From: polysync@pobox.com
Date: Thu Jan 31 2002 - 08:40:46 MST
>> I'll be deeply saddened if [...] six billion people choose to voluntarily
>> die,
> And is it *bad* for the people involved if it's their choice. I don't see
> why, necessarily.
Their _educated_ choice? I'm not sure I would call any of us, who haven't even
lived a hundred years, and that's a hundred years in today's limited society, I
wouldn't call any of us educated on the subject of living forever.
> My wife does not wish to live forever -- she realizes it may well be
> possible, but her choice will be to die "naturally."
Do you think she would feel differently if she pondered the idea for a few
more years - say just a thousand more?
> If I do manage to live essentially forever, as I hope and mostly believe will
> happen, then I'll sure as fuck miss her, but I won't feel sad for her.
I have a wife and four children. It's difficult to think about the far future.
I don't know. But that's my answer for now - "I don't know" - and I'm going
(try) to avoid any choices (like death) that would forever preclude getting to
"now I know".
> This is her own choice and her own method for structuring her life and her
> psyche. [...] There is a oneness with nature that some people feel, which
> leads them to feel the "right" thing is to die a natural death. This same
> oneness with nature makes these same people very uncomfortable with the idea
> of themselves personally uploading.
I think that's because she was raised in a society with an entire history of
inevitable death.
> I am pissed by people who want to stop ME from uploading -- it's none of
> their damn business.
In the end, I would/will accept the same for people who choose to die. It's
not my choice. But that's not going to make me like it.
And I disagree with your wording, it _is_ your business, but it's not your
choice.
> If I do manage to live essentially forever, as I hope and mostly believe
My nightmare scenario:
Student 1: "It's too bad Uncle Rob didn't live until they solved the problems
of immortality."
Student 2: "Yeh, if only he could have held on for another 800 years. The
cure was just around the corner. Then he would have had plenty of time to
finish his theories."
Student 1: "Yep. Well, I have to get back to this report, it's due in 3
millennia, and I've barely started. It's about time I graduated, 5 million
years in school is just too long."
800 years. Just another 800 years....
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