/////////////////////////RD BK IMMORTALITY EXCERPT-Cave argues that on the one hand, boredom and apathy would eventually set in after one has done and seen everything, and other the hand, the prospect of an infinite future means that there is no urgency to do or see anything resulting in paralysis. Meaningful lives require a time limit, he argues.
///////////////////////SCIAM=There is ancient circuitry that appears to be involved in social behavior across all vertebrates,” Hans Hofmann,
Hofman observes, these conserved neural clusters originated at least 450 million years ago.
///////////////////////be computational resurrectionists to argue for uploading minds (information encoded in an individual’s brain) onto another piece of hardware, an electronic avatar, a robot, or another brain which would be psychologically identical to the original mind. Cave argues that computational resurrection does not actually achieve immortality for a specific individual, but merely makes an exact psychological copy of him. There is the additional problem that if minds can be digitized they can be duplicated many times. If this occurs who then is the original resurrectee? “When you closed your eyes on your deathbed, you could not expect to open them again in silicon form,” he explains. The result of mind uploading “would all just be high-tech ways of producing a counterfeit you.”
///////////////////////////fear of death is nonsensical is the Greek philosopher Epicurus who wrote, “While we are, death is not; when death is come, we are not.” Cave interprets Epicurus as chiefly arguing that we should not fear the state of being dead. Being dead is nothing, so why fear nothing? Cave asserts that wisdom comes when we realize “that we can never be dead, that fearing being dead is therefore a nonsense.” Oddly, I don’t think that I (and many others) suffer from Cave’s Mortality Paradox—I can imagine non-existence. Consequently, with regard to death there is nothing to fear but nothing itself.
/////////////////////////////EMG=In order to further undermine our fear of death Cave counsels that we adopt the three virtues of empathy, mindfulness, and gratitude. Empathy reduces our fear of the death by shifting the focus from ourselves; mindfulness encourages us to enjoy the present moment; and gratitude makes us conscious of what an incredible stroke of luck it is to be alive in the first place. It seems to me that the cultivation of these virtues is valuable in its own right, and if such cultivation happens to reduce one’s fear of death then that’s a nice bonus.
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///////////////////////SCIAM=There is ancient circuitry that appears to be involved in social behavior across all vertebrates,” Hans Hofmann,
Hofman observes, these conserved neural clusters originated at least 450 million years ago.
///////////////////////be computational resurrectionists to argue for uploading minds (information encoded in an individual’s brain) onto another piece of hardware, an electronic avatar, a robot, or another brain which would be psychologically identical to the original mind. Cave argues that computational resurrection does not actually achieve immortality for a specific individual, but merely makes an exact psychological copy of him. There is the additional problem that if minds can be digitized they can be duplicated many times. If this occurs who then is the original resurrectee? “When you closed your eyes on your deathbed, you could not expect to open them again in silicon form,” he explains. The result of mind uploading “would all just be high-tech ways of producing a counterfeit you.”
///////////////////////////fear of death is nonsensical is the Greek philosopher Epicurus who wrote, “While we are, death is not; when death is come, we are not.” Cave interprets Epicurus as chiefly arguing that we should not fear the state of being dead. Being dead is nothing, so why fear nothing? Cave asserts that wisdom comes when we realize “that we can never be dead, that fearing being dead is therefore a nonsense.” Oddly, I don’t think that I (and many others) suffer from Cave’s Mortality Paradox—I can imagine non-existence. Consequently, with regard to death there is nothing to fear but nothing itself.
/////////////////////////////EMG=In order to further undermine our fear of death Cave counsels that we adopt the three virtues of empathy, mindfulness, and gratitude. Empathy reduces our fear of the death by shifting the focus from ourselves; mindfulness encourages us to enjoy the present moment; and gratitude makes us conscious of what an incredible stroke of luck it is to be alive in the first place. It seems to me that the cultivation of these virtues is valuable in its own right, and if such cultivation happens to reduce one’s fear of death then that’s a nice bonus.
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