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Do you fear death?

skywalker

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Originally Posted by Nosu3
I don't fear being dead because it is the equivalent of pre-birth and we've been non-existent for billions of years (or longer if you consider the possibility of previous universes). It is the transition to a permanent and eternal loss of consciousness and self-awareness that I find frightening. I've conceptualized it about 3 times during deep thought and the experience was kind of bizarre, almost an OOBE with a rush/cold sweat. It changed my perspective and created a focus on good health and prolonging life by most means, but it hasn't been too much of an inconvenience. It also manifested into existential anxiety for some time. Is the transhumanism movement similar to the life extension movement? I think it is possible, there are biological factors which effect life spans for different species and they might be altered. The problem is we will need strict population control for human life preservation to work. The current population level would need to be greatly reduced because there is too much strain on the environment/wildlife but also chaotic societies that will be better adapted with lower populations. video on the subject:
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A couple of posts were on this. Even if it is equivalent, imagine you are given a wonderful gift. If the gift was taken away it'd be the same as before you were given it, but don't you still fear losing the gift? It is inevitable and a certainty, and it happens to everyone, but eternity is a long time. A lot of people said no, but I think in at least some sense most of you do. We do so many things to hold onto life, which at least to me is a sign that we fear death.
 

tagutcow

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Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard
Originally Posted by Gewehr
Kinda
My firm belief is I'm going to heaven (serious)
But sometimes I wonder, what if once you die that's it? As in, the lights turn off and you stop existing.


Good news and bad news.

Bad news: that's precisely what will happen.


What Arrogant Bastard says is absolutely correct... if you're a Jew.
 

Nosu3

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Originally Posted by skywalker
A couple of posts were on this. Even if it is equivalent, imagine you are given a wonderful gift. If the gift was taken away it'd be the same as before you were given it, but don't you still fear losing the gift?

Yeah, wasn't clear about it. I only meant the state of being dead is nothing to fear because it is nothing, there is no fear.
 

Eason

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As I get older, I think I'll fear it less. After a while, you start to wind down, and you figure your time is up.

I had an absolutely terrifying nightmare a few weeks back about being executed by lethal injection though, everything went black and I was waiting for my heart to stop or to slowly suffocate, I woke up just as I started to die. Really fucked me up since it felt so real, definately no way for any man to die. I guess that's what happens when you watch the whole series of Oz. in like 2 weeks.
 

Eason

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Originally Posted by Jerome
^ Nosu3: Funnily I was just drinking some red wine when I was watching that video you posted there...lol..

Once one has seen dead bodies one nearly involunatrily compares them to living ones and to oneself and then the notion of some essence or soul that animates the living being becomes nearly overpowering...I don't say that there really exists anything like that, maybe not, I'm just relating what I myself felt when I was/am confronted with those things.


Whenever I see cadavers I can only think of one thing: Beef jerky
 

tagutcow

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Originally Posted by skywalker
It is inevitable and a certainty, and it happens to everyone, but eternity is a long time. A lot of people said no, but I think in at least some sense most of you do. We do so many things to hold onto life, which at least to me is a sign that we fear death.
This is a good point, especially when you approach a topic like this on a forum dominated by a certain kind of materialist/aspirational/go-go-getter mentality, as this one most certainly is. Entertaining these thoughts can be a real drag, but we can distract ourselves in the meantime with material things, and perhaps our fetishism with these things-in-themselves indicates a desire to escape our own angsty humanity and join them in cooly impassive deathlessness. There is also a pervasive pseudo-alpha-male machismo around here that might compel some to put on a good show of being flinty about our mortality, but that's just because death is such a distant prospect for most of us. Even as resolute an atheist as Christopher Hitchens has steeled himself for the possibility that he may very well make a panicked, desparate deathbed conversion. Our shared fear of death is an essential part of our humanity, and could very well be the foundation stone of all human empathy. So I can't take too seriously the insouciance of a bunch of young geeks who have fallen into money and now consider themselves to be Masters Of The Universe, having figured out all things to a degree that earlier, more death-conscious societies never could. Time has a way of stripping away such certitudes. No matter all else, we are human. We are weak-- and none so weak as those who think they're strong.
 

thekunk07

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i imagine it's like that feeling when you go under anaesthesia. i don;t fear it, i fear for those i would leave behind
 

TheDarkKnight

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I think in all likelihood it is the end of consciousness, you cease to exist. While I am agnostic, I do believe we are just animals and organic and there's no after life.

While not as fun as the "bathing with blonde virgins for eternity" image of heaven, I do take comfort in that if you're buried you become part of the earth - your energy lives on to make trees, plants and animals for thousands of years. This is why I like the idea of being buried and having a tree planted on my grave.

The couple of times I've nearly died I've been very scared, but in a self preservation "let's stay alive at all costs" manner.

If I was to die reasonably peacefully in the next 10 years or so, I would be very, very disappointed rather than scared. Very disappointed at the things I had not achieved - raising a family well, creating an estate - both financially and through a well brought up family, seeing grand children.
 

tagutcow

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Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight
I think in all likelihood it is the end of consciousness, you cease to eWhile not as fun as the "bathing with blonde virgins for eternity" image of heaven, I do take comfort in that if you're buried you become part of the earth - your energy lives on to make trees, plants and animals for thousands of years. This is why I like the idea of being buried and having a tree planted on my grave.

Paging Dane Cook. Dane Cook to the white courtesy phone.
 

Nosu3

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Originally Posted by thekunk07
i imagine it's like that feeling when you go under anaesthesia.

I think so too, but that's why I don't allow them to use it on me.
 

Dar FTW

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@tagutcow-no way in hell hitchens will make a death bed conversion, although rumors from religious nuts will definitely be thrown around.

empathy is tricky. possibly just a neurological misfiring or even a trait that helps us achieve the only objectives we have as humans:
1. stay alive (which allows us to)
2. pass on our genes
 

Nosu3

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Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight
You tough mother ******!
For wisdom teeth. I had to go to several doctors before finding one who would do the surgery without general anesthetic, just local.
Originally Posted by Dar FTW
empathy is tricky. possibly just a neurological misfiring or even a trait that helps us achieve the only objectives we have as humans: 1. stay alive (which allows us to) 2. pass on our genes
No there is more to empathy than that. Humans are social animals and empathy helps keep order. Procreating isn't always an objective because humans are able to live passed fertility.
 

Dar FTW

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^there isn't more to empathy than that. even if we assume what you say about empathy keeping order, ultimately it's still aiding our survival. we're genetically programmed to pass on our genes that promote survival and a feeling like empathy may help. thats how natural selection works

the fact that we live past fertility can be attributed to modern medicine. humans have existed for like 200,000 yrs. and only the last few hundred have we been able to outlive fertility.
 

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