The reality that we'll die some day

[Mike Cl]

I theorize that libraries will one day go extinct and that hardcovers/paperbacks will only ever be found in museums as relics of an ancient past.  Everyone will be reading everything and anything on tablets.

Think you are right.  But for me, there nothing like a book in the hand.

[Baruch]

I theorize that libraries will one day go extinct and that hardcovers/paperbacks will only ever be found in museums as relics of an ancient past.  Everyone will be reading everything and anything on tablets.

Already happening ... but with vidiots ... reading will soon be passe too.  And soon after that, humanity.  Socrates said that reading was the death of education ... because you no longer had to memorize.

[Cavebear]

I liked Asimov a lot better before he showed up at my college campus for a free speech with a face red as a beet, slurring his words and making no sense!

[pr126]

Three years ago I had major cardiac surgery.
At the time I was ready to “go”, not caring which way the surgery ends.
Had to wait a whole year for the surgery, unable to do anything. Lost the will to live.

Well, thanks to the surgeon, I am still here.  For a while.

[Cavebear]

Three years ago I had major cardiac surgery.
At the time I was ready to “go”, not caring which way the surgery ends.
Had to wait a whole year for the surgery, unable to do anything. Lost the will to live.

Well, thanks to the surgeon, I am still here.  For a while.

Well, the world (in general) would be about the same with or without you.  If you vanished tomorrow, I might not notice.  The same for me.

[Baruch]

Well, the world (in general) would be about the same with or without you.  If you vanished tomorrow, I might not notice.  The same for me.

If you were missing, you would notice ;-)

[Sal1981]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fczItbbB-OA

[Cavebear]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fczItbbB-OA

OK, that surprised me.  Cool!

[Sal1981]

OK, that surprised me.  Cool!

seemed appropriate.

[Cavebear]

seemed appropriate.

Yeah, I'll probably imagine doing something great my end too.  Or be mercifully hit by a bus, which would be a lot easier on everyone.

A.  "Hey, didja hear Cavebear got hit by a bus"? 
B.  "Really?  Huh"...
A.  "Yeah, so, ya wanna get a pizza?"

Or

A.  "Hey, didja hear Cavebear got hit by a bus"?
B.  "Which one?"
A.  "The B-12"
B. " No doofus, which Cavebear?   I know 6!"

LOL!

[Baruch]

seemed appropriate.

But dark humor.  OK ... usually people die in their sleep, all alone.  Having family around when they pass, is cliche.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I have no fear of death. The method might be a bit dicey, but actual death?  Ehhh...not a problem.
My preferred method would be to be walking down the street and have a big heavy safe fall on me without warning.  Someone 16 blocks away peeling my eyeball off their shirt wondering where the hell that came from..

[Unbeliever]

Must be catching ;-)  Had the same problem my whole life.  I used to support the library, when I was a kid, thru college, even later taking my Master's.  I love college bookstores too.  But today, Amazon will have to do for me.  Two of our book stores in my town have closed.

I seem to recall, when I read some Schopenhauer, that he advised against reading - he preferred thinking, instead.




Ah, yes, I found it on Google:

Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up, which will of course happen frequently enough even to the best heads; but to banish your own thoughts so as to take up a book is a sin against the holy ghost; it is like deserting untrammeled nature to look at a herbarium or engravings of landscapes.

But since I don't believe in the holy ghost, I wasn't concerned about sinning against it...plus, my thoughts dry up quite often.

[Unbeliever]

If you vanished tomorrow, I might not notice.  The same for me.

Well, I'm pretty sure that if you were gone tomorrow, you wouldn't notice. But we'd miss you terribly.

[SciBorg]

Is it better to have lived and lost than to have never lived at all?

Death is rather frightening if you feel entitled to life. From a different vantage point, death is a privilege because it's only served to those who sprang into existence in the first place. I am grateful for a chance at life in this peculiar space, even though it is likely to sift through my fingers. This realization has humbled me immensely.