This post brings up the connection between desire for achievement and mortality. The book "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker is an excellent perspective on this phenomenon. The central premise of the book is that, in order to feel comfortable about our own inevitable mortality, we seek achievements that make us feel "heroic" and offer the potential to outlive our physical bodies, thereby diminishing the impact of dying.
I wholeheartedly recommend the book to anyone, Mr. Crawford in particular. What he describes in this post is clearly in line with Becker's concept of an "immortality project."
Quite likely. I'm not trying to say that this phenomenon is a bad thing (neither is Becker, really), merely that it's a way to look at an individual's motivations. If you accept the premise, then your conclusion is absolutely right. Becker's point, in fact, is that it's a driving force behind much of what we'd call progress and it affects, whether consciously or not, most of the significant decisions we make.
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This post brings up the connection between desire for achievement and mortality. The book "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker is an excellent perspective on this phenomenon. The central premise of the book is that, in order to feel comfortable about our own inevitable mortality, we seek achievements that make us feel "heroic" and offer the potential to outlive our physical bodies, thereby diminishing the impact of dying.
I wholeheartedly recommend the book to anyone, Mr. Crawford in particular. What he describes in this post is clearly in line with Becker's concept of an "immortality project."
And that is properly why we have a standard of living today that is so high as it is.
Quite likely. I'm not trying to say that this phenomenon is a bad thing (neither is Becker, really), merely that it's a way to look at an individual's motivations. If you accept the premise, then your conclusion is absolutely right. Becker's point, in fact, is that it's a driving force behind much of what we'd call progress and it affects, whether consciously or not, most of the significant decisions we make.
The implications on life extension are interesting. If people could live forever, would we just faff about? There's always tomorrow, after all.
Reminds me of the HPLD Civilization from Lem's The Cyberaid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberiad