Serious Existential Crisis

Why is that thought so frighting? Remember that you were 'dead' in a sense before you were born. However, I'm under the impression that you don't mind no longer existing but you want to explore the universe. You want see to see powerful technology and how it affects humans, you want to know if our Earth's flora and fauna become extinct due human activities, you want to see if aliens truly exist, and you want to see Mars be terraformed. You are too curious, remember that curiosity killed the cat.

I feel that many people are too optimistic but biological immortality could very much happen in your lifetime. The combination of man and machine could also bring immortality. You want to explore every portion of the universe but have you explored the entire Earth yet? I doubt you have read every post on Smogon either. There is no point to exploring everything. Some places are barren wastelands; they are a waste of time.

I feel this is very silly and you should be ashamed of yourself. If humans can't get their shit together, then they are not intelligent species. Religion and other stuff that derail the progress of science are on a gradual decline. Every generation is on average smarter than the one before; (although I fear for Generation Z with their selfie obsession) hopefully they will make wiser votes and start to fund NASA again. I feel that people are too pessimistic about humanity's future. I don't understand how we will destroy ourselves. Even if every country gets engaged in nuclear warfare, some country will have to win. It isn't like everyone will launch nukes at each other at the same time and everyone will die. Someone will continue on.
 
Yo I know this is kind of an old thread, but if it'll help someone out, then might as well still post, y'know?

The way that I see it, the afterlife as many interpret it would actually be worse than the idea of oblivion. If one was to live forever, there is the issue of going mad with boredom. Seeing as you can only do so many things, you will eventually become sick with all of them at some point in time (I'm thinking in the VERY long run). Compare that to oblivion, in which you do not become mind-numbingly bored, and you are free from the desperate want of change. You would be aware of your death either, so there's no pain or anything.

I believe Alan Watts put it most aptly: What is it like to fall asleep, to never dream, and never wake up? It's indescribable and unknown. It is humanity's fundamental fear, a void we fill with horrifying prospects where there really is nothing to experience. It is like colour to a blind person, as the blind cannot perceive it, but are not directly affected by it. What directly affects you are the catastrophization of whatever comes after death, and the feeling of unfulfillment in your life (which sounds like a massive part of your problem). However, I can't really suggest much to you outside of just carpe-ing that diem and realizing the splendor in life that you can experience. But I do hope I helped. :)


EDIT: Take a look at a bit of Mr. Watt' lectures. I think they might help give you peace.

 
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A few years ago I lost my dad after a long and bitter fight with cancer, I know how much loss can hurt.

In order to escape depression, you have to see how amazingly awesome it is that you are alive and strife to be the best person you can be, make others happy and you will be happy yourself, try it for yourself. Make one person you hold dear happy and than go from there, you will see how your quality of life will increase a lot.
 
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Valentine

Banned deucer.
life has no inherit meaning, but if you are patient with me, i can offer you it's greatest consolation.

to begin, the human genome is a computer program. and no, i don't mean that literally, i'm saying that similar to computer programs, we follow a set of instructions. we duplicate cells, pump blood through our veins with our hearts, fight unknown bacteria with white blood cells, the list is infinite. every cell in your body follows a code, and has the information for any given part of your body (people that lose thumbs can have their big toes attached to their hands, and it will grow into a thumb, because your cells communicate and say, this isn't where a toe is supposed to go, lets turn this fucker into a thumb). all you need to gather from this is that humans, like programs, follow codes, and for one purpose. self-preservation. to live, and to perpetrate the species.

now that we've talked about how humans follow codes on a cellular level, we can talk about the much scarier, conscience level. just as every cell in your body follows a code, so does your conciseness. every unconscious, as well as conscience action you make follows your coding. and again, for one purpose. self-preservation. every action any person makes is self-serving. in our coding, it says, i must survive at all costs. girls care so much about looks because each of them have the coding that says, 'i need to do the best i can to find the best possible mate, to perpetuate myself, and the species'. men have violence inside of them, and feel the need to compete, because in our coding it says, 'if i lose, i die, and my species ends'. when we lose in competitions, even pokemon battles, we get frustrated with ourselves because our coding tells us to. losing is bad, because over the course of human history, it has meant death. and you can think 'what about really generous people? how are they self-serving at all'? however, generous people only do generous things to be viewed as generous people. they don't actually do nice things to be nice, but i'll be able to explain that more in a bit.

not everybody's coding is exactly the same. in fact, it's amazing just how adaptive and different each individual conscience seems, to me at least. there are a FEW singular points in our lives that determine how we act in every given situation for the rest of our duration on planet earth. have you ever seen a full grown man extremely afraid of dogs? like, legitimately scared, would do anything if he could just get away from the tiniest dog? there is, undoubtedly, a reason why he is scared of dogs of all size, while most people aren't. it is because, the one of the singular points in his life that determines all of his actions, was when we was a small child and he was bitten by a dog. for the rest of his life, his coding will tell him 'dogs are bad, stay away at all costs'. the man has no ability to rewrite his coding; it is a program he is unaware of. for the rest of his life, without say, he will avoid dogs at all costs.

why does the physically strong man feel the need to be physically strong? because, as a child, he had an abusive father, and felt small, helpless, afraid. him coding tells them to never feel like that again, and to get into top physical condition at all costs. this is just an example, of course; it is impossible at a glance to determine WHY people do things, because there are INFINITE possibilities. maybe he's only physically strong because his girlfriend will only have sex with him if he looks nice, and his coding tells him he needs sex. maybe he's physically strong because he was once robbed, and doesn't want to be robbed again.


TLDR; people don't know why they do things, but they are following their coding. their coding tells them to perpetuate their genes. their coding tells them to be self-serving. everybody has a different set of codes based on a few key experiences they had when they were young. the large majority of humans only follow their coding, and do not make true decisions for themselves. YOU, the person reading this now, are only a computer following coding, YOU. it's not some part of you, it is literally you. or what you think is you.

With all of this in mind, I can tackle the problems you are having.

1. Ceasing to "exist" after death.

The reason you are afraid of death is because your coding tells you that you need to survive at all costs. Every single cell in your body is programmed to live, as long as possible. I think this is why a lot of people get trapped in the idea of religion, or the idea of an afterlife. Our coding says, wait, we have to die at some point? 'That does not compute, i'm sure there's an AFTERlife, right?' But nah. There is what there is. This is your plane of existence, do with it what you will. Once you are able to free yourself from your coding, you are able to make ACTUAL decisions. You are able to enjoy what you do while you do it, no matter what it may be. You find happiness in everything that you do, because you know you are making a conscience decision to do it. It's not your coding. I think that's what badass had to say when he said,
you're born, you live, and you die. i think that humanity has to stop looking for meaning in that which has none. my philosophy is to realize that humanity really doesn't matter, and neither does your / my / anyone's life, but to take that and instead of being bitter and cynical with it, using that outlook to improve my life
here, bad ass makes the important distinction between nihilism and existentialism, and to a lesser extent humanism. there is no right and wrong. morals are a matter of opinion. there is a way to talk about something like it's the best thing in the world, or the worst. hitler's followers thought he was a savoir, his enemies thought he was satan. who is right? the answer is, neither. nothing has a correct answer. every moment is equally perfect as the next, no matter what is happening. nihilists often take this to mean, life has no meaning, no matter what you do. these thoughts often lead to suicide, since, if nothing at all matters, why bother? existentialists, and humanists, believe that the meaninglessness of life just gives you a blank book to fill, where every day is a gift, and a new page to write whatever you feel like writing. you create your own meaning.

2. I feel like the average lifespan of a human being is far too short for me to see the things I most desire in life.

the things you think you desire, you don't actually desire. those are things your coding wants, for whatever reason, to fulfill insatiable needs. once you free your mind from it's coding, which isn't easy, and is another topic of discussion, you are able to rid yourself of worldly desire. you can start by trying to stop and think about things you do, and why you do them. just sit and realize the infinite possibilities around you. humans, thanks to coding, get stuck in routine. we don't consider more than one possibility in any given situation. but, right now, you have the ability to jump in your chair and spin around. or run next door and kiss the neighbor girl. or take a dishcloth and masturbate into it. there are TRILLIONS of things you can do RIGHT NOW that you've NEVER DONE BEFORE. that's where i find a lot of joy in my life, is, realizing the infinite amount of possibles around me, and enjoying every moment that I am in, instead of living in the past and making pre-made decisions like my coding tells me to.

3. This one might be sorta silly, I fear that humanity will never become a space faring species.

this is, again, your coding speaking. i can only guess, but you possibly fear that earth, our humble beginning, is not a safe place for the whole species to confide. and while i agree that earth is rather vulnerable to space alien attacks, i must say that, it isn't something for you or i to worry about. our main problems lie in releasing ourselves from the constraints of our DNA. our main problems lie in leading fulfilling lives. what determines a fulfilling life? whatever you want. as cheesy as it sounds, be the best anything you want to be. society's standards are just a bunch of bullshit. the only person that matters is the REAL you. the deep down you, that realizes the infinite potential all around you. it's possible to do, or be, anything you want to be, and it doesn't matter what that thing is.

life's greatest consolation is the ability to find joy in whatever it is you truly want to do.
 
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The CEO at work gave me one very good quote when I said that I was going through a tough time from the death of a relative. Not sure where the quote is from, so if anyone knows, that'd be helpful.

There are only two certainties in life. Death and Taxes.

At times when i'm alone i get scared about what's gonna happen once we die. But i figure it's something that we have no choice in. Once you understand that, you can make peace with it. Don't spend your entire life worrying about what's gonna happen when it ends, 'cause all it means is that you'll get less done. Just enjoy yourself and facilitate for others to enjoy their lives too.
 
Valentine: I disagree with the implication that we can simply be free of our "coding", especially in the sense in which you use it, which seems to encompass any arbitrary desire. You break away from one routine, at the behest of another. Trying to tell people what they "really want" is IMO a terrible way of giving advice. Contrary to what some moral philosophies like to tell us, revealed preference is a shitty concept that has few empirically sound applications. I do agree with the general advice of turning one's thinking around, because sometimes that's all that one can really do.
 

Valentine

Banned deucer.
denying your coding in every moment is absolutely possible. it requires you to be completely present in the here and now, and to realize things for what they truly are. just things. any meaning we assign to things, by default, is done by our coding. for the man afraid of dogs, the meaning assigned to dogs is 'dangerous'. but what are dogs, really? just fluffy creates. if the man realized the dog for what it truly was.. just a dog, just a thing.. he would be free to assign whatever meaning to it he wanted. being able to assign your own meanings for events, and things, is true freedom.

eastern religion calls it becoming a buddha. the wachowskis call it taking the red pill, or freeing your mind from the matrix. jesus calls it being a son of god, simply meaning, you have the ability to create whatever you want to create. we have that potential.
 
Theorymon, I share similar thoughts, usually these are most prominent when I am attempting to fall asleep. I unfortunately do not have the time to write quite so lengthy a post as the ones that can be found above due to other, more mundane responsibilities (ironically enough).

I agree with you on many points. Upon death, the termination of existence is a horrifying thought. This occurs in many people, primarily because of an evolutionarily produced xenophobia. This fear of the unknown is the progenitor of many actions taken to maintain a routine and to stay within the boundaries of societal normalcy.

Being a "science geek," I too feel that the most "noble" of quests is the pursuit of knowledge, learning the secrets of our universe and potential universes. Immortality is sought by some out of fear of death, but the wise seek time enough to discover as much as possible about our universe and our reality (or at least until the universe becomes an ocean of black holes, void of star-light, at which point I hope to be or have immortals of our species who have transcended evolutionary need for life, or light, hundreds of trillions of years from now).

I aspire to become a physicist, as I wish to contribute as much as is possible to human knowledge. My advice to you is this: Become as learned as you can. Immortality is a goal not so far away physically as it is morally, as the implications of life unending are too much for most people right now, especially with all the effects it will have on people of faith (Not meaning to attack those of faith, simply pointing out the fact that many religions may have... moral issues with playing God in terms of vitality). I admire you, and believe the two of us to be quite similar, using "PS!" as a medium of blissful ignorance for certain amounts of time.

If you wish to further continue this conversation, message me, or find me (username is "S-Matrix," a term I'm sure you're at least a bit familiar with n_n) on "PS!"
I can usually be found in the "Ubers" room.

Good luck!
 
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denying your coding in every moment is absolutely possible. it requires you to be completely present in the here and now, and to realize things for what they truly are. just things. any meaning we assign to things, by default, is done by our coding. for the man afraid of dogs, the meaning assigned to dogs is 'dangerous'. but what are dogs, really? just fluffy creates. if the man realized the dog for what it truly was.. just a dog, just a thing.. he would be free to assign whatever meaning to it he wanted. being able to assign your own meanings for events, and things, is true freedom.

eastern religion calls it becoming a buddha. the wachowskis call it taking the red pill, or freeing your mind from the matrix. jesus calls it being a son of god, simply meaning, you have the ability to create whatever you want to create. we have that potential.
It seems pretty obvious to me that there's a limit to what you're saying. I can't go beyond certain physical limitations. I want to interpret your posts as saying that you can break free from your immediate instinctual desires, which is true and good and all. The way you say it, however, seems to imply tapping into some kind of infinite free will, a godlike power to alter all of reality, even yourself. And this is why I really dislike any discussion involving free will. People always talk about "free will" but they really mean some arbitrary thing that they use as an excuse to judge other people's desires.
 

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Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player who frets his hour 'pon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
 

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