I do agree that there are things you might think you want that don’t really make sense given that in a few hundred years you’re likely to be long dead and your influence on the world is likely to be lost in the noise.
But that’s a long way from saying—as bokov seems to be—that this invalidates “everything on which we base our long-term plans”.
I wouldn’t spend the next hour reading a scientific book if I knew that at the end my brain would be reset to its prior state. But I will happily spend time reading a scientific book if, e.g., it will make my life more interesting for the next few years, or lead to higher income which I can use to retire earlier, buy nicer things, or give to charity, even if all those benefits take place only over (say) the next 20 years.
Perhaps I’m unusual, or perhaps I’m fooling myself, but it doesn’t seem to me as if my long-term plans, or anyone else’s, are predicated on living for ever or having influence that lasts for hundreds of years.
I do agree that there are things you might think you want that don’t really make sense given that in a few hundred years you’re likely to be long dead and your influence on the world is likely to be lost in the noise.
But that’s a long way from saying—as bokov seems to be—that this invalidates “everything on which we base our long-term plans”.
I wouldn’t spend the next hour reading a scientific book if I knew that at the end my brain would be reset to its prior state. But I will happily spend time reading a scientific book if, e.g., it will make my life more interesting for the next few years, or lead to higher income which I can use to retire earlier, buy nicer things, or give to charity, even if all those benefits take place only over (say) the next 20 years.
Perhaps I’m unusual, or perhaps I’m fooling myself, but it doesn’t seem to me as if my long-term plans, or anyone else’s, are predicated on living for ever or having influence that lasts for hundreds of years.