Do you fear death?

[Mouthwash]

I do, very much so. I don't take any objections on "natural law" grounds as anything but nonsense. Death is death; you cease to exist. There is absolutely nothing complicated about whether this is good or bad in my view. I do hope that they find methods for massive life-extension such as gene therapy in the near future, hopefully before my parents are in serious risk (as if they aren't already- hopefully cancer treatment is moving along faster. I've heard optimistic news about that).

If worst comes to worst, I'll want to try cryogenics on my parents. Most of the arguments against this are massive strawmen because the concept really is about information-theoretic death. Those who say "ah, but how would you physically repair the damage in situ to wake someone up?" don't seem to grasp this. Is there anyone here particularly knowledgeable on this issue (I'm guessing not, but it's worth a shot)?

 

[bhsup]

The answer is both yes and no.

No because I have no desire to live forever. Immortality has zero appeal to me and I just don't understand people who do want to live forever. El_Mac, I am singling you out here to say that I mean no disrespect to you when I say that. You want it and that's great and fine, it's just not something for me.

Yes because while I do not want to live forever, I absolutely want to be alive right now. If my car happened to careen over a cliff into the water and I was trapped inside, I am not going to just rest and think, "Oh well, I didn't want to live forever." No, I would fight tooth and nail to get my butt free and live.

Ideally, dying peacefully after a good 70 or 80+ year run with Suki III at my feet with Star Trek playing on TV.

 

[Synobun]

Absolutely terrified.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

If death means a rest I welcome it. In its due time of course. No point to try to prolong my stay here but till then I will fight. Attachments? Thank you, dead, for liberating me.
If dead means complete extinction and annihilation of consciousness which I do not believe I will be just fine just like I was before the birth. But again thats pretty silly conception.
The most precious thing I see in this world is the consciousness itself. Not my relation to others or any unfulfilled desires. These are just results of my consciousness, my existence.
If I am to loose my consciousness completely at the time of my death then all the existence deserves one incredibly hard laugh and jeerlike head shake.

 

[Traitorfish]

I fear death almost as much as I fear not fearing death.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

I fear death almost as much as I fear not fearing death.

I bet ist the other way around.

 

[warpus]

Not afraid of death per se, but I am afraid of the process of dying. Death itself is easy - you don't have to do a thing. Heck, you won't even know you're dead. Dying sucks though and I'm sure it won't be a pleasant experience. Depending on how it will happen to me, yes, I'd be scared of several scenarios.. even a natural death can be crappy.

 

[emzie]

No more than falling asleep.

Falling asleep though can suck.

 

[sophie]

Yes, the finality of it all terrifies me.

 

[cardgame]

Not really. Would I rather continue living? Yeah.

 

[Lord Baal]

Right now I have a really bad headache, so I would actively welcome death.

I am not afraid of dying for its own sake. I am afraid of leaving my daughter without a father.

You probably should have made this a poll, Mouthwash.

 

[CavLancer]

No, I don't fear death. I'm in no rush but when death comes. I'll miss the people I love.

God showed me love once, and I wish to thank him in person. I'm not a preachy person, and I've come to the conclusion that the love shown me was only for me. I feel no qualms about telling people, but it never makes any difference to them that I can discern. If people are atheists they disbelieve me, if they are religious they look at me funny, I don't know why. To me however, in my life, I know that I do not have to fear death. The transition from life to death is a concern however. Kind of like I always hate going to the dentist.

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm, if you are so scared of death that you are willing to try cryogenics, well, maybe that is not very healthy to begin with

No one knows what death feels like, nor how one stops to "exist". I guess one has to wait and find out. Or they can always make up stuff, either way.

 

[Perfection]

I tend not to fear things I don't have much control over.

 

[Lord Baal]

I tend not to fear things I don't have much control over.

I've never understood this argument in regards to death. Surely you have at least some control of when you die.

 

[Kozmos]

I would if I didn't manage to accomplish my unrealistic dreams. (dying on Mars)

 

[Perfection]

I've never understood this argument in regards to death. Surely you have at least some control of when you die.

That's true, but the things that do effect life expectancy also effect other aspects of my life. For instance, I don't drive like an idiot because I don't want to jack up my car, and I work on improving my health because I feel better when healthy. The death aspect just doesn't feature in my mental activities much.

 

[Tahuti]

I don't really fear death. When it happens it happens, and I don't expect it to be painful, even though I may be wrong on that one.

 

[Borachio]

Yes and no.

It depends how you look at it. It's a natural thing to avoid death (a kind of sine qua non), so fear of it is built into our psyches.

But in a sense I'm dead already - a dead man walking, as they say. It's an unavoidable thing.

Even given the most advanced techniques imaginable, the universe itself will/may go onto a heat death, and us with it, provided we haven't gone before (and it's unimaginable that we won't have gone long, long before).

But in real life I don't devote much time to thinking about death. There's enough to do with living.

A better, or at least, different question is: Do you fear living?

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes and no.

It depends how you look at it. It's a natural thing to avoid death (a kind of sine qua non), so fear of it is built into our psyches.

But in a sense I'm dead already - a dead man walking, as they say. It's an unavoidable thing.

Even given the most advanced techniques imaginable, the universe itself will/may go onto a heat death, and us with it.

I do not think this viewpoint is justified by itself, ie i think it is mostly one elevated by general taedium vitae (being tired of life, or dismissive of it).

We do not view an elementary school pupil as a highschool graduate, no matter that in (most? here it is true anyway) western countries the law demands the child to keep on being in school until the end of highschool.
All will die, that much is obviously known. But imagine an 8 year old with such a persistent mindset. It would be more likely to cripple the ability to live, let alone help in any way in regards to thinking of death.