5 ms·

For me, the fear is not of dying, but of permanently losing the potential to ever experience any aspect of life again. It's an unsettling thought that I will ne

For me, the fear is not of dying, but of permanently losing the potential to ever experience any aspect of life again. It's an unsettling thought that I will never be able to experience fun, laughter, love, or success again. I won't have ideas, I won't hope, I won't dream. My conscious mind will simply join the eternal void and cease to exist. I really dislike the idea of not only having no experiences, but never even having a chance of having any experiences again. I'd like to believe there could be some kind of afterlife, but I think it's overwhelmingly likely that there isn't one. That's the only thing that frightens me. There's also the aspect that I'll never be able to experience the undoubtedly amazing inventions and innovations in technology, food, entertainment, etc. that will sweep the world in the next few centuries and millennia. Many future humans will lead lives we could never even begin to dream of, and I won't even be able to observe that from afar, let alone actually participate in it. Another fear of mine is that I will have just barely undershot the window of biological immortality. It's very possible I've missed it by 200-300 years, maybe even 100 years, which on the grand scale of human history and the universe's history is exceedingly small. So close, and yet so far.

philwelch 12y ago
> For me, the fear is not of dying, but of permanently losing the potential to ever experience any aspect of life again. It's an unsettling thought that I will never be able to experience fun, laughter, love, or success again. I won't have ideas, I won't hope, I won't dream. My conscious mind will simply join the eternal void and cease to exist. Sure, but that's no different than before you were born, and that wasn't so bad.
- meowface 12y ago
  When you first get a taste of something you don't want to let it go. It wasn't so bad because there was no other possible state; it is bad, from an objective perspective, in comparison to the alternative (consciousness). I'd much rather be alive and who I am now than be an unborn "baby".
reinhardt 12y ago
Interesting how most people fear death but for different reasons. I fear death as much as the next guy and yet it's not about "missing out". I don't get much pleasure out of life or everyday experiences anyway so the prospect of this ending sooner or later is a non-issue, or even a good thing. It's the idea of nonexistence, nothingness, void that I can't conceive and keeps or wakes me up in the middle of the night.
- meowface 12y ago
  > I don't get much pleasure out of life or everyday experiences anyway That's a very existentially depressing statement. I tend not to experience "true" happiness on a daily basis, but at least in the course of a year I can accrue many experiences which make me very happy. I sincerely hope you eventually come to find general pleasure with life.

philwelch 12y ago

> For me, the fear is not of dying, but of permanently losing the potential to ever experience any aspect of life again. It's an unsettling thought that I will never be able to experience fun, laughter, love, or success again. I won't have ideas, I won't hope, I won't dream. My conscious mind will simply join the eternal void and cease to exist. Sure, but that's no different than before you were born, and that wasn't so bad.

meowface 12y ago
When you first get a taste of something you don't want to let it go. It wasn't so bad because there was no other possible state; it is bad, from an objective perspective, in comparison to the alternative (consciousness). I'd much rather be alive and who I am now than be an unborn "baby".

reinhardt 12y ago

Interesting how most people fear death but for different reasons. I fear death as much as the next guy and yet it's not about "missing out". I don't get much pleasure out of life or everyday experiences anyway so the prospect of this ending sooner or later is a non-issue, or even a good thing. It's the idea of nonexistence, nothingness, void that I can't conceive and keeps or wakes me up in the middle of the night.

meowface 12y ago
> I don't get much pleasure out of life or everyday experiences anyway That's a very existentially depressing statement. I tend not to experience "true" happiness on a daily basis, but at least in the course of a year I can accrue many experiences which make me very happy. I sincerely hope you eventually come to find general pleasure with life.