(It’s my impression that the belief of ancestor-worshipers is not that their actions today fulfill the past living desires of now-dead ancestors, but that their actions today affect the experiences of their dead ancestors today.)
I haven’t read the article by gwern that Qiaochu linked, so I didn’t know that it referred specifically to ancestor worship rather than the more general (believed) evaporation of respect for ancestors’ desires as a terminal value.
Therefore, by substitution, we don’t experience anything in response to knowledge about things that will happen after we’re dead?
What? Sorry, I don’t see the connection.
(It’s my impression that the belief of ancestor-worshipers is not that their actions today fulfill the past living desires of now-dead ancestors, but that their actions today affect the experiences of their dead ancestors today.)
I haven’t read the article by gwern that Qiaochu linked, so I didn’t know that it referred specifically to ancestor worship rather than the more general (believed) evaporation of respect for ancestors’ desires as a terminal value.