More than saying something, we might be able to do something. Each of us, if so inclined, could donate in ’advancedatheist″s legal name, or not. Either way, he might appreciate it.
There is one Jewish custom associated with death that makes sense to me, which is contributing to charity on behalf of the departed. I am donating eighteen hundred dollars to the general fund of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, because this has gone on long enough. If you object to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute then consider Dr. Aubrey de Grey’s Methuselah Foundation, which hopes to defeat aging through biomedical engineering. I think that a sensible coping strategy for transhumanist atheists, to donate to an anti-death charity after a loved one dies. Death hurt us, so we will unmake Death. Let that be the outlet for our anger, which is terrible and just. I watched Yehuda’s coffin lowered into the ground and cried, and then I sat through the eulogy and heard rabbis tell comforting lies. If I had spoken Yehuda’s eulogy I would not have comforted the mourners in their loss. I would have told the mourners that Yehuda had been absolutely annihilated, that there was nothing left of him. I would have told them they were right to be angry, that they had been robbed, that something precious and irreplaceable was taken from them, for no reason at all, taken from them and shattered, and they are never getting it back.
Alternatively, you could publicly write an open letter or an essay as Eliezer did. Reading this letter about his brother opened my mind, and steeled my resolve, that death is indeed horrible, that to accept is a rationalization, and that it’s worth increasing healthspan and lifespan, if not having the audacity to end death itself. Nothing else I’ve ever read, including other works for Eliezer, did more for me in this regard. I don’t know how many, but I’m confident it’s done the same for others. If we’re able, with art, with writing, through presentation, or explanation of the latest science, to do something similar, to increase conscientiousness on the topic, and to push the envelope forward.
To do so publicly requires courage. Right now, I don’t have as much conviction as Eliezer had, and still has. I can’t afford to donate, either, right now. However, that’s because I’ve already donated my budget target for charitable donations this year, and I don’t have savings earmarked for donations otherwise. So, to tell others to do this right now, in the name of Wendell Potts, when I won’t, would be hypocrisy. So, I won’t. However, it’s a reminder for those who have the means to be more heroic than I. I strive to be able to give in this regard more as soon as I can.
More than saying something, we might be able to do something. Each of us, if so inclined, could donate in ’advancedatheist″s legal name, or not. Either way, he might appreciate it.
-Eliezer Yudkowsky, “Yehuda Yudkowsky”
Alternatively, you could publicly write an open letter or an essay as Eliezer did. Reading this letter about his brother opened my mind, and steeled my resolve, that death is indeed horrible, that to accept is a rationalization, and that it’s worth increasing healthspan and lifespan, if not having the audacity to end death itself. Nothing else I’ve ever read, including other works for Eliezer, did more for me in this regard. I don’t know how many, but I’m confident it’s done the same for others. If we’re able, with art, with writing, through presentation, or explanation of the latest science, to do something similar, to increase conscientiousness on the topic, and to push the envelope forward.
To do so publicly requires courage. Right now, I don’t have as much conviction as Eliezer had, and still has. I can’t afford to donate, either, right now. However, that’s because I’ve already donated my budget target for charitable donations this year, and I don’t have savings earmarked for donations otherwise. So, to tell others to do this right now, in the name of Wendell Potts, when I won’t, would be hypocrisy. So, I won’t. However, it’s a reminder for those who have the means to be more heroic than I. I strive to be able to give in this regard more as soon as I can.