion. Sounds like your problem is more moral than based on any real-world impact on your take-home pay :) In reality very few people will actually choose to sit around on the dole, particularly as they grow up a bit. I can't prove it of course but it does bring to mind the old theory that the welfare system unwittingly seeded R+D for the UK's creative industry (up through the 80's at least), and which has turned out to become a major UK export.
- tootie 13y agoIt reminds me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut. "All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental." and "We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different."
- ygmelnikova 13y agoLife is a vapour, and accounting* 9 - 5 is the best distraction you can come up with? * Insert career choice here.
- nashadelic 13y agoThis statement is deep realization and the fact that everything is ephemeral is hard and painful. But there's gotta be more to life than moving from one distraction to the next. I guess it's a religious thing; a greater sense of purpose.