On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 PM, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> >> Bob and Don are crossing a street when a large truck turns >> a corner and is heading straight for both of them. Bob has a fear of >> death but Don has a instinct for self preservation, please tell me >> about the unrelated and very different procedures Bob and Don use to >> get out of the way. >> > > > They should both jump for safety! Don's instinct for self preservation > makes this jump instinctive -- and successful. Bob's fear of death leads > him to freeze in his tracks, and he is killed. And for that reason the fear of death was weeded out of the gene pool 500 million years ago. Oh wait it hasn't been. >> It [death] is not something to be feared because no-one has ever > experienced it > > Your paraphrase is very telling. I said no-one has ever experienced > oblivion, not that no-one has died [death]. If death doesn't mean oblivion then what the hell does it mean? > since we all die at some point, fearing death is scarcely rational. Having a emotion is neither rational nor irrational, it's just having a emotion. But never mind, all this started because I said I planned to be cryogenically frozen someday; explain to me why that demonstrates a greater fear of death than say going to the doctor or even taking a vitamin pill. > > Fearing suffering is rational, however, because we actually experience > that and rationally try to avoid it. If true and if somebody gets great joy out of having experiences why is it irrational to fear that stopping but rational to fear something that gives us great pain will continue? John K Clark > > > Bruce > > > > About 57 billion human beings have lived on this planet over the last >> million years, and although many have made similar sounding greeting >> card style statements not one of those 57 billion has actually taken >> that advice to heart and survived. In the last hour of his life I >> don't think Robin Williams feared death, or at least there were other >> things that he feared more. >> >> John K Clark >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> John Clark wrote: >>> >>>> On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 , Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> >An instinct for self-preservation is unrelated to whether or not >>>> you have a fear of death, or of oblivion >>>> >>>> Unrelated?? Don't be ridiculous! Why the hell do you imagine Evolution >>>> invented the fear of death in the first place? >>>> >>> >>> Evolution did not "invent a fear of death". That is purely cultural, and >>> is not even associated with consciousness -- it comes only with >>> self-awareness and an inner narrative. Evolution gave living things an >>> instinct for self-preservation. But you can have such an instinct operating >>> healthily and still not fear death. Fear of death probably comes from a >>> fear of the unknown, and is linked to the fear of prolonged suffering. But >>> oblivion is oblivion -- it is not something to be feared because no-one has >>> ever experienced it, or can ever experience it. >>> >>> >>> Bruce >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Everything List" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
