[ExI] "Death gives meaning to life?"

[Stefano Vaj]

On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 1:05 AM, Thomas <thomas at thomasoliver.net> wrote:
> A clean, predator free environment might permit one to forego reproduction
> (the need for an "after life") and focus effort on auto evolution and life
> extension.  As I see it, the probability of death would fall.  The value of
> life would soar and its meaning would expand as one achieved ever greater
> beauty and happiness.

Mmhhh. Actually, what I am mostly interested in is a progressively
growing, and tendentially undefined, *lifespan*. In other terms, the
ineluttability of the fact that as a cat roughly lives 15 years
irrespective of how healthy his life may be and good his veterinarian,
a human being may last 90 or 100 years, but no more than that, and
with severe, unavoidable functional impairments for a substantial
chunk of this duration.

Then, "probability of death" may depend on factors that remain
entirely within the scope of human self-determination, and I sincerely
doubt that its reduction to zero would be an absolute, unconditional
individual and societal goal. I would be reluctant, say, to forbid
sport, including its extreme version, just because the price for the
challenge and the adrenalyne rush might involve a diminished life
expectancy for its practitioners. And what about exploration,
experiments, expansion in different and possibly hostile environments,
etc. etc.? Nicely, the words for all those activities start with an
"ex", the same of "extropy"... :-)

Stefano Vaj