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Originally Posted by JimOfferman  I wasn't talking about people remembering what I said before I left the room. Yes, in the strictest sense of the word, you'll be remembered. But I was talking about how we remember those who are no longer with us, through stories and sometimes legend. Perhaps you are right that the person being remembered doesn't necessarily have to be dead - but he or she would have to be absent for an extended period of time (specially if all who remember also live forever).
Man was not designed to live forever. Nature could have evolved perfect organisms that never die of old age - but it didn't. We have been purposely programmed to die after a certain amount of time. Life needs death to succeed, so - in my mind - to cheat death is to cheat life.
I don't want to cheat life, I want to enjoy it. Every second of it, while it lasts.
I disagree. Choices are devoid of power and meaning if you have the time to try everything. If you have all eternity, you don't have to choose how to spend your time. You can just use brute force and experience everything there is to experience. The individual experiences then become meaningless... little more than ticks on your "done that" list.
Of course, I also prefer to read books I like and, if I have the time, read them again and again. But an important part of the satisfaction of picking up a good book is having to choose from the hundreds, or thousands, or millions even of different books available to me. Out of a million possible choices, I picked the one that made me chuckle at every other line.
I think where we differ fundamentally, is that you seem to desire to experience everything there is to experience in the universe. I, on the other hand, am content with the few cherry picked treasures I find on my path from birth to death.
I just don't believe that endless time and endless freedom results in a more meaningful life. Just as creativity needs boundaries to flourish (just compare the brilliance of The Matrix to the relative mediocrity of Matrix: Revolutions), a life needs boundaries - a beginning and an end - to be meaningful.
Jim. |
Jim, i agree with you there.
the big difference i feel is that my goals are exponential and transcend the normal lifespan of a human being. not to say, that i have grand goals, but i dont limit my goals or desires to one lifespan.
plus, as a child i have always had the feeling that living forever was a possibility.