Reason,

I love your comment that all mortality does is makes us dead. I would say that it is rather difficult to feel "human" when you are dead.

[Posted by: Kurt at June 19, 2005 3:41 PM]

Underlying the "mortality is what makes us human" idea is the rarely discussed notion that the feeling of preciousness we have about our lives (and hence our happiness) comes from the finality and mystery of death. I think it comes out of paganism: celebrate life, and live fully, for tomorrow you may be dead. I can understand where they're coming from in the sense that an unhappy life is not made any better by virtue of extenstion.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition life is precious because God made it, and we should do all we can to extend it.

Luckily, we in the 21st century can have the best of both: live a long, long time and party like pagans! And maybe by the 22nd century we'll figure out a way to make back-up copies of ourselves so that, should we meet with an accident while freeclimbing El Capitan, we can start again from our last backup.

[Posted by: Vasco at June 24, 2005 1:11 PM]

Your backup would no doubt be happy to have been brought into existence, but you would still be dead - a copy of you is just a copy of you. It isn't you.

[Posted by: Reason at June 24, 2005 7:31 PM]