11–20 of 70 posts
Although Edgar Allan Poe is well known, I think his influence is under appreciated. He pretty much invented the detective story genre with "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and his "Eureka: A Prose Poem" was early sci-fi that more or less invented the idea of the Big Bang.
Alternatively, his life was exactly what it had to be for him to do what he was supposed to.
I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?
What is a billionaire's lavish life to the toil of an artist, inventor, or revolutionary? We all wind up rotting in the blink of an eye. Luxury, pleasure, and dopamine are as fleeting as youth.
It's better to do something of note.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?
"long life" is geologically just wishful thinking. We all have the same quality of life outcome when compared against the vastness of time. What is a billionaire's lavish life to the toil of an artist, inventor, or revolutionary? We all wind up rotting in the blink of an eye. Luxury, pleasure, and dopamine are as fleeting as youth. It's better to do something of note.
Alternatively, his life was exactly what it had to be for him to do what he was supposed to.
I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"long life" is geologically just wishful thinking. We all have the same quality of life outcome when compared against the vastness of time. What is a billionaire's lavish life to the toil of an artist, inventor, or revolutionary? We all wind up rotting in the blink of an eye. Luxury, pleasure, and dopamine are as fleeting as youth. It's better to do something of note.
If you lived twice as long, you could do two things of note. Twice as better.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"long life" is geologically just wishful thinking. We all have the same quality of life outcome when compared against the vastness of time. What is a billionaire's lavish life to the toil of an artist, inventor, or revolutionary? We all wind up rotting in the blink of an eye. Luxury, pleasure, and dopamine are as fleeting as youth. It's better to do something of note.
If you lived twice as long, you could do two things of note. Twice as better.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?
"long life" is geologically just wishful thinking. We all have the same quality of life outcome when compared against the vastness of time. What is a billionaire's lavish life to the toil of an artist, inventor, or revolutionary? We all wind up rotting in the blink of an eye. Luxury, pleasure, and dopamine are as fleeting as youth. It's better to do something of note.
You could just as easily say “we’ll all end up rotting in the blink of an eye, so better to be happy and enjoy it than waste your time trying pointlessly to do something of note that will be forgotten”.
I produced CC0 ebook compilations of Poe’s short fiction and poetry for Standard Ebooks if anyone is interested in diving deeper into his writing: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe (I’d also recommend Leonid Andreyev’s short fiction; he’s often referred to as Russia’s Poe: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/leonid-andreyev/short-fict... )
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?
"long life" is geologically just wishful thinking. We all have the same quality of life outcome when compared against the vastness of time. What is a billionaire's lavish life to the toil of an artist, inventor, or revolutionary? We all wind up rotting in the blink of an eye. Luxury, pleasure, and dopamine are as fleeting as youth. It's better to do something of note.
And you have time to avoid philosophical discussions that distract you from the above.
His work is really cool, and I wish I read him earlier.