How Long Have I Got Left? • Hacker News Board

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#71

Post by 6d0debc071 » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 12:00 PM UTC

obituary_latte wrote: post #14

taylodl wrote: post #4

"I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed both nothing and everything. Before my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. After the diagnosis, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when." Within this passage lies the meaning of life.

For you, maybe. And even then, probably not. It's so easy to try and attempt to break it down. And every-time we work towards that, we are neglecting the true nature of the chaos from which we were sewn. You don't know when you will die. I don't know when either of us will die. OMFG it can't make sense. Should it? Do I prepare? If so, how? WTF will my dog do? The truth is: you can't know the truth until the moment co…

> The question should not be "when will I die?" but rather "how will I feel about my life in the last moment I'm lucidly able to do so?"

--------------------

The second question includes the first as a subset - if I knew I were going to die in a couple of years, there's no way I'd work on things I don't enjoy that have a longer-term pay-off. But, if I live longer than those two years, and have spent everything having fun within them, then I'm kinda stuffed for the long run.

We're all gamblers, and happiness may be what we want to walk away from the table with but the odds still matter.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#72

Post by factorizer » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 12:41 PM UTC

dollar wrote: post #44

For Christ's sake, is there no safe haven in this world for the unapologetic atheist? I thought that Hacker News might be the one safe zone where Jesus brainwashing is not regurgitated to the masses, but I guess not. News flash for everyone, death is inevitable, and people do not rise from the grave, whether they harbor sympathy for humans or not. Life's meaning, if there is one, is at this stage incomprehensible to…

Religious discussions aside, wtf do you mean with "getting off of this planet"? Whereto? There's nothing around for TRILLIONS of klicks!

First fuck up the planet, then leave, does not appear to be a trait of highly developed civilisations. More one of perishing ones.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#73

Post by thomasz » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 12:42 PM UTC

vanderZwan wrote: post #68

thomasz wrote: post #63

> We never cite detailed statistics, and usually advise against Googling survival numbers, assuming the average patient doesn’t possess a nuanced understanding of statistics When I was at the receiving end of that talk, this attitude made me incredibly angry. They know exactly that we will look up those numbers, they are just too afraid to have a honest discussion with us. People make very bad decisions because those…

And would you suggest doctors would take two to three extra hours with every patient to work them through a basic statistics class which still isn't sufficient to explain the concept?

Two to three extra hours is vastly exaggerated, and not that much time for someone who needs to know the chances of dying a horrible death. I might add that this is an objection based on economic argumentation, which, while not invalid, is not the one given by doctors. They argue like the author of the article did: That they know better than you how you will react to this kind of information, and that they can manage your morale by taking certain freedoms with the truth.

I think that this is an unworthy and authoritarian approach which only leads to distrust: How can that guy say that I will certainly survive when Wikipedia, Lymphoma.org and the fucking New England Journal of Medicine agree that there is a one in five chance of me biting the dust in the next few years?

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#74

Post by kaybe » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 12:59 PM UTC

factorizer wrote: post #72

dollar wrote: post #44

For Christ's sake, is there no safe haven in this world for the unapologetic atheist? I thought that Hacker News might be the one safe zone where Jesus brainwashing is not regurgitated to the masses, but I guess not. News flash for everyone, death is inevitable, and people do not rise from the grave, whether they harbor sympathy for humans or not. Life's meaning, if there is one, is at this stage incomprehensible to…

Religious discussions aside, wtf do you mean with "getting off of this planet"? Whereto? There's nothing around for TRILLIONS of klicks! First fuck up the planet, then leave, does not appear to be a trait of highly developed civilisations. More one of perishing ones.

I don't think that's what he meant. This planet is great, we should definitely keep it and take care of it. But it is just one single planet, we should try and hedge against problems out of our control (such as big meteorites).

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#75

Post by 1stop » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 1:20 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #26

nightski wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The logical person inside of me wants to say that there is no meaning to life. But of course, that is not how I feel.

The way I resolve it: meaning is something we construct. So yes, there's no Meaning of Life written in the stars, no absolute truth there. But you can make as much meaning as you need. Personally, I like that better. If somebody tried to tell me the One True Meaning of Life, the first thing I'd do is argue with 'em. This way I get to argue with myself.

I think you misinterpret the question. It's not "What is the meaning of my/your life?" - it's "What is the meaning of life?" or put another way: "Why does life exist? and why should/does it continue?"

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#76

Post by has2k1 » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 1:21 PM UTC

cliveowen wrote: post #56

I get so scared and sad when I read these articles. I always wonder "could it be prevented?", sure, you know you shouldn't smoke, you shouldn't be overweight and you should do at least 15 minutes of exercise every day, but does it really help? I bet a doctor would know better than anyone else how to live a healthy life, so this obviously begs the question: could cancer really be prevented?

According to the professionals of the field, there is little hope for ever preventing cancer. For a protein life that has sufficient complexity, cells have to divide/replicate to maintain the life of the protein machine, e.g a human body. Stuff can go wrong with the division/replication, it can be inaccurate in so many ways but what matters most is that the replicates can also replicate.

Some cells die before they attempt a single replication. This could be due to a disease attack, vulnerable imperfect replicate, plus plus. As long as those that get to replicate can make up the numbers for those that die early. Cells that are resilient and can replicate fast and frequent enough before they die tend to pass on forms of this attribute to their imperfect clones.

With time, many types of cells in the whole protein body get to attempt replications faster and faster. Pure natural selection at work -- a concrete example, smoking kills lung cells, so for the lung cells to maintain their numbers they have to replicate early enough in their life time and frequently.

Most environmental pressures seem to force the biology of the cells in this direction, which increases the likelihood of replication eager cells aka cancerous cells.

That is why at this moment in time, prevention seems bleak.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#77

Post by 300bps » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 1:21 PM UTC

obituary_latte wrote: post #19

sdegutis wrote: post #17

For a long time I've been pretty worried about my mortality. But ever since I became a Christian a couple years ago, I've been much more at peace about it. Not all the way (yet?), but much more than before. I highly recommend looking into Christianity to anyone else feeling that same fear.

Please don't downvote just because you disagree. Have a discussion if you're comfortable with your beliefs. It would do more good for all involved.

Sorry, I was raised Christian and realized at 12 years old that it was complete bunk. How did I realize that? I read the bible. Literally every day. I read it cover to cover at least 15 times. It contains pearls of wisdom floating in a sea of nonsense. No rational person can read that book cover to cover and remain a Christian. Which is why Christians have bible study groups where they focus on John 3:16 and other pretty verses while ignoring the wackjob parts that make up most of the bible.

But it is pointless for me to even point this out to you so I'll stop here.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#78

Post by 300bps » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 1:25 PM UTC

chroma wrote: post #41

Yhippa wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you say the difference is?

They differ in their belief about the deceased's current subjective experience (or lack thereof). To the religious, death is an illusion. After a short time on the earth, everybody meets up again in the afterlife. It may be sad, but not too sad. To those who don't believe in an afterlife, death is real . When someone dies, everything about them is annihilated. A lifetime of experiences destroyed; a unique personality…

The universe existed for ~ 14 billion years and did just fine without me. It will probably be good for at least another 14 billion years after I'm gone.

And the funny thing is, I have never lost a minute of sleep over not having existed for those initial 14 billion years.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#79

Post by narrator » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 1:36 PM UTC

300bps wrote: post #77

obituary_latte wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't downvote just because you disagree. Have a discussion if you're comfortable with your beliefs. It would do more good for all involved.

Sorry, I was raised Christian and realized at 12 years old that it was complete bunk. How did I realize that? I read the bible. Literally every day. I read it cover to cover at least 15 times. It contains pearls of wisdom floating in a sea of nonsense. No rational person can read that book cover to cover and remain a Christian. Which is why Christians have bible study groups where they focus on John 3:16 and other pr…

The bible makes as much sense as most ancient literature. I read it and compared it to ancient Greek, Roman and Babylonian literature. It's interesting to compare and contrast what values are emphasized over others. The old testament is very into offspring and private property, mainly in the form of livestock. The Greeks are more into glory for its own sake. Gilgamesh is about friendship, civilization vs.nature and trying to live forever.

Re: How Long Have I Got Left?

#80

Post by aaronsnoswell » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 1:40 PM UTC

I don't understand how everyone here was able to read this article - I browse to that link and get a message telling me it is locked behind a paywall, requiring my subscription before I can read it. Do all HN readers also subscribe to the NY Times?