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Well since the fear of death is so seared onto our existence, and since we’ve already experienced non-existence, doesn’t that imply that we’re fundamentally so afraid of not existing because we’ve experienced not existing and it’s horrible?
Check out the science fiction novel The Reality Dysfunction by Peter Hamilton.
In the distant future humanity finds out that an afterlife exists for every sentient beeing. The problem is that the afterlife is fucking terrible. So bad in fact that the dead souls would do anything to posess a living body once more.
I really liked it.
Death isn’t the problem. The transition otoh can be awful.
I subscribe to the idea of consciousness as an emergent property of a complex system. And the consciousness currently typing this just happens to be “me” at the moment. Eventually this meat sack shuts down and this consciousness emerges in a newly formed system elsewhere. Maybe another person. Maybe a giraffe. Maybe some life form in some galaxy we can’t even see from here.
It’s not cosmic. I don’t take any life experiences with me. I’m not some eternal being learning lessons about the universe with some eventual higher-plane goal in mind. It’s purely utilitarian and just how things work.
Being a giraffe might be cool tho…
I think that view would equally make you all currently existing giraffes, so you don’t even have to wait! There’s not really a meaningful distinction between emergent properties of current systems and those of systems after your meat sack rots.
When we were nothing we had no concept of being something, so we had nothing to lose. Now that we are something, we have the concept of loss, and in life loss is usually painful and saddening. I feel like it makes sense that we would imagine the loss of our whole selves as being painful/sad, whether or not that’s actually the case.
So,
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is what you’re saying?
Take you upvote and get out.
So the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
FOMO, mostly.
Bro, think of all the void parties you’re missing out on right now by existing.
Will the Cosmic Owl be there?
Is it even a party without them?
When you get to be old enough, you realize everything is just a repeat or remix of what you’ve already experienced. FOMO will die with that realization.
This is such a smooth brain take. Imagine being narrow minded and arrogant enough to believe there are no new experiences outside of those you’ve lived. No one in the history of human existence can truthfully claim that.
Totally valid opinion. Talk to me in thirty years… See if it holds up.
In a way, everything can new and unprecedented, or something that always happened, depending on how you view it
dude, i’ve been old enough. people are creating new every day. go experience it. not everything is television
I would miss out on all the new experiences that would happen if I wasn’t here lingering like a fart
I’m gonna stick around for as long as I can
It’s not the fear of ceasing to be—that can sometimes seem downright inviting—it’s the fear of how my death and subsequent absence would affect the people who love me. That’s the only thing that’s kept me going when things have been bad.
I’m not afraid of what comes after death, I want to experience a good death. And I’m afraid that I won’t. And there’s only the one chance.
I want my brain to shut down in a cascade, like they have found by doing EEG scans of dying people. It’s supposed that this cascade may be what causes the life flashing before your eyes and peaceful feelings often reported by people who have been resuscitated.
I want that. I want a good death.
yeah, i have already experience severe pain enough. i have been told that your brain is supposed to release chemicals when it gets extreme enough, but the last time (if you press me for details i won’t give them. i don’t visit those memories) i did not pass out. i’m concerned i’ll keep fighting until i can’t, even when i’m too far gone, because i’m just that dipshit.
The meaning of life, to us, is chemical. You do something evolutionarily advantageous, get a chemical atta boy.
We are designed to survive. Dying is locally a disadvantage to evolution, so we are programmed to fear and avoid death.
And if you want to be more grandiose and a bit philosophical about it - we are the Universe learning about itself. We literally are starstuff - we have been created from the material ejected into space by exploding stars. But we managed to develop intelligence and a curious mind. So, the meaning of life, is to learn and contribute to learning as much as possible.
Sadly, it’s all for naught. Either the eventual heat death of the universe, contraction, or something strange like a change in vacuum state will destroy any contributions we could make. That is, of course, assuming we outlast our own tendency to kill each other and destroy our environment.
I’m more concerned about the transfer point.
it’s ok. you won’t remember it anyway
The pain of dying
What is “fact’s” a contraction of?
Be welcome to the RAM; Random Apostrophying Movement.
Yes but it’s the survival instinct ingrained into our consciousness by the cosmos is kicking in. I’ve imagined it multiple times and I still feel dread.
The point of pain where your body shuts down is actually not that bad. I could watch myself die no problem. You don’t really experience death anyways. Your consciousness exists in user space but your body functions in kernel space. If kernel space dies, you don’t even get a memo. It is all kinda shocking and hard to take in when a super traumatic thing happens like breaking your neck back and a bunch of other stuff. It is like you are not part of it. The pain kinda just fades into a noise you barely hear your own thoughts over. I’ve been damn close to dead, and only barely recall little bits and pieces while missing most of three hours. I’ve watched people die from far far less severe injuries. They did not see their kernel space fail. So yeah I don’t think it matters. Smaller injuries hurt worse most of the time. The really big stuff passes a threshold where pain is kinda irrelevant.
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