Based on your observation that your direct evidence for human mortality is limited, you conclude that you will never receive evidence, under some definition, that you are mortal. Do you have any evidence (under the same definition) that I am mortal, or indeed that anybody else is? If yes, could you please explain the difference in conclusions from identical evidence?
No, I have no evidence for your mortality. Although it’s possible that I could someday have such evidence (based on the generally-accepted definition of mortality), I could never be in a position to present YOU with any.
My underlying interest in this theme lies in the direction of why we blindly accept our own mortality on such little individually-beheld evidence. Is it possible that, as with increasing average human lifespan, dying has more to do with belief about dying than with any physiological limitations? Accidents and murder, etc., apart, could we believe ourselves to 200 years old, if we could shake off the ingrained belief in the inevitability of death? Could avoidance of news reports involving death help? Are we really to believe that gains in average human lifespan are solely due to improvements in factors external to the body? If so, why is that many remote, relatively under-developed areas produce so many centenarians? Does belief that it’s easily achievable to live to, say, 90 years have nothing to do with individually achieving such longevity? And does “genetics” have more to do with monkey see, monkey do than we imagine?
You do have some evidence that you are similar to other people. Consequently, if you had evidence for the mortality of someone else, this would be evidence for your own mortality. You have admitted that it is possible to have evidence for the mortality of someone else, and therefore it is possible for you to have evidence of your own mortality.
Based on your observation that your direct evidence for human mortality is limited, you conclude that you will never receive evidence, under some definition, that you are mortal. Do you have any evidence (under the same definition) that I am mortal, or indeed that anybody else is? If yes, could you please explain the difference in conclusions from identical evidence?
No, I have no evidence for your mortality. Although it’s possible that I could someday have such evidence (based on the generally-accepted definition of mortality), I could never be in a position to present YOU with any.
My underlying interest in this theme lies in the direction of why we blindly accept our own mortality on such little individually-beheld evidence. Is it possible that, as with increasing average human lifespan, dying has more to do with belief about dying than with any physiological limitations? Accidents and murder, etc., apart, could we believe ourselves to 200 years old, if we could shake off the ingrained belief in the inevitability of death? Could avoidance of news reports involving death help? Are we really to believe that gains in average human lifespan are solely due to improvements in factors external to the body? If so, why is that many remote, relatively under-developed areas produce so many centenarians? Does belief that it’s easily achievable to live to, say, 90 years have nothing to do with individually achieving such longevity? And does “genetics” have more to do with monkey see, monkey do than we imagine?
Note: In 1900, global average lifespan was 31 years. By mid century, it was 48 years. In 2005, it was 65.6 years. http://www.who.int/global_health_histories/seminars/presentation07.pdf
You do have some evidence that you are similar to other people. Consequently, if you had evidence for the mortality of someone else, this would be evidence for your own mortality. You have admitted that it is possible to have evidence for the mortality of someone else, and therefore it is possible for you to have evidence of your own mortality.