Wednesday 12 June 2002

Pic of the day: Death is great fun as long as you don't believe in it. (Here, a screenshot from Dark Age of Camelot, which has plenty of tombs and skeletons and such.)

We're all gonna die!

Well, we are! But we don't need to like it. And we shouldn't all need to die at the same time. I must say that emotionally, I am apalled by the idea that Earth may be swallowed by a man-made black hole in 2005. (It isn't certain that this will happen - indeed most scientists in that particular discipline don't think so, obviously - but it is definitely a risk.) All our works, all our art, all our dreams for nothing. Gone forever.

Somehow it feels less horrible knowing that we'll all die but one at a time. It's not like we're going to live forever anyway, certainly not without dying first. Oh yes, some may believe nanotech will repair them, or Jesus will come and fetch them while they are still alive. Good luck to them. But I think it's a safe bet we're going to die, regardless of what happens after that. I'm in no hurry, though!

***

I don't want people to grieve when I die. I did not like to inflict pain when I lived; certainly I don't want to do it when I die. (That's not to say that I'm not tempted to inflict pain - I just choose not to, for as long as I can manage.) I think pointless grief can be much reduced by keeping firmly in mind that we are mortal - anyone can die at any time, though some are more likely to go first.

Still, I'd like to be remembered, sort of. I'd like to think that my words and actions have some lasting influence. That some of my thoughts and ideas live on in this world even after I have left. That's kinda impossible if the planet falls into a black hole.

But in the long run, what's the difference? A century from now, my name is forgotten and the couple remaining aphorisms are labeled "anonymous" or attributed to someone else. A millenium from now, nobody speaks this language, though there may still be scholars reading it. 10,000 years from now, our civilization will surely be gone, one way or another ... Either replaced with something incomprehensibly different, or there will be no civilization at all. A million years from now, our pyramids and our big cities will be erased from the surface of Earth, buried in sediments or ground to dust and blown with the wind. Our age will be starting its career as a geological epoch along with the others.

A billion years or two from now, the planet is no longer fit for life, even the lowly algae and bacteria. 5 billion years from now, Earth flies inside the sun's corona and will likely as not fall into its mother star and be gone. Then the sun itself starts to fade, as the brightest stars have done already. In the end, darkness reigns supreme. All our works, all our art, all our dreams for nothing. Gone forever.

In vain. It is all in vain. We're all gonna die, your kids are gonna die and their kids too. Whether it happens now, or in 2005, or in a far future ... in the end, the result is the same. Oblivion is the only fate that is scientifically recognized.

***

So how do we deal with this? Well, there's always religion. For the most voluntarily simple-minded, it's easy: Science is the Devil's snare, a complot by atheists to work against the faithful. But God will kill the atheists and liberals and lead his faithful to an ever-lasting middle class garden party. Really soon now.

For those more willing to compromise, there's the classic: When we die, our soul is taken to a non-material world outside the known universe. Even though there is no matter, it's still a nice place where we can hang out with friends and relatives forever. Since it's not material, this place cannot be accessed in this life. It cannot be explored, proved or disproved. Much like the modern generic God himself, or indeed the invisible pink unicorn in your underwear drawer. As long as there are no claims of involvement in the physical world, its existence is purely a matter of belief.

Of course, not nearly everyone wants to live forever. (Especially with no sex, no drugs, and a rock that doesn't roll.) Death is the end of it, but as long as life is good, death is quite unwelcome. When you're alive, you live. When you're dead, you rot. Where's the problem? The end of the world is probably unfortunate; but my world ends when I die anyway, whether I'm swallowed by a black hole or a crocodile.

And finally, the obvious: Don't think about death, it ruins the mood. Yes, lockpicking God's toolbox could get us killed. Then again, so could flying or eating lots of fat or climbing in windows. This has never stopped us before, so why worry now? We've known since we were small that we would die someday, but never truly believed it. So why start now?

So make sure you're distracted, entertained and amused. Read my archives. Watch this space.