You Are Going to Die

I think the part about segregating the elderly away so we don't have to confront death is spot-on.<p>Even though I was raised in the U.S., I find the American approach to the elderly a bit bizarre. My family is from Bangladesh. My grandparents moved in with their children when they were too old to take care of themselves. Yet here in the U.S., the popular culture strongly pushes back against multi-generational living. So we end up with a fairly bizarre situation: a country that is in crisis about how to take care of retirees, and also faces the challenge of middle class couples not wanting to have children because of, among other things, the enormous costs of child care. I feel like one problem is a built in solution to the other problem.<p>I'm not trying to criticize anyone's lifestyle choices. But to an extent our lifestyle choices are cultural. See, e.g., the cultural attitudes about young people living with their parents into their 20's in places like Spain versus the U.S. I think one thing the economy and the retirement crisis will force is a changing attitude towards multi-generational living. We're facing a future with fewer workers per retiree. At this instant it's a zero-sum game: we either tax working people more so the elderly can maintain independent lifestyles, or we reduce benefits to older people and force them to depend more on their children. Either way, the efficiencies that are inherent in multi-generational living will be an attractive way to deal with the smaller than expected pie that must be split amongst more people.

Americans are afraid to die, sure, but there's something we're much more afraid of which explains all of this so much better.<p>We're afraid of old people fucking.<p>We're afraid to know our parents had sex. We're afraid for our kids to know we have sex. We're afraid of what happens when we get old and wrinkly. We're afraid that when we're old and wrinkly, nobody taut and sexy will want to have sex with us. We're secretly afraid when we're old and wrinkly we won't be able to get it up. And, of course, we're terrified that our widowed grandparents might be having sex with other widowed grandparents.<p>I think the whole youth and beauty thing falls out of this.

The world doesn't have to be like this. Not anymore. It's too late for my little brother - but Kim Suozzi made it, and it's not too late for you, or any of your loved ones who are still alive.<p><a href="http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Cryonics" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Cryonics</a>

Strangely enough, the observed / estimated mortality rate is around 93% -- the seven billion living people haven't yet died.<p>On another somber note, even if we could transcribe our consciousness to machines, achieve singularity, etc -- all we do is delay it by another number. The sun is going to burn out, explode an expand, and eventually stars in general will run out of fuel. Is only hope is to change your conscious understanding of life and existence to accept non existence?

Not if Aubrey de Grey, Eliezer Yudkowsky or a number of other people succeed. Donate. Death is not the end of everything but it will be the end of you.

I'd like to point out first that this author has an awful attitude, and I'd also like to point out that his opinion about the "flattened bell curve" of life is factually incorrect. Most studies show a linear improvement in happiness during the twilight years of life - <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/17722567" rel="nofollow">http://www.economist.com/node/17722567</a> - it is in face a U-shape, the opposite of a bell curve.<p>Don't let depressed assholes like Tim Kreider affect your outlook on life. You'll note that he, at age 45, is right next to the statistically lowest point of self-reported well-being. One day he, like his Mother, will learn to enjoy the good things in life and not look so morbidly at his pending doom.

We certainly start to come to grips with our own mortality as we age. At 28, I'm having thoughts and concerns about illnesses I never thought I would, even though I'm certainly more aware of what I put into my body than I was just years ago.<p>I remember a conversation with my mom a few years back, where she started with something like "If I had died a few years ago." That was unfathomable to me because the thought of losing my parents is something I've always wrestled with and my mom is still very much youthful and carefree despite her advancing age.<p>Its a great piece that highlights the fact that at sometime we can and do come to terms with the fact that we won't be here forever. It's a sobering thought, but one that gives us perspective on life about the things that matter. In addition, realizing that we are mortal makes us want to leave behind a legacy, whether its a family, a product, or a book, we all want to be remembered for something.<p>I think we all come to this realization at different points in our lives.

Death may be inevitable, but there is life to live yet.

Life-extension as the pursuit of the every-man: " The mortality rate is holding at a scandalous 100 percent. "<p>What are YOU doing?

The article states that films rarely have infirm or elderly characters, though a great film that does is "Away from her". It isn't the easiest to watch, but it is sobering.<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491747/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491747/</a>

Most people act as if they are immortal though.

What luck, there is no you.

"Hacker News"

"the well are without mercy"<p>This line jumped out at me, as if taken from my own thoughts of the day. I have found, anytime that I am functioning at anything less than 100%, that almost every other human becomes like a jackal. Nonchalantly, politely divesting me of whatever scraps are left of my spirit, dignity or bank account, with a smile.<p>The same goes for people who are thought to be helpers, like doctors, nurses, counselors, social workers and the like. Human instincts to prey on the weaker seem to trump professional narratives in many cases.<p>I see this in the way doctors treat my grandfather. I see it in the way well-off members of the family treat poorer. Life is brutal, and as ever, it's we who make it so.

This article is an obnoxious meander. It is an "anxiety" blog for heavens sake, not very productive.<p>Getting care for the elderly is nice. Modern medicine is a mixed blessing, where we live long enough to get old with alzheimers and cancer.<p>Make the most of the years you get, the last one will be bad no matter what you do, unless you die of a heart attack during sex.<p>And set up your grandparents with Skype or FaceTime or Hangouts, the joy it brings them is beyond measure. Nothing is better for the cost of a device and Internet connectivity.

This conversation is not good for mental health.

And water is wet, and the sky is blue.