[ExI] Fear of Death

[A B]

Lee wrote:

> "Hmm?  Flame?  Where?  :-)   I don't really see any
> insult potential so far!!"

Well, I'm glad you weren't offended. With all the
flame wars swirling around Extropy right now, these
are volatile times.  :-)

> "That does not sound logical to me.  Just because
you
> *prefer* something---have your "rathers"---hardly
> means that you are afraid of something. You may
> prefer chocolate to vanilla ice-cream, but we could 
> hardly infer that you were afraid of vanilla."

It's probably a matter of degree. If you prefer option
A *strongly enough* over option B, then it probably
could be considered "fear" of option B, at least IMO.
For example, I'm not hysterical and losing sleep over
the thought of my own death, but I would really prefer
not to die. Does my own feeling qualify as "fear"?
Possibly, at least to a small degree. But that doesn't
bother me.

> "Let's say that we are all trying to be honest about
> our
> feelings, and further postulate that we are good at
> expressing how we feel.  Well, I have read accounts
> that many cryonicists have written, e.g. Saul Kent,
> who are not shy concerning their overpowering fear
> of death.  As for me, so far as I can tell, it's not
> quite
> like that:  my "fear" of death is much, much more
> like
> not getting invited to some wonderful, wonderful
> party that I had been looking forward to for ages.
> Or missing out on said party for whatever reason."

That's similar to the way I feel, too. I don't want to
miss the party; it should be pretty awesome. More
specifically, I would like to have a wonderful
existence and continue to love the people and
abstractions that I love. The "scariest" part of
non-existence in my opinion is that you lose your
concern for all things.

> "I will assume that you know what you are talking
> about with respect to your own feelings, and if
> the prospect of death is well described by "fear",
> then that's fine.  Frankly, it would be good for me
> I think, if I were much more afraid of death than
> I seem to be.  Then I'd go to cryonicist meetings
> more often, help out with the cause more often,
> contribute more heavily, and so on."

It might help you to stay motivated to keep imagining
how great the party could be, and how much it would
suck if you missed out. It would be nice for all of us
list members to have a 100-year reunion. You do have a
cryonics contract, right Lee?

This whole topic of "fear", "cowardice", "bravery",
"courage", etc. is pretty interesting, IMO. And many
people at large seem to have some pretty kooky
interpretations and conceptions regarding these words.
I think that I'm going to try to research these things
a bit more thoroughly, and attempt to post something
more specific sometime in the future.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Herrlich  
  

--- Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> Jeffrey writes
> 
> > Lee wrote:
> > 
> > > ..."I have very good reasons
> > > for supposing that I fear death less than most
> people,
> > > and a *lot* less than do many other
> cryonicists."...
> > 
> > I'm not trying to flame you Lee, I just thought
> that
> > this would be a good topic to jump-off from.
> 
> Hmm?  Flame?  Where?  :-)   I don't really see any
> insult potential so far!!
> 
> > I've wondered why having a fear of death is often
> > considered to be something shameful.
> 
> That's a good question.  As a guess, I suppose that 
> all we he-men types just get anxious any time that
> it's suggested we fear something.  "I'm not
> afraid!",
> cried Sir Robin to King Arthur as they approached
> the Bridge of Death over the Gorge of Eternal Peril.
> 
> > I would rather continue to exist and live a good
> life,
> > rather than die (in the "permanent" sense). So,
> > because I would rather live well, then I suppose
> that
> > I *do* have a fear of death.
> 
> That does not sound logical to me.  Just because you
> *prefer* something---have your "rathers"---hardly
> means that you are afraid of something. You may
> prefer chocolate to vanilla ice-cream, but we could 
> hardly infer that you were afraid of vanilla. 
> 
> Let's say that we are all trying to be honest about
> our
> feelings, and further postulate that we are good at
> expressing how we feel.  Well, I have read accounts
> that many cryonicists have written, e.g. Saul Kent,
> who are not shy concerning their overpowering fear
> of death.  As for me, so far as I can tell, it's not
> quite
> like that:  my "fear" of death is much, much more
> like
> not getting invited to some wonderful, wonderful
> party that I had been looking forward to for ages.
> Or missing out on said party for whatever reason.
> 
> > Does that make me ashamed to say it or
> > feel it? Not at all. If I die, then nothing I've
> ever
> > cared about will mean anything to me; because
> > I won't care about anything.
> 
> I will assume that you know what you are talking
> about with respect to your own feelings, and if
> the prospect of death is well described by "fear",
> then that's fine.  Frankly, it would be good for me
> I think, if I were much more afraid of death than
> I seem to be.  Then I'd go to cryonicist meetings
> more often, help out with the cause more often,
> contribute more heavily, and so on.  
> 
> Lee
> 
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>
http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
> 



       
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