Is there nothing worth dying for?
Immortality vs. Society (2016)
11–20 of 101 posts
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#12Is there nothing worth dying for?
Maybe there is but I doubt you'd call the reasons why the majority of people die as something that's 'worth it'.
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#13I do agree with this thesis in the sense that leaving an inheritance has no benefit to you. I've tried to explain to people that life insurance is a waste of money for this very reason but it is hard to put into words.
I think they are undervaluing procreation though. You should do it because it makes you happy - I have never met a parent who regretted having children.
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#14I would give so much to live in a society where people like Aubrey de Gray are heroes like Elon Musk is in ours. The fact that people die does not have to be immutable fate. We look back at people seeking the fountain of youth or the philosophers stone with sneering contempt but at least they had the right goal. Our acquiescence of death is the greatest tragedy ever and collectively we ought to be ashamed of ourselve…
Sneering contempt because it's currently impossible, and we built up all sort of cultural artifacts to dissuade people from doing or coping mechanism with the fact that immortality isn't possible.
The Epic of Gilgamesh(you should listen to it once) is one of our first written story which basically state this opinion about immortality.
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#15I would give so much to live in a society where people like Aubrey de Gray are heroes like Elon Musk is in ours. The fact that people die does not have to be immutable fate. We look back at people seeking the fountain of youth or the philosophers stone with sneering contempt but at least they had the right goal. Our acquiescence of death is the greatest tragedy ever and collectively we ought to be ashamed of ourselve…
Immortality would be spitting in the face of humanity. A race of immortals has no need) or very little need) for children. Such a society would be joyless and without vitality, without the “firsts” that happen only once in a lifetime no matter how long you live.
People imagine that life extension would mean that people would have time to see the world, to read every book, etc. But that’s not what makes most people happy. Most people won’t read Shakespeare no matter how long they live. Immortality would condemn your average person to a pretty awful existence.
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#16I do agree with this thesis in the sense that leaving an inheritance has no benefit to you. I've tried to explain to people that life insurance is a waste of money for this very reason but it is hard to put into words. I think they are undervaluing procreation though. You should do it because it makes you happy - I have never met a parent who regretted having children.
I've never met a parent tho didn't regret having children!
I've also never met I've who would admit to regretting it openly. Now ask them if they would recommend it for you, and they'll spill the beans for you...
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#17I would give so much to live in a society where people like Aubrey de Gray are heroes like Elon Musk is in ours. The fact that people die does not have to be immutable fate. We look back at people seeking the fountain of youth or the philosophers stone with sneering contempt but at least they had the right goal. Our acquiescence of death is the greatest tragedy ever and collectively we ought to be ashamed of ourselve…
Immortality would be spitting in the face of humanity. A race of immortals has no need) or very little need) for children. Such a society would be joyless and without vitality, without the “firsts” that happen only once in a lifetime no matter how long you live. People imagine that life extension would mean that people would have time to see the world, to read every book, etc. But that’s not what makes most people ha…
Excuse me? Lot of people enjoyed life without having children.
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#18Wow, the author must be a bit depressed or something. I don't even know where to start. > If I’m going to cease to exist, it doesn’t matter what would be in a world without me. Oh yeah, egoism at its best lol. If I die, why shouldn't everyone else? > children make a human a slave of circumstances for at least 15 years. For what? For nothing, just because. Okay... He is also realizing that children are not his "helper…
Haha, same thought. I agree with the evolution bit though. But if all humans decide to not have children, machines are not smart enough to keep evolving themselves yet or in the near future.
There was an ai at Google that designed ai for specific purposes better than the human engineers. Doesn't seem that far off to me!
https://futurism.com/google-artificial-intelligence-built-ai
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#19> For what? For nothing, just because. Don’t seek a rational explanation, you won’t find it. It doesn’t exist.
Having a child is type of experience and commitment that has no parallel in any domain of life. It shapes you in certain ways if you are devoted to it. I want to be that type of person because I recognize some qualities that I admire (like being way less self-centric).
My body is designed so that it can do this. Hence, not having children is against the design. Its like using oven as newspaper holder - nothing wrong with that, but using oven by design is something else which you can't really describe to non-oven people who never tasted cooked dishes. However, it takes time and there are number of responsibilities involved and there are huge number of people who think its just waste of time when they can simply go burger king or avoid eating at all until they must.
That is not nothing.
Yes, it can go bad, like anything else in life. You can die in fire using oven too.
I think this is rational explanation.
So called "Socratic procreation" (in short, where your procreate via recognized work/ideas instead of sexual act) on the other hand, is IMO meaningless (and maybe even compensation) for the very reasons mentioned in the blog post.
That said, I do want to have a health span (not life span) as long as possible and that has nothing to do with all of this. I can freeze my head in a jar but that doesn't really count as health (while it could be counted as life).
Re: Immortality vs. Society (2016)
#20I would give so much to live in a society where people like Aubrey de Gray are heroes like Elon Musk is in ours. The fact that people die does not have to be immutable fate. We look back at people seeking the fountain of youth or the philosophers stone with sneering contempt but at least they had the right goal. Our acquiescence of death is the greatest tragedy ever and collectively we ought to be ashamed of ourselve…
Immortality would be spitting in the face of humanity. A race of immortals has no need) or very little need) for children. Such a society would be joyless and without vitality, without the “firsts” that happen only once in a lifetime no matter how long you live. People imagine that life extension would mean that people would have time to see the world, to read every book, etc. But that’s not what makes most people ha…
That's pure speculation. We don't know what they would want, what they would do, how their society would be arranged. The only thing we know about a race of immortals is the fact that they are immortal.