Comment by abhaynayar
3 years ago
I'm not overly concerned about death on its own (I feel it's going to be kind of like being asleep), neither am I that concerned about my role in the universe. Instead, I feel more for people who truly suffer in life maybe due to poverty, or due to disease, etc. who don't get to go on Disneyland rides. It makes me feel what was the point of it all? It has to be teaching us a lesson beyond the "simulation" and if not -- that's what makes me sad -- not my personal fear of death, or anything to do with status.
And even to a lesser extent -- why do we suffer -- is it a law of physics that can't be bent? I don't agree with people who believe more pleasure equals more pain. There will be people who live amazing lives, and those who don't. And so I feel that we as intelligent beings can reduce randomness, and take control of our environment and make sure we can all go on Disneyland rides at least to some extent, and hopefully eventually figure out what's outside of Disneyland.
I completely agree. Ironically, the existentialist should be more concerned about general welfare, not less. There is no afterlife to set things right. We should not be surprised that ethical hedonists like Peter Singer are so concerned about animal welfare.
We suffer almost certainly because it's an evolutionary adaptive feature for us we picked up somewhere along the way. It is no surprise that the general suffering we find in developed countries, namely loneliness, is directly related to human reproduction.
Is it a generally happy or sad state of affairs? Who's to say. It's our state of affairs, and we best do what we can to make the most of it.