As utterly basic as this response is, it must be made:
as much as life sucks now, I cannot expect it to suck for the entirety of the next thousand years. Therefore, I will attempt to live those thousand years. If life still sucks, then I cannot expect that it will definitely suck for the next ten thousand years. Therefore, I will attempt to live those ten thousand years.
In other words: I’d like to be around when life stops sucking, thank you very much.
But don’t kill yourself because that will make life worse for me and I can’t kill myself because I have plenty of people who refuse to kill themselves who care about me!
Well, sympathy (at least for ingroup members) is a human universal, so at least until we start with the brain modifications. And then unless we’re in a horrific dystopia we can remove a bunch of sources of suck.
Some mechanisms are historical accidents (say, the dole and suicide hotlines), but things like civilisations, economies, medical systems, and technological progress look unlikely to go away unless we all do.
That’s what I was aiming for with my previous comment. An actuarial table for our civilization given the best rationalist estimates we have is a depressing sight.
Then we don’t need to kill ourselves, that’s taken care of for us! (Note: previous sentence neglects the cost of suck spent waiting for the apocalypse.)
As utterly basic as this response is, it must be made:
as much as life sucks now, I cannot expect it to suck for the entirety of the next thousand years. Therefore, I will attempt to live those thousand years. If life still sucks, then I cannot expect that it will definitely suck for the next ten thousand years. Therefore, I will attempt to live those ten thousand years.
In other words: I’d like to be around when life stops sucking, thank you very much.
That is why I am still alive right now. The suck has to go away some time, right. Right?
We live in an uncaring universe, do the math.
But don’t kill yourself because that will make life worse for me and I can’t kill myself because I have plenty of people who refuse to kill themselves who care about me!
Relevant Onion article. (Part of the reason I’m still alive.)
The universe contains caring people, and various mechanisms they have created.
And what are our best rationally cleaned up estimates for how long those caring people and their mechanisms are likley to stick around?
Well, sympathy (at least for ingroup members) is a human universal, so at least until we start with the brain modifications. And then unless we’re in a horrific dystopia we can remove a bunch of sources of suck.
Some mechanisms are historical accidents (say, the dole and suicide hotlines), but things like civilisations, economies, medical systems, and technological progress look unlikely to go away unless we all do.
That’s what I was aiming for with my previous comment. An actuarial table for our civilization given the best rationalist estimates we have is a depressing sight.
Then we don’t need to kill ourselves, that’s taken care of for us! (Note: previous sentence neglects the cost of suck spent waiting for the apocalypse.)
Basically. :)
Pascal’s wager with the future.