(Chapter 45. I jumped up and down on the edge of my seat.)
Wedrifid’s response to this makes me wonder how many people there might be here who aren’t all fired up about defeating death. I get so excited when I think about it that I forget that some people are pro-death (including a few people that I care about very deeply.)
I’m not all fired up. I don’t think that society is really anti-lifeist anymore than people who claim to believe in heaven really believe in it. Telling yourself that death is OK is a way to deal with the inevitability of death, and while this is bad (because you’ll tend to ignore ideas, like cryonics and life extension, that hold some promise of defeating death) it won’t last. Life extension doesn’t get as much attention and effort as I would like, but when it has successes, these are gratefully accepted.
On the other hand, people’s freedom is being interfered with, right now, because they want to die and our stringently anti-death society forces them to stay alive. That’s what I get riled up about.
All the same, I loved the Humanism chapters. (The war stories were starting to get boring.) And while I don’t find death the greatest evil in the world, I still agree with what Harry said about it.
I am probably one of those not-fired-up folks. I don’t want to defend that position (or attitude, or whatever) here. But I can offer that, even for someone like me, Chapter 45 was an extremely effective exposition of the emotional attractiveness of the anti-death position.
I’m the same way, as a personal matter. It’s nothing I can defend. A person doesn’t necessarily care, emotionally, about everything that it would make sense to care about.
Wedrifid’s response to this makes me wonder how many people there might be here who aren’t all fired up about defeating death.
I am fired up about defeating death. (I also literally jumped to the edge of my seat in chapters 44 and 45.)
I rolled my eyes in 45 mostly when I reread it with 46 already in mind. I could see where Harry was inserting drama to set up a soap box for the future preaching. It soured the experience for me.
It did have a “making the point with a sledgehammer” feel, although it’s worth noting that Eliezer’s not just preaching to the choir: MoR’s intended audience has probably never had transhumanism/positive immortality expounded to them seriously before.
(Chapter 45. I jumped up and down on the edge of my seat.)
Wedrifid’s response to this makes me wonder how many people there might be here who aren’t all fired up about defeating death. I get so excited when I think about it that I forget that some people are pro-death (including a few people that I care about very deeply.)
I’m not all fired up. I don’t think that society is really anti-lifeist anymore than people who claim to believe in heaven really believe in it. Telling yourself that death is OK is a way to deal with the inevitability of death, and while this is bad (because you’ll tend to ignore ideas, like cryonics and life extension, that hold some promise of defeating death) it won’t last. Life extension doesn’t get as much attention and effort as I would like, but when it has successes, these are gratefully accepted.
On the other hand, people’s freedom is being interfered with, right now, because they want to die and our stringently anti-death society forces them to stay alive. That’s what I get riled up about.
All the same, I loved the Humanism chapters. (The war stories were starting to get boring.) And while I don’t find death the greatest evil in the world, I still agree with what Harry said about it.
I am probably one of those not-fired-up folks. I don’t want to defend that position (or attitude, or whatever) here. But I can offer that, even for someone like me, Chapter 45 was an extremely effective exposition of the emotional attractiveness of the anti-death position.
Well done, EY!
I’m the same way, as a personal matter. It’s nothing I can defend. A person doesn’t necessarily care, emotionally, about everything that it would make sense to care about.
I am fired up about defeating death. (I also literally jumped to the edge of my seat in chapters 44 and 45.)
I rolled my eyes in 45 mostly when I reread it with 46 already in mind. I could see where Harry was inserting drama to set up a soap box for the future preaching. It soured the experience for me.
It did have a “making the point with a sledgehammer” feel, although it’s worth noting that Eliezer’s not just preaching to the choir: MoR’s intended audience has probably never had transhumanism/positive immortality expounded to them seriously before.