[ExI] Not Immoral to Want to Be Immortal

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Sat Apr 26 15:13:33 UTC 2008


On Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 2:41 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
>  If ennui comes with age then it's due to physical and mental
>  deterioration, not to the accumulation of experience. There are
>  depressed twenty year olds who see no purpose in living and manic
>  eighty year olds who have so many plans and ideas that they forget to
>  eat and sleep.
>

Yea, I've heard about 80 year olds like that.  Really annoying, aren't they?
Can't they get medication for that nowadays?   ;)

I should say that the ennui I refer to doesn't mean unhappiness. If
anything, older folk seem to be happier than when they were in the rat
race. (Providing that they remain in reasonable health and have no
money problems).
That's the point. They don't want to go back to the rat race.

It is like a 'seen it, done it, got the t-shirt' attitude. When a
possible mini project is suggested, they remember when they did
something not too different. They quite enjoyed the experience, but
then they think about all the steps involved, packing, travelling,
lodging, airport harassment, etc. and say 'It's just too much trouble.
You youngsters go and I'll look at your photos'.

If they were younger, you'd call it laziness.  :)  But most retirees
don't have the drives for money, power and new experiences that they
had when they were young. (Excluding the usual few exceptions, of
course).


BillK



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