When my father died, I realized in the last years we hardly ever talked about anything serious, neither before much, he did not hand me over his life experience, advice, philosophy, knowledge, basically the best part of himself. What we have remaining is photos the memories of fun had but that is not the best part of a person.
I realized that everybody who has children owes them to write a book. Dumping everything in it, less-obvious knowledge, experience gained, what worked for me what not, life advice, philosophy, values. Basically an extract of the best part of you, a manual to life, a “what would mom/dad do in this situation” type of book and the best kind of memory left behind, a practical memory, a problem-solver type, not just photos about how we went skiing together.
To put it differently, part of the issue is that when your children realize it is a good idea to listen to you, it may be too late. I did not realize the old mans experience is relevant until my own child was born and that was a week after he gone.
People who have no children but are in any ways interesting or high-achieving should also do this. It would be really better if we had a book from Prathett full of stuff like how he sees the world, values, philosophy, ideas, writing techniques. That way the best part would be preserved.
In the longer run, “uploading” will solve it, but as of now this sounds like a great idea, even better than cryonics, for I am not sure how useful I will be to people 2000 years later when they revive me, but such a mind-extract can be useful for my daughter in 30-40 years. It is selective uploading into the Gutenberg-computer.
When my father died, I realized in the last years we hardly ever talked about anything serious, neither before much, he did not hand me over his life experience, advice, philosophy, knowledge, basically the best part of himself. What we have remaining is photos the memories of fun had but that is not the best part of a person.
I realized that everybody who has children owes them to write a book. Dumping everything in it, less-obvious knowledge, experience gained, what worked for me what not, life advice, philosophy, values. Basically an extract of the best part of you, a manual to life, a “what would mom/dad do in this situation” type of book and the best kind of memory left behind, a practical memory, a problem-solver type, not just photos about how we went skiing together.
To put it differently, part of the issue is that when your children realize it is a good idea to listen to you, it may be too late. I did not realize the old mans experience is relevant until my own child was born and that was a week after he gone.
People who have no children but are in any ways interesting or high-achieving should also do this. It would be really better if we had a book from Prathett full of stuff like how he sees the world, values, philosophy, ideas, writing techniques. That way the best part would be preserved.
In the longer run, “uploading” will solve it, but as of now this sounds like a great idea, even better than cryonics, for I am not sure how useful I will be to people 2000 years later when they revive me, but such a mind-extract can be useful for my daughter in 30-40 years. It is selective uploading into the Gutenberg-computer.