Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris on April 24, 2012 at 4:26am

Being an Atheist I don't fear death. I read that typically Atheist don't and that mildly religious people fear death the most. 

Permalink Reply by Adriana on April 24, 2012 at 11:35am

When I rationalize it, I don't fear death. Death is but a moment, and after that, it's nothingness, just like before I was born. Almost the same as when I was put under anesthesia. You're just switched off.

Of course, we come equipped with a fear a death which is basically survival instinct; if we absolutely had no fear whatsoever, we would have become extinct. So I'm sure that when the moment comes, if I'm conscious about it, I'll feel fear, whether I like it or not. Kind of how the hair on the back of your neck rises when you are on top of the roller-coaster about to take the plunge.

I do not plan on checking out of life too early, I'm happy to be alive and in no hurry to die but I want to live only as long as I'm healthy. In the end, I agree with you, Marianne, when it happens, it happens. Thinking too much about death is not very healthy, I think, neither is obsessing about medical advances, etc. This is the reason I find transhumanism kind of unpalatable.

Permalink Reply by Davy on April 24, 2012 at 12:41pm

The fullness of time will determine my demise. I fear not my ending, it brings me no sorrow. 

Permalink Reply by Neal on April 24, 2012 at 8:56pm

I will live forever, it's all my conscious mind can know.

Permalink Reply by Marianne on April 24, 2012 at 10:02pm

I agree.

Permalink Reply by Chris on April 25, 2012 at 2:53am

Dr. Peter Gasser is the one to see for end-of-life anxiety treatments using LSD and psychotherapy.

Permalink Reply by Chris on April 28, 2012 at 9:42pm

For those with too much money who refuse to die there's always the Alcor Life Extension Foundation

Permalink Reply by Chris on April 30, 2012 at 3:09am

Lucretius argues against the fear of death by stating that death is the dissipation of a being's material mind. Lucretius uses the analogy of a vessel, stating that the physical body is the vessel that holds both the mind (mens) and spirit (anima) of a human being. Neither the mind nor spirit can survive independent of the body. Thus Lucretius states that once the vessel (the body) shatters (dies) its contents (mind and spirit) can no longer exist. So, as a simple ceasing-to-be, death can be neither good nor bad for this being. Being completely devoid of sensation and thought, a dead person cannot miss being alive. According to Lucretius, fear of death is a projection of terrors experienced in life, of pain that only a living (intact) mind can feel. Lucretius also puts forward the 'symmetry argument' against the fear of death. In it, he says that people who fear the prospect of eternal non-existence after death should think back to the eternity of non-existence before their birth, which they probably do not fear.

Permalink Reply by Adriana on April 30, 2012 at 7:21am

Perhaps what we fear is the moment just before dying, because nature equipped us with survival instincts. Of course Lucretius is right, fearing non-existence makes no sense.

Permalink Reply by Michel on April 30, 2012 at 9:55am

Yes, being alive is habit-forming =)

Permalink Reply by Ken Wheeler on April 30, 2012 at 9:43am

Since the existence that we are experiencing right now is the only provable one I refuse to let go of it. I will be availing myself the use of cryonics since it's the only viable option available at the time. Why anyone would chose to cease to exist is beyond me. Immortality, more than likely, would already be a reality now and for quite some time if it were not for the bullshit fairytale nonsense of religion promising a happy land of clouds and rainbows. Of coarse the cursed church's repression of scientific inquiry and advancement for the past millennia and a half is fully responsible for our current primitive state of technology. In their pursuit of the tyrannically controlled after life they have actually destroyed the real possibility for eternal life by their ignorance and interference for countless individuals now forever lost to time. 

Permalink Reply by Adriana on April 30, 2012 at 11:04am

I disagree. I honestly do not think religious belief has completely hindered technology with respect to life extension, although certainly religious ignorance interferes negatively with some aspects of research (I'm thinking embryonic stem cell research in the US, for example). Technology is driven by money, and there is a lot of money in lengthening people's lives. It has worked to some extent, already. In fact, we already spend a lot of money extending the lifespan of humans, at least, rich humans, mostly. As a biologist, I can tell you that life extension (not to mention immortality!) is a very difficult problem to tackle. We do not really even understand aging all that well. It is extremely complex. I think even without any religion ever, we would not have overcome mortality at this point in time. 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page