I'm not terrified of death, in the abstract. You can't be terrified of something that you have no clear concept of, and I'm not quite so foolish as to invent something there to be scared of. The truth is I'm never there to be dead... that's what makes it death, the person not being anywhere any more.
Nonetheless, I don't feel like I'm ever going to want to die. The world still has many bright and wonderful things and people, and I've not noticed the charm of existence wearing with time. The company of my loved ones, for example, is as fulfilling this year as it was last. If some day, hopefully in a far distant future, I should find existence has become unbearably dull, then I imagine it taking place while sitting upon the observation deck of a castle built on the face of a sun.
Maybe that day would come, maybe it wouldn't. But to end after less than even a scant few millennia; to never get the chance to find out? It feels like rather a shame.
What I can imagine is finding death preferable to a life of pain or tiredness. (Which is really no more than to say that I can see why people wouldn't want to age too much past their early twenties or suffer lasting injury.) But even then, I'd not want death any more than someone offered the choice between being shot in the leg or the head wants to be shot in the leg. Preferred is not the same as desired.
What I can imagine is finding death preferable to a life of pain or tiredness.
Right, this. I suppose I am saying that old age makes pain and tiredness inevitable without significant genetic engineering and other mechanisms. And then I imagine that only the rich would be able to get those treatments, much like only the rich can afford difficult heart transplants, cancer treatments, etc.
We already live in an unequal world where less fortunate people can't get medical treatment they need. To take it one step further and have only the less fortunate people die while the rich can continue living indefinitely through the ages is a world that scares me. Death is the great humbling equalizer until one day some geniuses make it not so.
It's quite difficult for me to imagine that health care will become universal and free so that everyone can access this biotech no matter what status or class they are. Never say never, but the fairy tale land of Star Trek seems nigh impossible to achieve.
Nonetheless, I don't feel like I'm ever going to want to die. The world still has many bright and wonderful things and people, and I've not noticed the charm of existence wearing with time. The company of my loved ones, for example, is as fulfilling this year as it was last. If some day, hopefully in a far distant future, I should find existence has become unbearably dull, then I imagine it taking place while sitting upon the observation deck of a castle built on the face of a sun.
Maybe that day would come, maybe it wouldn't. But to end after less than even a scant few millennia; to never get the chance to find out? It feels like rather a shame.
What I can imagine is finding death preferable to a life of pain or tiredness. (Which is really no more than to say that I can see why people wouldn't want to age too much past their early twenties or suffer lasting injury.) But even then, I'd not want death any more than someone offered the choice between being shot in the leg or the head wants to be shot in the leg. Preferred is not the same as desired.