January 11th, 2008
A different death
If there’s one thing that I can be sure of that we share in common it’s the fact that we’re both going to die.
Or, if you prefer, we will eventually run out of immortality.
But that’s OK, we work well under pressure, a deadline so to speak.
It’s a strange thing. That we both will experience death’s clammy hand on our shoulder, but that we have very few people to turn to in order to ask what it is like.
Sure, like in that Kiefer Sutherland vehicle, Flatliners, there are some that have traversed back and forth, but is it really death? I doubt it – it lacks the finality.
And if you ask the recently departed, they just look at you in a funny way.
Philip J Schadenfreude on 
Ooooh, the Grin Reaper has better shoes than the Grim Reaper!
*tries to think of sole/soul related pun*
i’m unsure how i feel about death. due to my childhood imprinting, i was raised religious and have feared this concept of hell. for many, many, many years. after a few paradign shifts, however, and having been elucidated the moronity of previous beliefs, i think i am beginning to see death as merely an end. and then i am nothing. altho, the very idea of not existing still scares me, just a tad. which shouldn’t really make any sense if you look upon it rationally. that is, if i still believe in an afterlife. bah, i digress.
unless we find a way of making telomerase work for us indefinitely, i doubt i want to live forever. i wouldn’t know anyway. altho from the way things are, there sure is a buttload of the undead out there in the world. and they smell funny.
Ah, a ‘I’m not afraid to die, I’m just scared I’m going to hell’ situation.
It’s one of the things about religion that I like – that it demystifies death and provides comfort in times of mourning – but then they throw in the whole hell thing and it goes terribly sour.
As for telomerase… I think the human body is a bit like a machine – proper usage and regular maintenance will help it last longer, but that use and wear will eventually get the better of it. Maybe we have the capacity for immortality, but I don’t think it is going to be that easy.
The reason we age is due to our cell dividing and replicating. Unfortuently, this process is some what lossy, which result in the newq cells being worse, kinda like copying analogue tapes.
Anyway,point being, if you could eliminate this loss, you could possibly not die from old age.
which brings me back to telomerase.
if we could somehow preserve the sequences found before and after the main dna strands, this information could be kept for longer; loss eliminated. possibly.
sort of like an upgrade from the lossy format JPG to something better, like say PNG. :}
Ooh, I just finished a picture of the Reaper, myself.
Coming to terms with my Grandfather’s death helped me come to terms with death itself. See, there was no funeral, no grave to visit. And while I appreciate the reasons he wanted it that way, I’m the sort that really needed a symbol to go to. I didn’t have that, so I struggled with making the grief bearable for many years. My faith was the only thing I had, at that time, since my family doesn’t mourn (At all). And…well, long story short I know exactly where everyone goes, and what’s going on–for me personally, of course.
So underneath that cape and cowl, there’s a puckish grin and if I look closely, that scythe is actually a winged traveller’s staff wrapped with two serpents. My psychopomp is Hermes, not a skeletal spectre. ^_^
“My psychopomp is Hermes, not a skeletal spectre”
Right there is a classic epitaph.
Ah, so true! That would be awesome.
I really don’t like the idea of not existing, but if it happens I don’t think I’ll mind much at the time.
I’d finally feel free from the feeling of impending obligation
Death is certainly a way to get out of prior engagements…
I really don’t get death. I just don’t understand it. I’m not afraid of it like most ppl are. I will easily do something that will kill me instantly, but I won’t do something that will hurt me alot.
I also struggle to recognise or feel the pain that most ppl seem to feel when some one close to them dies. I think I just see it as an end of something. All things must end sometime, why fear or mourn it?
Two days ago my brother in law performed CPR on a car crash victim for 40mins , then the guy died. All I could do was comment on how ungrateful the bastard was for dieing with out saying thanks.
Death is a minor problem, it is life that is difficult.
There’s a societal issue with people that respond to death differently. Your stoicism might well unnerve some people just because it’s not the norm, however, in any group of people I think you need a few to react differently in the same way that nature likes diversity… it helps us all cope in the end.
I have a problem with laughing. It’s not that I find death funny, but I get really bad giggles when I’m nervous (years of detentions for laughing at teachers/during exams). I’m not sure who that helps though.
Laughter is a way of dispelling nerves. I don’t blame people, because nervous laughter and amused laughter are different sounds.
I’m not afraid to die. I’m just scared about the fact that if I did suddenly, my online friends would never know. I mean, if I got hit by a car, how would any of you guys know? It’s a kinda scary thought…modern technology makes it more difficult to die without leaving people not knowing what’s going on…