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  • « An Interview with Ray Kurzweil | Main | Articles of Interest »

    Wednesday, October 20, 2004

    People Want To Live

    Michael Rae pointed me to a great post from earlier this year. A few highlights:

    If he has the operation (with other things in remission and his age) he has a four in five chance of coming out OK. But there's always that ONE in five chance... And if he doesn't have the operation, he'll die. Give his toughness and will to live, I think he'd survive if he has the operation. Everyday he takes a ton of pills. He sees the doctor all the time. And, from what I've heard, he is now leaning towards having the operation - a not surprising decision from a couragous veteran who was on a boat bombed during WWII.

    Why? People want to LIVE

    And the people who insist that at age 80 or 90 "it's time to make room for others" forget that aging folks can mentor younger people, offer bits of life-changing wisdom, keep a family together, work longer years before retiring (age 65 retirement these days is an absolute JOKE), and as we have seen help fill some gaps in the labor pool.

    Why do people want to prolong their lives? They want to live for the joy of being part of it -- partaking in family activities as simple as going out to eat pizza.

    Soaring health costs make extended lifespans more stressful;, throwing a monkey-wrench into the conventional wisdom regarding the money needed for retirement, but they don't change human beings' desire.

    Quite right. Go and read the whole thing.

    Posted by Reason at October 20, 2004 1:08 AM | TrackBack (0)

    Posted by: nesma adel at September 7, 2006 3:14 PM

    i think people wanna live because they think that life is hiding somethingbetter for them and if they died they will miss the joy of it.

    [Posted by: nesma adel at September 7, 2006 3:14 PM]

    Posted by: indiana at August 13, 2008 4:59 PM

    Peope want to live because the are total idiots!!!
    A more scientific explanation would be that they are afraid of what they may find after they die(the unknown is always scary).In my opinion everyone finds one thing after they die>nothing,just nothing .u stop existing( and this may be a bad thing for some ppl and a good thing for the other,since nothing is better than pain and its worse than hapiness,si everyone expects it according to the way they lived their life).compare life and nothingness to some experiences from life:In one day you find out 2 things at the same time:u won the lottery and you suffer from an incurable and painkilling disease.In the meantime your neighbour finds out nothing in that day,but he still is not unhappy as being an average person.So the first person would be life(good&bad) and the neighbour would be death(nothingness).
    S in short words...screw death!!! ...it will ome sooner or later so..wth? just face it and wait for it since it is nothing special.It is just the end of anything,because everything MUST end sooner or later.

    [Posted by: indiana at August 13, 2008 4:59 PM]

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