Death... Should it be embraced, feared, both, other?

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

I'm not sure, when i think about things logically, it doesn't seem so bad. I suppose the best thing you can do is put yourself in a posistion or a frame of mind that means you can embrace it if it comes. Otherwise, you'll spend your last few moments terrified of the void that is to come.

 

[MartianWarMachine]

Other! Death is a foe to be vanquished! By means of cybernetic upgrades!

 

[0z0wen]

Death leads into the unknown. The unknown should be hated and feared and loathed. Therefore, death should be hated and feared and loathed.

In all seriousness though, it is a scary concept, but one I'll have to face someday. With that in mind, I'm having my fill from this section of the buffet before I chance finding out if there's another course or not.

Edit:

I absolutely dread it, more than anything. The prospect of nothingness, of ceasing to exist, just terrifies me. I fully expect my last words to be "Is that it?"

This about sums up my attitude. It scares the hell out of me, nothingness.

Haha! The fear of there being nothing after death scares the hell out of you! Just found that to be somewhat funny. Maybe it's just me... ...Sorry, I'll go now.

I'm usually not that bad with things like this, I don't worry because there is nothing I can do to change the fact its coming but nothingness is a scary concept, I mean. Do we still exist after it? Is there anything for our mind?

 

[silver wolf009]

Death leads into the unknown. The unknown should be hated and feared and loathed. Therefore, death should be hated and feared and loathed.

In all seriousness though, it is a scary concept, but one I'll have to face someday. With that in mind, I'm having my fill from this section of the buffet before I chance finding out if there's another course or not.

Edit:

I absolutely dread it, more than anything. The prospect of nothingness, of ceasing to exist, just terrifies me. I fully expect my last words to be "Is that it?"

This about sums up my attitude. It scares the hell out of me, nothingness.

Haha! The fear of there being nothing after death scares the hell out of you! Just found that to be somewhat funny. Maybe it's just me... ...Sorry, I'll go now.

I'm usually not that bad with things like this, I don't worry because there is nothing I can do to change the fact its coming but nothingness is a scary concept, I mean. Do we still exist after it? Is there anything for our mind?

I like to believe we all come together into a single mind and form a body out of the matter of the afterlife to invade the mortal realm and purge clean the stink to grow our own power with the minds of the dead!

...What? I don't believe most traditional views on religion, why shouldn't I have a unique view on the afterlife?

 

[BlindWorg]

No, i dont fear it but i think it is rather inconvinient and something that should be conquered. I want to live forever and see what is out there beyond our planet and see the universes secrets until it ends.

Death is still necessary for everyone at some point so i would also want a kill-switch with my immortality that is only accessible when i have full faculties of my mind (not available during depression/madness ect ect).

Thats one reason why im interested in cryonic technology and if i ever gather enough money, i would gamble it and reserve a pod for myself. If i stay as a corpse until the Big Crunch, well i didnt need the money when i was dead and if im revived (insert Theseus paradox here) i get to see whats it like in the future.

I figure i would only be revived in a Welfare world anyway. Who would bother doing it if we blow ourselves up, get attacked by aliens or other such nonsense wipes us out?

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Why should we choose between extremes?
How about being indifferent towards death. That's pretty much what I'm doing.
If I had to say one of them though: Embrace death. There is nothing to fear in death.

Now dying. There's a scary concept.
I'm not big on pain.

I'm with Jonluw on this one, I don't really care about being dead, but at the same time I don't want to die, because I believe it will most likely be somewhat painful.

I wouldn't mind dying in my sleep without any prior knowledge or conciousness, tonight.

 

[devotedsniper]

Meh all i have to say about death is when i die i die, it's as simple as that. Who knows when the grim reaper will get me so just enjoy life while you can.

And as far as what happens after death, who knows, there could be a god (i better make nice if there is though), could be reborn, or you could just be gone, theres no point in worrying about it until your dead and by that point it's too late anyway.

 

[Heronblade]

When it comes to thinking about it on a daily basis, ignore it. Life is wasted if spent postulating about the end.

If faced with death, embrace it. There's no point in running for the most part. Don't get me wrong, you should avoid death if able in most situations, just don't spend your last moments fighting or raging against or cowering from something inevitable.

 

[Iron Criterion]

Death is pretty much a big motivator. Humanity wouldn't be where it's at if there wasn't a *deadline* or a circumstance of death.

That's quite a nice way of looking at it.

OT: I'm more scared of (presumably) living for another sixty years. I've had a few worrying health issues, I'm growing more and more forlorn as I see people I love getting older and things seemingly changing for the worst.

For example, I am very close to my grandfather and I have some great memories of fantastic trips and days out with him; now he is incredibly frail from Parkinson's, and every time I see him he is covered in further scars from his falls. It hits home that he won't be around forever but I can't imagine life without the fantastic conversations we have, ranging from music to politics to space and philosophy.

Providing I live long enough everyone I care about now will be dead, and if I don't find someone to love, I will live the rest of my days alone.

 

[Iron Criterion]

Meh death is to be accepted.

Its inevitable, simple as that.

No matter what we do or try were gonna die and everyone we love, know and care about will die to, just the way it is.

So enjoy your time with them it won't last forever.

I don't know why but I felt an incredibly overwhelming rush of sadness when I read your post, even though it doesn't exactly cover anything I didn't already know.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I think we should look at death as just another problem that needs to be solved. Preferably before it happens to me.

Why people think of death as inevitable is beyond me. What, because everything else has died before, that means that NOT dying is impossible? What do you people think technology is FOR?

Because everything that has a beginning has an end. Simple as that. Sure, technology might be able to keep you alive for millions of years or more. Would you really want to? Immortality might be more of a curse than a blessing.

A-ha, I was expecting this. See, people don't really understand immortality.

1. Not everything that has a beginning has an end. If there's a rock floating around in an absolute vacuum, no force will act upon it. It will never erode, it will never be destroyed. While there are plenty of ways that this hypothetical rock MIGHT be eroded over millions and millions of years, it's perfectly possible for that rock to never encounter them. My point being that there it's not some Unbreakable Law of the Universe that everything must end. That simply isn't true.

2. Technology absolutely could make you immortal. If I do something that makes live for a million years, all I have to do is make sure to come back and do it again every million years. To paraphrase a great man, "What's life? Life is nature's way of keeping meat warm." Life and death are matters of science, and science solves problems.

3. In response to your question, "Would you really want to?" OF COURSE I WOULD. Why the hell not? Wait: I know what you're going to say:

-3a. You'll get bored!
--How? The universe is ridiculously huge. I have a million billion years to experience as much of it as I want. And if I somehow run out of things to do, I have ANOTHER million billion to INVENT NEW THINGS TO DO. And anyway, being bored is better then not existing at all. AND if I do decide to die at some point, at least I'll know I didn't miss anything, which is more then can be said for you people who are content with 75-80 years. You won't even experience everything this PLANET has to offer, much less the universe. Yeah, where does the curse part come in again? Wait, I know:

3b. You'll watch your friends die around you!
--The hell I will. Assuming I got immortal through science, there's no reason they can't do the same thing. But maybe it's one of those "Genie in a bottle" deals, and I'm the only one. No problem, I'll just spend a million years figuring out repeatable immortality, and another million years inventing a time machine, so I can go back and give it to my friends. And everyone else. And don't tell me It'll create a paradox because now Past-Me has no reason to invent time travel/immortality in the first place. Of course he does, he doesn't want to make a fucking paradox. AND I would remiss if I didn't mention that mortal old people watch their friends die around them all the time. The only difference is, they can't do anything about it, and they don't have enough time to go make new friends.

Immortality isn't a curse, but you know what is? DEATH. The only reason we keep it around is because we have limited space to live and we want to keep having babies. (and the whole "science" thing hasn't quite got there yet) Let me be clear: Death is great if you're starting up a new species, but it is downright cruel to the individual. You get some miniscule amount of time in this amazing universe, just enough to HOPEFULLY make some kind of contribution into that vast machine known as your species, and maybe if you're REALLY LUCKY you'll get some tiny peek at the greater universe, but then you LEAVE FOREVER, without ever seeing the end result, and with a list of experiences EXPONENTIALLY shorter then the list of things you missed. And that SUCKS.

Why hell WOULDN'T I want to be immortal?

 

[Iron Criterion]

I think we should look at death as just another problem that needs to be solved. Preferably before it happens to me.

Why people think of death as inevitable is beyond me. What, because everything else has died before, that means that NOT dying is impossible? What do you people think technology is FOR?

Because everything that has a beginning has an end. Simple as that. Sure, technology might be able to keep you alive for millions of years or more. Would you really want to? Immortality might be more of a curse than a blessing.

A-ha, I was expecting this. See, people don't really understand immortality.

1. Not everything that has a beginning has an end. If there's a rock floating around in an absolute vacuum, no force will act upon it. It will never erode, it will never be destroyed. While there are plenty of ways that this hypothetical rock MIGHT be eroded over millions and millions of years, it's perfectly possible for that rock to never encounter them. My point being that there it's not some Unbreakable Law of the Universe that everything must end. That simply isn't true.

2. Technology absolutely could make you immortal. If I do something that makes live for a million years, all I have to do is make sure to come back and do it again every million years. To paraphrase a great man, "What's life? Life is nature's way of keeping meat warm." Life and death are matters of science, and science solves problems.

3. In response to your question, "Would you really want to?" OF COURSE I WOULD. Why the hell not? Wait: I know what you're going to say:

-3a. You'll get bored!
--How? The universe is ridiculously huge. I have a million billion years to experience as much of it as I want. And if I somehow run out of things to do, I have ANOTHER million billion to INVENT NEW THINGS TO DO. And anyway, being bored is better then not existing at all. AND if I do decide to die at some point, at least I'll know I didn't miss anything, which is more then can be said for you people who are content with 75-80 years. You won't even experience everything this PLANET has to offer, much less the universe. Yeah, where does the curse part come in again? Wait, I know:

3b. You'll watch your friends die around you!
--The hell I will. Assuming I got immortal through science, there's no reason they can't do the same thing. But maybe it's one of those "Genie in a bottle" deals, and I'm the only one. No problem, I'll just spend a million years figuring out repeatable immortality, and another million years inventing a time machine, so I can go back and give it to my friends. And everyone else. And don't tell me It'll create a paradox because now Past-Me has no reason to invent time travel/immortality in the first place. Of course he does, he doesn't want to make a fucking paradox. AND I would remiss if I didn't mention that mortal old people watch their friends die around them all the time. The only difference is, they can't do anything about it, and they don't have enough time to go make new friends.

Immortality isn't a curse, but you know what is? DEATH. The only reason we keep it around is because we have limited space to live and we want to keep having babies. (and the whole "science" thing hasn't quite got there yet) Let me be clear: Death is great if you're starting up a new species, but it is downright cruel to the individual. You get some miniscule amount of time in this amazing universe, just enough to HOPEFULLY make some kind of contribution into that vast machine known as your species, and then you LEAVE FOREVER, without ever seeing the end result. And that SUCKS.

Why hell WOULDN'T I want to be immortal?

It should never happen.

Imagine a cruel dictator who could live forever.

There are billions of people on the planet, we couldn't sustain a planet of immortals. Yes, we could colonise but that's a very slow process.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

Why should we choose between extremes?
How about being indifferent towards death. That's pretty much what I'm doing.
If I had to say one of them though: Embrace death. There is nothing to fear in death.

Now dying. There's a scary concept.
I'm not big on pain.

Wow, beaten by the second post. Yeah, death itself is nothing to fear, the way I see it it's no different from going to sleep, which I do every day. Your mind shuts down and you lose consciousness. All thoughts cease, so you don't even realise you're not conscious. It's also kind've like how you felt before you were born, ie, you didn't exist, therefore no thought. The universe got along for 13.8 billion years without me, it'll get along fine after I'm gone.


No to say I WANT to die of course, I surely don't, but only becuase I don't know how I'm going to die and I don't want it to be painful. I'm also still content to keep existing for a little while longer, despite the fact this world is boring as fuck and we haven't all developed superpowers or spaceships yet, or met even a single alien.

 

[Becky_Raptor]

i guess i would embrace it since death is unavoidable, after all everyone dies

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

*snips*

It should never happen.

Imagine a cruel dictator who could live forever.

There are billions of people on the planet, we couldn't sustain a planet of immortals. Yes, we could colonise but that's a very slow process.

Really? That's all you've got? OK:

1. "It should never happen". I just gave you about a million reasons why it should.

2. What? That doesn't even make sense. Dictators lose power without actually being killed all the time. The point being that there are ways of toppling corrupt governments that don't involve the death of the dictator. That problem is solved in entirely different ways, and has nothing to do with this at all. I don't even understand the argument: Just because a terrible person could live forever, that means I shouldn't either? What? Yeah OK, and a horrible person might stab me with a knife. That doesn't make knives a bad idea.

3. Sure it's a slow process, but so is population growth. Hell, we could probably double our population easily without ever going to another planet. There are miles of territory on Earth we currently aren't using. (The bottom of the ocean, floating cities on top of the ocean, underground, low orbit, the moon, and plenty of space still left on the surface.) And hell, even if that doesn't convince you the answer is simple: We wait until we have the technology to easily find and colonize new worlds BEFORE we start making people immortal. That is, at most, a reason to WAIT before we instigate immortality, but certainly not a reason to postpone it indefinitely.

 

[tobi the good boy]

Can't die, not really a problem. Still, you mortals should really be more careful of it.

 

[tobi the good boy]

I think we should look at death as just another problem that needs to be solved. Preferably before it happens to me.

Why people think of death as inevitable is beyond me. What, because everything else has died before, that means that NOT dying is impossible? What do you people think technology is FOR?

Because everything that has a beginning has an end. Simple as that. Sure, technology might be able to keep you alive for millions of years or more. Would you really want to? Immortality might be more of a curse than a blessing.

A-ha, I was expecting this. See, people don't really understand immortality.

1. Not everything that has a beginning has an end. If there's a rock floating around in an absolute vacuum, no force will act upon it. It will never erode, it will never be destroyed. While there are plenty of ways that this hypothetical rock MIGHT be eroded over millions and millions of years, it's perfectly possible for that rock to never encounter them. My point being that there it's not some Unbreakable Law of the Universe that everything must end. That simply isn't true.

2. Technology absolutely could make you immortal. If I do something that makes live for a million years, all I have to do is make sure to come back and do it again every million years. To paraphrase a great man, "What's life? Life is nature's way of keeping meat warm." Life and death are matters of science, and science solves problems.

3. In response to your question, "Would you really want to?" OF COURSE I WOULD. Why the hell not? Wait: I know what you're going to say:

-3a. You'll get bored!
--How? The universe is ridiculously huge. I have a million billion years to experience as much of it as I want. And if I somehow run out of things to do, I have ANOTHER million billion to INVENT NEW THINGS TO DO. And anyway, being bored is better then not existing at all. AND if I do decide to die at some point, at least I'll know I didn't miss anything, which is more then can be said for you people who are content with 75-80 years. You won't even experience everything this PLANET has to offer, much less the universe. Yeah, where does the curse part come in again? Wait, I know:

3b. You'll watch your friends die around you!
--The hell I will. Assuming I got immortal through science, there's no reason they can't do the same thing. But maybe it's one of those "Genie in a bottle" deals, and I'm the only one. No problem, I'll just spend a million years figuring out repeatable immortality, and another million years inventing a time machine, so I can go back and give it to my friends. And everyone else. And don't tell me It'll create a paradox because now Past-Me has no reason to invent time travel/immortality in the first place. Of course he does, he doesn't want to make a fucking paradox. AND I would remiss if I didn't mention that mortal old people watch their friends die around them all the time. The only difference is, they can't do anything about it, and they don't have enough time to go make new friends.

Immortality isn't a curse, but you know what is? DEATH. The only reason we keep it around is because we have limited space to live and we want to keep having babies. (and the whole "science" thing hasn't quite got there yet) Let me be clear: Death is great if you're starting up a new species, but it is downright cruel to the individual. You get some miniscule amount of time in this amazing universe, just enough to HOPEFULLY make some kind of contribution into that vast machine known as your species, and then you LEAVE FOREVER, without ever seeing the end result. And that SUCKS.

Why hell WOULDN'T I want to be immortal?

It should never happen.

Imagine a cruel dictator who could live forever.

There are billions of people on the planet, we couldn't sustain a planet of immortals. Yes, we could colonise but that's a very slow process.

If we're immortal our strain on resources would dwindle. We wouldn't need to eat or drink, toxic environments wouldn't be an issue because they can't kill us. It's practically a "Live anywhere pass" Heck, the very act of being immortal opens up the possibility for things like cryogenics to be feasible

 

[Ljs1121]

I imagine that being dead is kind of like sleeping forever, and I like sleeping, so I'm not really afraid of it.

I don't want the pain that is typically associated with dying, but death itself wouldn't be so bad.

 

[Ursus Buckler]

Embrace life. Embrace love. Embrace death. In the end, it all equates to the latter.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

For an atheist, death shouldn't be something to be scared of, at all. Any atheist who is afraid of death doesn't understand what "ceasing to exist" really means.

So yeah, I'm not afraid of death at all. I'm afraid of dying painfully though. But it's not the death itself, its what comes before it. I imagine if I'm in agony I'll want death to hurry the fuck up.

Question: Have you ever almost died?

I mean, I'm pretty afraid of death and I'm as atheist as they come. Of course, I won't be conscious to perceive my death, but I'll have stopped existing. That's worse than almost anything else, surely? You can recover from almost anything but death, and you can continue to form happy memories and experience enjoyment most times while you're alive.

Perhaps you're one of those people who makes a distinction between "death" and "dying", but I don't know of many people who've reached "death" without first going through "dying".

But not existing isn't scary. This is what I mean. If we are correct and there's nothing waiting us after death, then we won't know we're dead, we won't care we're dead, we won't have regrets that we didn't do something better or different with our lives, we won't miss loved ones. We will simply not BE anything at all. Before I was born I didn't exist, when I die I won't exist. What's scary about that? There's nothing to fear at all. From your post its obvious you're not one of these people: But when some atheists talk about the "fear of nothingness" I don't think they really understand what nothingness is. A lot of them I've heard say things like "eternal darkness" as though we will actually be conscious during this nothingness, which is nonsense.

If I knew I was going to die tomorrow suddenly and painlessly, it would suck because I would like to live longer, and I'd do the cliche things we'd all do on your last day, but I don't think I'd be scared because I know once the death has come and gone, I won't be there to care about it. I'll only care right up until that point. That's what makes it cease to be scary at all. How can I be scared of something when I know that once it has come and gone it won't be bad for me at all, it won't be ANYTHING for me at all.

It's kind of a peaceful philosophy really. Being an atheist should mean we have nothing to fear about death. Like I said though, what I am scared of is pain, and a lot of people do die painfully. But it's not the death part that's scary.