I’ve been thinking something similar to this as I lost one of the closest people in my life a few weeks ago.<p>People have been living and dying on this rock for thousands of generations and no-one alive today remembers any of them. Even the most immensely successful people to have lived just a short while ago - all of the John Rockefellers and the Andrew Carnegies of the world - are remembered only insofar as their names adorn buildings today. I don’t think it would matter at all if my name was on a library after I’m gone. I’m not sure how it could.<p>I’m trying to prioritise more (and better) time with my kids as it really is going by in a blink and while I’ve always understood this logically it’s really hit me like a freight train lately how none of it’s guaranteed.<p>To be cheesy and quote Tony Stark: “No amount of money ever bought a second of time”.
I was unemployed for a good stretch last summer/fall and would go hiking, backpacking or camping in the Sierra Nevadas almost every week.<p>After the third trip in a month, walking among granite cliffs and alpine lakes I realized that I wasn't feeling much awe. To have those profound breathtaking moments in nature you need the contrast of months in civilization sitting on a computer. Same thing with special moments with loved ones, or anything that seems profound and makes you think "I should be doing this all the time".
If it's all going to shit anyway, how are "real" things better than glitzy consumerism? Those kisses from children will be gone just the same as the expensive watches. Actually, vintage watches have a thriving second hand market.<p>I mean, I don't disagree with the conclusion, but the argument ain't great.
The last time I saw my grandfather he had advanced cancer and knew he'd be dying soon. He was a little shy of 80.<p>We had a good conversation, the kind I wish we'd had more of, and part of what he said was basically "I just finally started to understand life, and now I'm dying."<p>The post may express this stuff a bit clumsily but I think it has a kernel of truth. We fill our days with a lot of shit that doesn't matter. You can argue <i>nothing</i> matters because we're all going to die. But during our brief go-around on the planet there are things that are meaningful and things that aren't.<p>Trying to focus more on the things that have meaning and less on things that aren't (or, worse, hurt others and make their lives worse) is a good idea. It's a pity we can't collectively get it together and agree that, for example, we could be focusing less on work and more on things that bring us joy. We could arrange society a lot differently but choose not to. And we're not better for it.
Nothing we do matters, cosmically speaking.<p>However, each of us is at the center of our own universe, and from that context, a variety of things are important or unimportant. From the context of self, we derive importance.<p>That universe exists only as long as the self exists. In that context, what you deem important is important. What you deem unimportant is unimportant. And those states shift over time.<p>I'm not well read in philosophy. I imagine what I've written above is probably a pretty commonplace observation, so I'm sure someone has written more on the subject.
I actually think the opposite is true, most people would slow down and be less greedy and intolerant if they were immortal, and didn't have to worry about getting old and dying. The pressure of knowing you'll be dead soon is what makes a lot of people feel that "what’s really valuable in this life" is a waste of precious time.
Reminded me of the epilogue to Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, which read:<p><i>It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now.</i><p>We all share a common destination. It makes me wonder why there's so much fuss about what happens on the in-between.
I'm not trying to proselytize here, just merely pointing out that the sentiment is thousands of years old:<p><i>Akabyah ben Mahalalel said: mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning. From where do you come? From a putrid drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, of worm and of maggot. Before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning? Before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.<p>-Pirkeh Avot 3:1</i>
(Written sometime before 200 CE)
I often see articles like this, and they seem to think the message people takeaway from nihilistic meanderings like this is <i>"nothing is forever therefore your toils are folly"</i>. The author failing to see the time you spend together with your family <i>will also fade to nothing</i>.<p>The solution is a balanced life, realizing that only examples of things that resonated beyond their time <i>are the toils, both failed and otherwise, of humans</i>. And there is no meaning of life other than to experience life. So toil away; and spend time enjoying your family & friends.
> Strangers will live in our homes we fought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today.<p>Some of us are rejecting the boomer bounce the check for the funeral ethos in favor of passing something on. Much as the overwhelming majority of our ancestors did, we have a very real hope that it will be our descendants who live in our houses and benefit from what we built during our lives.<p>The related concept of the Buxton Index (BI) is worth pondering. In short, it’s your planning horizon. So a frontend dev might have a BI of 1-2 sprints, a US president might have one of 4-8 years, and so on. Needless to say all of the wealthiest families have an intergenerational time scale BI, and so do the upper middle class ones that have persisted.<p>After all the simple fact is some tasks can’t be completed in a single lifetime.
> If we could only think about this, surely our approaches, our thoughts would change, we would be different people.<p>Oh boy, nobody tell them about Nihilism.
Kind of painting a bad picture on getting lost in the journey of dreams IMO. The relaxing, enjoying small moments is just getting lost in that. It's probably closer to a balance and just living committed to your decisions, no ragrets. If I went fully one way or the other I probably would be wishing I attempted the other a bit more.
Meh. This guy just sounds depressed.<p>Sure there's truth in some of what he's saying, but I think the fact that we and all of our stuff will be gone is great. I'm here to enjoy the ride! I'm gonna go fast in my fancy car - zoom zoom see ya later.
>> "we waste it with greed, greed and intolerance"<p>Is it really greed though? Or just the struggle to make ends meat?<p>I feel such concerns about one's legacy are quite the first world problem.<p>But it's still a great post.
Here’s the short version:<p><a href="https://youtu.be/iL117MO4pbo?si=T1Zw1NIME4ptIqLB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/iL117MO4pbo?si=T1Zw1NIME4ptIqLB</a>
Wow, this is flagged? What was wrong with it, the suggestion we should not be intolerant of others? I will remind you of the paradox of tolerance, which explains why we shouldn’t tolerate intolerance: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance</a><p>It is an important philosophical principle that is crucial to maintaining a free society.
This is why stupidity like Scrum should be abolished in every software shop worldwide. It just wastes time. It is just busy work and busy meetings for nothing and it is one of the most time consuming aspects of a dev job.
I was expecting this to be about AI timelines or something. This is not very novel or interesting to me. Besides, it's not as if there's no plausible way to extend lifespans enough that I could live until 2123.