The poll on "How often do you think about death?" - involves a somewhat skewed population, ie of people who are interested in philosophy. I imagine such people think about death a GREAT deal more than the average. And in many ways, it is the only thing worth thinking about...
I think people in power and medical doctors think about death a great deal more than average. First-because they are sending troops to die,second-because they are struggling to save people from death. I think they are not interested in philosophy so much, but are just troubled by their conscience
"How often do you think about death?" It changes throughout life. When I was young it was rarely a concern. As I grew older I thought about death a bit more, especially after having children of my own. When I was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, and told that it had been found in a lymphnode, I thought about death constantly; I couldn't stop thinking about my existence ending. Now that I'm six years out from all of my treatments, and continue to be monitored every six months (daily pill), I now think about my own death every few months. However, I am currently thinking about my husband's death, as he is now going through health issues, and we don't know if it's serious or not, yet. He is going through testing currently. I think our thoughts about death, and how often we think of it, really depend on our life experiences and age.
I can’t resist mentioning some films, though I’m not sure that all of these offer what is strictly a philosophical thought experiment. However they’re deeply philosophical and beautiful, and I love even just naming them—you feel them for years to come after you see them. At least I have.
Waking Life, Before Sunrise, Wings of Desire, Kurasawa’s Dreams, Tartovsky’s Solaris, The Fountain, Donnie Darko, The Fall, My Dinner with Andre, Amélie, and Midnight in Paris. I’m probably due to rewatch them all and I’m happy for anyone who’s getting to discover them for the first time :)
There’s a Netflix series that came out recently called The Last Night at Trémore Beach and it may stretch on a bit long for those not also into it for the amazing setting, the elegant house, and the performances, but it’s an interesting exploration of how to figure out what is real if you have visions that are proving to be like some sort of prescience, and how one might relate to that and degrees of intuitive experience. It really resonated for me on a certain level—of course it doesn’t answer it all and there were likely some holes, but it still felt like it was helping me make sense of something in a way. All that is so slippery though—I’ve already forgotten what it was that it felt like it was helping me understand! I’ll have to watch it again. What is that movie where every day you wake up again and it’s like you’ve just begun and nothing ever happened? Maybe Eternal Sunshine—I’ve got a bit of that.
Probably the film that is the most explicitly a thought experiment that comes to mind as one I’ve loved is Groundhog Day. It’s a total mainstream crowd-pleaser, but has a deep question in its heart and it’s a beautiful and very funny illustration of how we can shift our relationship to time and our life. There’s a recent French film I fell in love with that speaks to the same theme in a totally different way—The Sweet Escape. It’s a bit underrated there from what I can tell, though it’s by a comedian who’s quite popular there. It’s a really gentle and meandering film that I think quite deliberately walks its talk, so to speak.
Btw, it feels like the phenomenon/concept of synesthesia might offer something regarding Jackson’s revised hypothesis re: Mary’s Room. It’s possible to have analogous sensory experiences so this is already a reproduction of qualia though it can’t necessarily be reproduced through neurobiology yet as Jackson wants to do. He is on to something there—our subjective experience will ultimately turn out to be more mappable and quantifiable than we’d expect at present. Still I think it will only reach a high-quality approximation for a very long time, so in some ways our personal experience will still remain very individual, but a great deal of the distance will be bridged.
Wonderful article and conversation! I have a couple more thoughts on the subject I’ll try to share at some point.
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I'm not suicidal but yet I hope for the fatal accidents or deadly situation I'd be in so that I don't have to actually commit it by myself to death. This thought appears time after time. Still I have a year plan ahead of my life and living happily day by day with the best people around me. But that dark shady thought is always there in the corner of my room reminding me often about it.
On making peace with his slow descent toward death, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "A decline of health at 76 was naturally to be expected & is a warning of an event which cannot be distant & whose approach I contemplate with little concern. For indeed in no circumstance has nature been kinder to us than in the soft gradations by which she prepares us to part willingly with what we are not destined always to retain. First one faculty is withdrawn & then another, sight, hearing, memory, eucrasy, affections, &friends, filched one by one till we are left among strangers, the mere monuments of times past, and specimens of antiquity for the observation of the curious." - May 11, 1819
We are all able to instinctively label people as ‘young’, ‘middle-aged’ or ‘old’ based on appearance and the situations in which we encounter them.These will not always correlate with an accurate calendar age, as people are all, well, different. Their appearance and abilities will be related to their genetics, lifestyle, health, attitudes, activity, diet, wealth and a multitude of other factors. These differences will accumulate as the years increase, meaning that once a person reaches the age of about 40 or 50, the differences are too great to allow any one-size-fits-all accuracy in the determination of the calendar age, whether it is done by eye on a living person or by the method of skeletal ageing investigations.
The maximum human lifespan (approximately 125 years) has barely changed since we arrived. It is estimated that if the three main causes of death in old age today – cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer – were eliminated, the developed world would see only a 15-year increase in life expectancy. While an individual living to 125 in the distant past would have been extremely rare, it was possible. And some things about the past, such as men being valued for their power and women for their beauty, have changed little :)
From the scientific-professional point of view, more attention must be paid in modern society to basic research on ageing as cause of death to take us from the question of: Why we age?
to the questions: Why do humans live as long as they do? and How to make life longer?
But even if the ability to control the mechanisms of ageing ever becomes a reality, it possibly will be rife with unintended, unexpected and undesirable consequences for the global political, economical and cultural development of human society.
As our life is limited by death, it is for this reason we must do all the possible we can do, even if our freedom is very limited by circumstances. When we are young we feel we have unlimited possibilities, the we have to choose between them, when adult we see our life as running in already defined tracks, but there also moment in which we can explore also other possibilities.
Why not, if we want to live at the most, so we will have no regrets when we will have to face death.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favourite movies and is comprised of a huge thought experiment. Is it better to forget or remember, to suffer the pain of bad memories, loss, trauma, or to just be blissfully oblivious?
I found the irony of your reader Karen’s reply most meaningful: that intensely overriding and unconscious desire to experience everything, for as many years as we’re granted that stands as rebellion against our finitude and the psychological and spiritual necessity of consciously choosing what experience(s) we want out of life… our condition in a nutshell.
The poll on "How often do you think about death?" - involves a somewhat skewed population, ie of people who are interested in philosophy. I imagine such people think about death a GREAT deal more than the average. And in many ways, it is the only thing worth thinking about...
You had me at The Larder of Desperate Dinners…
The poll on "How often do you think about death?" - involves a somewhat skewed population, ie of people who are interested in philosophy. I imagine such people think about death a GREAT deal more than the average. And in many ways, it is the only thing worth thinking about...
Aha! Very very true. Nothing scientifically rigorous about it. Just interesting!
I think people in power and medical doctors think about death a great deal more than average. First-because they are sending troops to die,second-because they are struggling to save people from death. I think they are not interested in philosophy so much, but are just troubled by their conscience
"How often do you think about death?" It changes throughout life. When I was young it was rarely a concern. As I grew older I thought about death a bit more, especially after having children of my own. When I was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, and told that it had been found in a lymphnode, I thought about death constantly; I couldn't stop thinking about my existence ending. Now that I'm six years out from all of my treatments, and continue to be monitored every six months (daily pill), I now think about my own death every few months. However, I am currently thinking about my husband's death, as he is now going through health issues, and we don't know if it's serious or not, yet. He is going through testing currently. I think our thoughts about death, and how often we think of it, really depend on our life experiences and age.
I can’t resist mentioning some films, though I’m not sure that all of these offer what is strictly a philosophical thought experiment. However they’re deeply philosophical and beautiful, and I love even just naming them—you feel them for years to come after you see them. At least I have.
Waking Life, Before Sunrise, Wings of Desire, Kurasawa’s Dreams, Tartovsky’s Solaris, The Fountain, Donnie Darko, The Fall, My Dinner with Andre, Amélie, and Midnight in Paris. I’m probably due to rewatch them all and I’m happy for anyone who’s getting to discover them for the first time :)
There’s a Netflix series that came out recently called The Last Night at Trémore Beach and it may stretch on a bit long for those not also into it for the amazing setting, the elegant house, and the performances, but it’s an interesting exploration of how to figure out what is real if you have visions that are proving to be like some sort of prescience, and how one might relate to that and degrees of intuitive experience. It really resonated for me on a certain level—of course it doesn’t answer it all and there were likely some holes, but it still felt like it was helping me make sense of something in a way. All that is so slippery though—I’ve already forgotten what it was that it felt like it was helping me understand! I’ll have to watch it again. What is that movie where every day you wake up again and it’s like you’ve just begun and nothing ever happened? Maybe Eternal Sunshine—I’ve got a bit of that.
Probably the film that is the most explicitly a thought experiment that comes to mind as one I’ve loved is Groundhog Day. It’s a total mainstream crowd-pleaser, but has a deep question in its heart and it’s a beautiful and very funny illustration of how we can shift our relationship to time and our life. There’s a recent French film I fell in love with that speaks to the same theme in a totally different way—The Sweet Escape. It’s a bit underrated there from what I can tell, though it’s by a comedian who’s quite popular there. It’s a really gentle and meandering film that I think quite deliberately walks its talk, so to speak.
Btw, it feels like the phenomenon/concept of synesthesia might offer something regarding Jackson’s revised hypothesis re: Mary’s Room. It’s possible to have analogous sensory experiences so this is already a reproduction of qualia though it can’t necessarily be reproduced through neurobiology yet as Jackson wants to do. He is on to something there—our subjective experience will ultimately turn out to be more mappable and quantifiable than we’d expect at present. Still I think it will only reach a high-quality approximation for a very long time, so in some ways our personal experience will still remain very individual, but a great deal of the distance will be bridged.
Wonderful article and conversation! I have a couple more thoughts on the subject I’ll try to share at some point.
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I think about death like an inevitable . I’ve had my moments where I’ve considered it as a way to escape heavy torments, pains and distress but it was an immature escape route I guess I was lucky I didn’t act towards swiftly . But however much I wanted to punish myself, this world ( perhaps god )or people I thought should care about me I learned it was a symptom and not a cure and I have really had no need to be in a hurry as in time it won’t be a choice. So I choose me, being real and as much hope as I can muster to take steps to be as authentic, caring and accepting of everything in my path . One day at a time ,one challenge at a time and with some hope and I guess a belief I will make a positive difference to this opportunity (life) without overburdening myself with ambitions . That ‘Chinese farmer ‘ way… not knowing what is good or bad luck but accepting what is . Breathing it in and absorbing it - death I have learned ( through loss ) is part of life . I don’t fear it . I am afraid of not living to my fullest potential and living a futile existence (irony is not lost on me) I think life/ death - consciousness ( all of it ) is a big cosmic joke (in the nicest possible way)
I'm not suicidal but yet I hope for the fatal accidents or deadly situation I'd be in so that I don't have to actually commit it by myself to death. This thought appears time after time. Still I have a year plan ahead of my life and living happily day by day with the best people around me. But that dark shady thought is always there in the corner of my room reminding me often about it.
On making peace with his slow descent toward death, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "A decline of health at 76 was naturally to be expected & is a warning of an event which cannot be distant & whose approach I contemplate with little concern. For indeed in no circumstance has nature been kinder to us than in the soft gradations by which she prepares us to part willingly with what we are not destined always to retain. First one faculty is withdrawn & then another, sight, hearing, memory, eucrasy, affections, &friends, filched one by one till we are left among strangers, the mere monuments of times past, and specimens of antiquity for the observation of the curious." - May 11, 1819
We are all able to instinctively label people as ‘young’, ‘middle-aged’ or ‘old’ based on appearance and the situations in which we encounter them.These will not always correlate with an accurate calendar age, as people are all, well, different. Their appearance and abilities will be related to their genetics, lifestyle, health, attitudes, activity, diet, wealth and a multitude of other factors. These differences will accumulate as the years increase, meaning that once a person reaches the age of about 40 or 50, the differences are too great to allow any one-size-fits-all accuracy in the determination of the calendar age, whether it is done by eye on a living person or by the method of skeletal ageing investigations.
The maximum human lifespan (approximately 125 years) has barely changed since we arrived. It is estimated that if the three main causes of death in old age today – cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer – were eliminated, the developed world would see only a 15-year increase in life expectancy. While an individual living to 125 in the distant past would have been extremely rare, it was possible. And some things about the past, such as men being valued for their power and women for their beauty, have changed little :)
From the scientific-professional point of view, more attention must be paid in modern society to basic research on ageing as cause of death to take us from the question of: Why we age?
to the questions: Why do humans live as long as they do? and How to make life longer?
But even if the ability to control the mechanisms of ageing ever becomes a reality, it possibly will be rife with unintended, unexpected and undesirable consequences for the global political, economical and cultural development of human society.
So, guys, think bigger, but take care!
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a great thought experiment in the form of a short story.
As our life is limited by death, it is for this reason we must do all the possible we can do, even if our freedom is very limited by circumstances. When we are young we feel we have unlimited possibilities, the we have to choose between them, when adult we see our life as running in already defined tracks, but there also moment in which we can explore also other possibilities.
Why not, if we want to live at the most, so we will have no regrets when we will have to face death.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favourite movies and is comprised of a huge thought experiment. Is it better to forget or remember, to suffer the pain of bad memories, loss, trauma, or to just be blissfully oblivious?
I found the irony of your reader Karen’s reply most meaningful: that intensely overriding and unconscious desire to experience everything, for as many years as we’re granted that stands as rebellion against our finitude and the psychological and spiritual necessity of consciously choosing what experience(s) we want out of life… our condition in a nutshell.
The poll on "How often do you think about death?" - involves a somewhat skewed population, ie of people who are interested in philosophy. I imagine such people think about death a GREAT deal more than the average. And in many ways, it is the only thing worth thinking about...