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At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

theguardian.com

61–70 of 287 posts

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#61
post #49

“All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise and will become separated from me”— Siddhartha Gautama. As a Buddhist we do “contemplation of death” meditation on a regular basis. It involves imagining our last few hours on our deathbed. It is a wonderful exercise to help put things in context. It makes you behave differently towards people you meet, even strangers.

I have spent hours mediating in graveyards. Also helpful is the mediation on the 32 parts of the body to help you loosen your attachment. https://www.imsb.org/contemplating-the-32-parts-of-the-body/

Thank you so much! I have Shaila Katherine’s book “Focused and Fearless” but not completed the reading. She is an amazing teacher.

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#62
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what? You're saying life is not worth living if you're not at least middle class with no big struggles?

Yes this argument could be repurposed into: if you are born in Africa there is no reason to live

Africa is a big continent, there is a wide difference in income and education level, from country to country and even inside each country.

If you have some spare money to pay a refrigerator for 100 years, you are probably spoiled and want nice living conditions afterwards.

Anyway, imagine you live outside a city and have only a small plot of land for subsistence. After the 100 years you don't have even the small plot of land and don't have the small herd that you inherit from your parents. How/where are you going to live? Farming has changed in the last 100 years. Artificial nitrogen fertilizers have slightly more than 100 years, now there are genetically modified crops, the preferred crops have changed. (Do you know how to harvest soy?) The cattle management has also changed, antibiotics, vitamins supplements, the number of free range herds is decreasing,...

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#63
post #2

Lots of things matter but nothing matters without relationships.

I think you're right - according to category theory, only relationships of the objects matter, not the objects themselves.

That's almost all of math, really

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#64
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think even if you ignore the environment, and cost, the argument for cryonics is not very good. Let's say someone is successfully revived, there's still heart attacks, cancer, crime (and not just "lowly" criminals, crime also happens within families for inheritance, for example), accidents (car, or just slipping in the shower), earthquakes, ... The list is pretty much endless. Death is unavoidable, IMHO it's best t…

The argument is zero vs non-zero and anything else is noise

zero vs non-zero of what? If you say the argument is dying now vs dying later, sure, I'll agree.

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#65
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the argument is this: certain death vs a miniscule one in a quadrillion chance or lower. It will always tilt the other way no matter what the current scientific status quo is saying because it's possible in theory and it has happened to living organisms before just not humans. Whether it's good for environment, your siblings pocket etc is not part of the core argument.

You're describing Pascal's wager.

I am not. That wager is about something unverifiable and unprogressable. This is based on biology and science and can become a reliaty. So not even close.

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#66
post #33
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if only for the legal status of property/inheritance: if you are to be revided, who owns your wealth? Do you children inherit? And/when you are revived, what resources do you have? Is your family/descendants in charge of you, or you of them?

Cryogenic preservation is treated like mummification, you’re just declared dead. At which point your assets are likely to just get spent. If you want to be safe, set up a trust that pays to you preferably and if not then to any descendants you have. That’s unlikely to work if you’re somehow revived in several hundred years, but it’s better than hopping random people will hand you money voluntarily.

You can't have a trust with no trustee. Is your trustee really afraid of getting sued by a corpse with no heirs?

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#67
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Down voting Buddhism! Ha! Maybe if I wore my Ochre robe you would all upvote me!

Your rude attitude and misrepresentation of the ideas you are trying to express is why you are having trouble conversing here today.

"Your rude attitude" Ha! You should meet a monk sometime? Wrong audience, yes. Rude? Ha! So what! It exposes the people who are still attached to their ego.

If you do not understand it is just you who does not understand. Misinterpretation? No, just a deeper understanding.

Sorry I interrupted the death porn. I will go now.

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sound just like the argument for the worship of god.

Organisms have survived thousands of years frozen. God doesn't exist scientifically.

"God" is in the gaps, a placeholder for all the things not known to science, including reviving an Avatar in a block of ice.

Re: At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcor, for example, charges what amounts to a fee to perform the preservation and a fee to go into a fund that will be invested to pay for your ongoing preservation. "Not giving your family an additional $80,000 on your death" amounts to the same thing as "taking $X from them in perpetuity", but it's psychologically different. It's all about the cost-benefit analysis, whose outcome may be different for different peop…

"Alcor, for example, charges what amounts to a fee to perform the preservation and a fee to go into a fund that will be invested to pay for your ongoing preservation." Which just adds another gamble. What are the chances of the economy having enough consistent growth that those investments last longer than it takes to revive you?

Are you saying life is a gamble and immortality is not guaranteed? Yes, most people know that.
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