The counterargument to the FOMO argument (that you missed out on the past and didn't care) doesn't quite work because you do get to experience the past... by being aware of it -- something that can't be said for the future. Additionally, the future holds the answer to where we (as a species) are ultimately heading. That is definitely something we will miss out on.
You know, all that thought you did before [hopefully] finally crashing would probably shape who you're gonna be for the rest of your life. Your brain's natural compulsion to lock all that "important" stuff away is gonna end up being your doing.
Death isn't what scares people, it's the cessation of life. The thought of never being able to experience anything for eternity strikes up feelings of terror in most people. I'm unsure if its a matter of self-preservational fear to keep us from carelessly dying, or something deeper only present in advanced sentient life, but I still feel that terror when I think about death despite knowing that death itself is nothing to fear. Odd bit of cognitive dissonance.
I agree with you. To start, it's a common trait among all sentient beings to avoid death. If we think about fear itself, it's an emotion - a mechanic that can be used to sway us toward or from something. I applaud the idea that most have an instinctual fear of death present as a mechanic for self preservation. This, coupled with the common desire for love, companionship, and a family, helps to promote the continuation of our species. In short, some believe that the fear of death, much like the drive for sex, is an evolutionary/instinctual mechanic that promotes the continuation of our species. Personally, I find it hard to rationalize my fear of death but I feel that I can best attribute it to a fear I had when I was a kid. As a child I often found the act of falling asleep to be scary. The reason I found this to be scary is because, when I slept, I was not conscious. I would wake up with no recollection of what happened when I slept (aside from the dream, possibly), and I had a basic, child's understanding that I did not hold my senses while I slept. In a sense, it felt like I was nonexistent during that time and it frightened me. Being older, of course, I have since outgrown this fear but the basis of it is still there. I fear nonexistence. I fear the time in which I would cease to exist and would never exist again. I fear never being able to hear, see, feel, think - exist - again.
Is it not some consolation knowing that although *you* will not experience consciousness/life again, it will however continue to be experienced by the universe which you are a part of?
insiderunner It is and it isn't. I believe everyone is at least a bit selfish in a sense. We have to force ourselves to see the world from other perspectives, and so if I sit and think philosophically I can hold onto enough appreciation for the world without me to make the thought of it less morbid. I'd like to think most people feel that way to a degree, at least those who aren't entirely narcissistic.
“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” -Mark Twain
if death is a permanent state, it must be permanent for all time(p,p,f) which would mean that what we call life is just a movement of permanence but the fear which death or the idea of dying gives suggests a separation between life and death but that very separation is time. So, what we call death is the death of fear because time brings with it its own end. So, you are not death but fear which is time.
There are some who say that its very likely in cases of inevitable death (in cases like a bear charging you and you know you dont have bear mace or a gun etc) that your brain releases tons of hallucinogenics and you really don't know what plane your on much less that your going to die. I hope this is true.
"Therefore, either way, death is nothing to fear" - my problem isn't that.. it's more like being afraid of not being able to "wake up", feel nothing or interact with the outside world as if I never existed in the first place
then starting to doubt whether your present existance matters... you fear because you care about the world. this loops but can totally freak you out. if you consider how much does the world really worth to you, maybe this will change(could go worse too) that's definitely something to try to solve your existential crisis. or if you manage to convince yourself of having had enough fun (or produced enough value). No fearing death?
Here's a interesting story that explains death in the first person. May 17, 2015 I died of a massive heart attack. For me it was a dreamless sleep. No pain even though I was electricuted 5 different times I never felt anything. 8 days later in a CCU the doctors told my kids that it was over they could do no more. Now (granted my son told me all this stuff after.) My kids were to return in the morning at 8 am and say good bye. The staff would then stop the machines keeping me alive. That night or morning I don't know, but I woke up, I felt the tube in my mouth and began to chew on it, my chewing set off the alarm and the nurse came in to the dark room turned on the light and saw me looking at him. It sounded to me far away but he yelled He's alive. From that point forward I felt everything that had been done to me. Coming back is the same as being born, nothing works, I had to relearn my life, walk, talk, just like a baby, it's been 5 years and I feel great, 1 big stent in the front of my heart fixed me. You know I can sometimes feel it. 😏
What's "it's" refer to in your sentence? If by 'it' you mean inevitability, what do you make of the following reasoning? I will inevitably die. Therefore it is impractical to let the fear of death motivate me, as that would be a practical affect of the fear of death. It is impractical to let the fear of death motivate toward making decisions designed to improve of extend my life and the lives of those that will live after me. If fear of death had any were practical affect, then it should motivate at least some of us to fear dying before I have achieved at least some of these other-directed goals. But it isn't practical, because when I die does not matter. Tragedy is to be feared, but no death is a tragedy whenever it comes, so we should not fear death.
Yz Fool The word isn't about 'never fear to die, or don't care to extend it'. It is about the fear, that some people overestimate and freak out when they even think of it.
Me to, i really want to be a wise badass old grandpa, but unfortunately this also means loosing my physical abilities, my greatest fear is genuinely just not being able
I don't fear death. What i fear the most is inability to control my life, which also includes a possibility of ending it. Thought of having a complete paralysis is what i fear the most.
I'm not trying to be apathetic so sorry if this is insensitive, but if we were dead and lost our sense of emotion, wouldn't we be unable to feel empathy for the sadness of our loved ones or be able to sense thier sadness?
So according to your logic, getting a broken bone is worse then death. If you break a bone, pain is imminent, if you die, you either die painfully or abruptly.
but these are just physical pain,,,,,, mental pain is worse, the death of children, parents ,family around you,, living so long everyone around you is dead... being painfully alive is worse the death. even a painful death
Exactly. I wouldn't fear death at all if I could just close my eyes and be dead in a click. It's the thought of being tortured by disease or intense physical pain that scares me.
I don't think we are supposed to know what happens at death. But I know that anticipation is the worst part of anything we perceive as scary, so fearing death is probably way worse than death itself
+Nahuel Deltrozzo John has arguably thought the most about death of anybody in the office. I can't say that definitely though because i don't know anyone else
It is at this episode, where I felt truly peaceful. This change in perspective of death has opened my eyes to how temporary everything is. With this new found knowledge, I feel happier now. I no longer worry about the future or the past. I'm just happy to live and experience it all.
Non-existence doesn't necessarily scare me - it just makes me extremely sad. Here I am, a person, with thoughts, feelings, dreams, fears, quirks, favorite colours, favorite dishes, memories of childhood friends and school trips to the ocean etc...and all of that will one day be completely destroyed at my death. Everything that I've cultivated in myself will be gone forever. I'm just so sad for this person - born, loved, lived and lost. And it's the same for everyone. People live through trials and tribulations that form their character, endow them with wisdom, and make them better people...only to be utterly destroyed. Why does it have to be that way?
13 years ago my father passed away, I didn't cry because he died but because he's moved on to another new journey, however, it's without me. I didn't feel left behind I just miss seeing him, hearing him and hugging him. The very things I enjoyed while he was alive, I never took anything for granted but before he passed I never thought I'd those little things about him.......about life with him. I don't fear death because whatever happens after I die the worst that can happen to me is not seeing him again and not be able to tell him my life story.
How can you be aware of your own nonexistence. This may be debatable but to exist is to be have a sense of awareness (of your existence). If you're dead, you lack all senses which means it's impossible to be aware of your own nonexistence. Kind of a paradox but yeah.
@@flora6360 i know its dumb. Thats why its an irrational fear. I've recently just kinda transitioned from that fear into a general fear of death after some personal development so I guess thats cool.
We are all version of each other, variations of the same theme - Being Human, Being Alive.. When each of us dies, "living" goes on - in others. We all, after all get to say "I am". And though our memories are different, they are similar. The joys and sorrows recur - joys of discovery, love of a parent, falling in love, loss, reflection, fear of death, admiration of the beauty of it all. We all together live for all those who are no more, for all those who are yet to be. All of us, together serve as "a way for the cosmos to know itself". So we should live the best lives we can, with each other and those who will come after us in mind. Take it easy.
Adriano Me while the genes may be selfish, they are not conscious. So the selfishness is an allegory. Though they are struggling for survival without being aware of it, in the process they created a species to house them and in turn gave rise to cooperation, to love, to the sense of beauty and compassion. Those of us who are not that way are to a large extent outliers, just very visible ones.
Biggest concert in history in the late 60's i believe There were so much people and drugs that 9 months after it was over the birth rate in the usa significantly increased lol
Zhuangzi's idea is exactly what I was afraid of thinking. I always felt bad because I didn't really find dying a bad thing. I wanted to be happy for them, but I felt like people wanted me sad. I'm happy I got to see this, because that's a perspective I didn't know existed. This something to look into. I'ma pay attention to his name to see if I see it again.
In stark contrast, I am afraid of the fact that an afterlife might in some capacity, exist. I am afraid of infinity, as such I find solace in the thought of complete cessation of self entering a dreamless sleep.
5:35 But I do feel a sense of loss at what I missed before I was even alive. Also, it's important to distinguish between the fear of dying, and the fear of being dead. The former is a lot harder to get rid of.
I believe that death brings about true peace. Peace is often defined as the minimization of suffering. Following that definition, is death not the harbinger of ultimate peace? You are truly absolved of all suffering. The burden of living is lifted from you. You no longer need to push the rock up the hill and watch it fall in a perpetual cycle for there is no you to move the rock. Once I adopted this perspective, I accepted death for what it truly is. The ultimate absolution from suffering. The true bringer of peace.
Death IS the end of all suffering but you can experience this end of all suffering while still in this world! Seek Enlightenment! Union with the Supreme and you will NEVER suffer again!
Most people don't dread the fact they didn't exist in the past because they already exist in the present. If you are alive in the present, being "dead" in the past doesn't matter because the past no longer effects you. We care more about the future than the past because the future will eventually become the present and the present has the most impact on us. Not existing in the future will permanently interrupt everything in your life. Also, it's not mentioned in the 'fomo' argument that we loose contact with everyone we care about. If it makes sense to dread loosing one person in your life, surely it's bad to loose all the people in your life by being forcefully separated from them by death. The video is still very interesting.
The Gerasimos Spanodimitris argument: "Why do we fear death?" "Because what happens next is unknown." "Nonsense. Then I should be afraid of Gerasimos Spanodimitris." "Who is he?" "I have no idea." (Arkas) Just some modern greek philosophy, along with dark bitter humor.
"When it's time for the people you love to move on, the worst thing you could do is hold them closer" I think I heard Hank tearing up a bit at that, and I don't blame him at all.
An interesting thing to point out is that you die constantly, technically speaking. The physical matter that makes up your body breaks down and is completely replaced very quickly. Granted it might be the same _type_ of matter, but not that _exact_ matter. Although your body is efficient at recycling matter, it's an immutable law of nature that no system is 100% efficient. Likewise, your consciousness is just information and signals between your neurons, so as your mental state changes significantly, you as an abstract being die too. The ideas that make you _you_ change all the time, and if they don't then that's when you have the most problems. You now and you 10 years from now will be, for all practical purposes, completely different people. That's just entropy; all systems break down over time. The illusion of "living" comes from us being able to repair ourselves faster than we break down, both from a physical and mental perspective. Evolution, then, is really just the process of systems becoming better at repairing themselves through trial and error.
I feel like these ideas are rationalizations that help us accept what seems inexorable, but they are not fundamental, any more than death is. I submit that nobody wants to die, and we'll figure out before too much longer how to prevent it. Mortality has the same level of inevitability as our former inability to fly. It's just something that takes time to figure out.
+OzixiThrill I think you are on the right track here. It is important to make that distinction. We may find ways of rejuvenating the body or slowing / preventing / reversing aging. And we know this is essentially possible because there are living things that do not appear to age. But I don't think that everlasting immortality is going to be attainable. Also, there are big population and sustainability problems if a large portion of humanity is living super long
I've never been scared of death -- which is remarkable, because I'm scared of literally everything else, from heights to horses. This video helped me come to a better understanding of why that is.
This video is a very nice piece philosophy. Everybody instinctively fear his death of their beloved ones. However I still think somebody dying at the age of 20 is a tragedy, and sometimes not only because he/she missed 60 potential years. Avoidable deaths, caused by medical negligences or some car accidents, are more than tragedies. They are homicides, and in this case I don't share the time definition made by the end of the video ("When it's time for people you love to move on, the last thing you should do is to hold them closer"). I think we would find some comfort reporting them, fighting for a fairer world.
One of the reasons we don't worry about events we missed is because we can see the effects and consequences of them. Civil rights, abolishment of enslavement, the inventions of cures, we can see those now. We fear missing the future after we die because we won't be able to see the consequences.
Socrates' reasoning leaves much to be desired. If this short life we have is the only time that we have a body, we should focus exclusively on things that require a body. We'd then have all eternity to cultivate our minds.
I think what he meant is that if you spend your life learning to cherish and train your mind you won't miss your body (you never cared about it, why should you the moment you have none left?). But if you spend your life only enjoying physical activities not only will you come unprepared in the after life but you'll have spend all your time cherishing something you knew you would lose, thus making the loss unpleasant. It's not a question of "efficiency" it's a question of feelings. The question as not much importance though as an afterlife make little sense ^^
Well, in a way, but I would say it's more a question of priorities. You know what you are missing, you just don't care about it whereas you wouldn't spend your whole life enjoying your body if you didn't care.
Yoann Gouon I'd argue that many people at the end of their lives are already ready to let go if they feel they've lived a full and good life. So I can imagine having had a life of bodily joys puts you in a much better place than someone who will have to spend eternity listening to other people how great it's been. But then again, the premises here are junk so it's not really worth thinking too much about it. It's only that if the video didn't dumb Socrates' argument down a lot, I now have a bit less respect for the man who supposedly was really sharp.
If I lived the exact same way that I did yesterday, thought the same thoughts and did each action exactly like yesterday, what proof is there that I am a new me compared to tge one yesterday? What proof is there that I have grown?
@@flora6360 proof then is that only your physical body is growing older. but is that what you value? staying alive just for staying (physically) alive? If that's what you want to do, then people will advise you that yolo :P
Death is literally my greatest fear in life. And yes, I did use literally semi-ironically. My number one goal in life is to become immortal. After all, when I'm immortal, I'll have lots of time to do other things.
I have never understood why people want to be immoral? Why is one life not good enough for you? It's your own fault if you waste it. I think death, in any form, is peaceful because we just stop being. (I believe that) there is nothing after life so why should we be afraid?
"Mourning can actually seem selfish. When it’s time for the people you love to move on, Zhuangzi said, the last thing you should do is hold them closer." ~Crash Course Philosophy #17
I am pleasantly surprised at how pleasant this video is! I nearly had a mental breakdown with the last video on Existentialism, and this one on death is much more relaxing by comparison
There was a few mistakes in this video. Epicurus was definitely not a stoic philosopher. Stoics were "against" epicuranism. Also some greek phrases were a bit off in the English translation. From Hellas (Greece) with love. Keep up with the good work!
And that isn't the only mistake.. I'm a dutch philosophy student, and Epicurus has nothing to do with yolo or hedonism how it is generally explained. His Epicureanisme was about modesty. The hangover explanation is therefore also wrong. Epicurus condemned even drinking a lot because of the hangover; the pain from the hangover is more than the pleasure of the alcohol consumption. He even said gif me a pot of cheese so I could choose when I could feast... but the doesn't fear death part was right
I don't fear the process of dying, rather I fear not being able to experience life. Even when confined, you can still think and sense things around you or even things that are not there. To think of a state when I cannot think, where I'm not even aware of my existence, a state in which all of my acumulated experiences and thoughts are rendered null; now that is truly terrifying. The rest doesn't really affect me.
I would rather live forever with the pain of having to witness an endless life than having my awareness snuffed. I find joy in simply existing. No matter how miserable my life has been or will be, I was always glad to be there to experience it and I will try to always be.
I's call that a paradox, don't bother imagining not existing because when you stop existing, you won't suffer lack of sensation because you don't exist. No sense of time, not even dreamless sleep, it's impossible to imagine it correctly.
TheLivingGlitch I'm aware it's a paradox, but the nature of it being paradoxical makes it even more so terrifying. Since there is no good way to comprehend death because of it's paradoxical nature, how can you say that there is no sense of time? Or that there would be or not any sense of anything at all? The closest thing we have compared to eternity is the present moment, since it cannot be quantifyed, it happens all the time throughout our whole lives and it has no begining or end. Therefore, since your death is eternal, how can anything be perceived inside eternity? Including non-existence. Who's to say that death isn't just an endless stream of endless sensations and thoughts that you cannot comprehend or be aware of (since you cannot comprehend the things you experience in the same moment you experience them)? Since there is no good way to comprehend death, except for a drastic change in consciousness and awareness from the way they are right now, there is no way for me to feel good about that. I like experiencing life the way I do now. I want to experience the things it has to offer indefinitely, and whatever death is, it would change that. And I don't want that.
Sabin `ul That's were definitions comes to play, if you live forever you could say your immortal, and if your immortal or eternal you can't die, therefore, you cannot die if you are eternal. Furthermore, death is not eternal and there has to be an afterlife. I switched it all around simply by defining death as the discontinuing of bodily function and therefore sense. It all comes down ultimately by what you define specifically as death. We haven't even discussed souls yet...
The one thing about missing out things in the future is not knowing things that are going to happen in the future. Meanwhile most people went throught history class and still remember a good amount of it. So yeah death sucks.
Dying made the world better in the first place, so think of death like a quantifier of life. In contrary immortality is probably the worst innovation man ever created. But it's one of the earliest ones too, so...
I think you hit the nail on the head there. Thinking about it, if right before death someone came to me and told me everything that was going to happen - "your great-great granddaughter becomes a famous artist", "humans achieve faster-than-light travel in this year", "poverty is eliminated in this year", "first-contact with alien life occurs in this year. This is what they are like and they are from this star system" - I think I would take it much better.
Nice to have some non-Western philosophy included, and it made me realise that this is Philosophy and not Western Philosophy Crash Course. Hopefully there will be more perspectives like that in upcoming episodes.
I used to be troubled by this. I realised later that life doesn't have to make sense in our limited imagination. Its just a short ocasion for us to "feel" the world and return to nothingness. If the thought of being noghing for the rest of the world, imagine living 1 milion years. Imagine living one hundred billion years. Imagine living this one billion times again and again. And that would be just a grain of sand compared to the infinity. I would better go to sleep forever then being alive forever without any purpose and without a way. So i get back to life and take advantage of this small window, will try to be better and leave a good impresion behind
What if, when we die, we just continue living as if we never died without realizing that we have already died? In other words, we could be dying every second but we just don't remember it.
Death, your participation award for living. Everyone gets one. It is, in my humble opinion, the only phenomena which grants one Liberation as life demonstrates responsibility even if it is autonomous at times.
the non existent after life thing scares me, not because I will stop existing but because I will never ever get to talk to or see my loved ones again once they die. I just can't get over that.
I work at a hospitap and when a patient dies, one of my coworkers calls it a "graduation". I thought it was just a way to keep death 'light' but I guess it's more truth than joke.
I don't know why I get these sudden short bursts of anxiety about this...trying to define this fear whether it's my own or someone else's...overall, I just hate seeing death and I would never wish that upon anyone or anything... Tbh...I don't even know why I'm here...damn these midnight thoughts.
I had Death anxiety for years my friend. Heart beating out of my chest, arms clenching into crab-claws, face numb and tingly. Very scary. I got over it. You can too. All you have to do, is do it.
It would have to be VERY interesting to hold my attention for a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion subjective years...and then, after all that, there would be the NEXT second of eternity.
+philhellenes Well there is the infinitely satisfying Supreme Being called God. If he is superlative in all his attributes and character, like the Bible says, then I think that would keep the afterlife interesting.... actually sounds like heaven. Lol
Hank Green, the sound of your voice about to lay some knowledge smackdown on my brain brings a smile to my face every time :)!! I would like to thank Crash Course and SciShow for making all of these videos that have made it easier for me to learn something new everyday. Not only have they helped me to gain a better understanding of the crazy world around us but my grades benefit as well. Thank all of you and your passion for knowledge!
The funny thing is, I do feel a sort of loss for important parts of human history, so it does indeed reinforce my thanatophobia. I'm at least comforted in the sense that fear of loss seems to be a natural side of appreciation of something's value.
Acceptance of morality makes me live in a more vital way. That’s just the way it is. I think when you are young you don’t think about it. Now as you get older, you take this on board and your life becomes more valuable!!😅😘❤️
Death absolutely terrifies me, I have anxiety attacks about it before bed time. A million people say they have an answer, consider life on alien planets and you realize there are literally trillions of viewpoints on death therefore the only answer is "I don't know." Even anesthesia is scary as hell for me but screw epicurious because I say this fear actually makes me appreciate the wonderful miracle of observation I currently have considering the impossible mathematics required to take place for me to be able to be here. From the right amount of matter to anti matter at the big bang all the way to enough water on earth to the perfect spermies coming along to make me exist. Never pull the plug on me, I want every possible second before it's gone - even the painful bits.
I don't know, I've mourned at times, watching my niece and nephew grow up. Not a full "someone just died" mourning, but deep sadness nonetheless. It's sad to realize they will never be that age or the way they were again, while simultaneously exciting and joyous to see who they are becoming. I know a lot of parents truly mourn, with "Empty Nest Syndrome". So, I’m not feeling ya, Zhuagnzi.
My fear stems from the complete stop of conscience-ness I guess you could say? Like I don't want to come to a complete stop I want there to be something at the end it scares me to think that I'd just completely stop and not get to experience things that would be promised in... say for example, heaven in heaven you get 2 whoop it up and talk to those of the past like George Washington about their lives and experiences what they've been through from their perspective- you still have your thoughts and processes and you get to see those who have passed with you-so when they died it wasn't the final time you'd see them before they fall into an ever lasting dreamless sleep where they will never wake up or experience new things again idk my ideal afterlife is basically kinda like Earth honestly... except a better Earth where people don't die and you guys can through parties every night ;3 idk it'd be nice 2 sleep 2 but like... ~sleep is for the weak~ sleeping for a long nice while is okay but sleeping forever is 2 long
Yeah, sorry, but the annihilation of all my memories, thoughts, and emotions; the loss of all my family and friends for all of eternity; and the eventual death of all humans and the decay of every single human idea, story, or piece of art *scares me*. And it should. All people fear the death of their loved ones, at the very least. Even religious people cry when their family members die, even though they probably wouldn't cry if they'd simply moved away somewhere very nice. Every human on some level understands that death is a terrible final ending. Fearing death is like fearing a giant monster with claws and sharp teeth. It actually makes a good deal of sense, because death is basically the worst possible outcome. You say it's a tragedy when someone dies at 20, because they missed out on so much life. But if we could live for 200 years, dying at 80 would seem a terrible loss. It's only because we _have_ to die so soon (currently) that we rationalize and pretend like it's okay; it's too hard to look at it straight in the face. And if some species never had to die at all, the existence of death itself would seem a deeply terrible tragedy, and that's exactly what it is. We only pretend otherwise because it's inevitable.
It's true, but it's selfish, not just for yourself, but for all of our species, it's very sad that we acctually plan as a species to stay around all we can, We are a cute little, whimpy accident in a wet infinitesimal rock that we'll probably never leave, so you should probably trash all your desires of transcendence and wait and greet the inevitable (Sorry if i misspelled anything, i'm mexican)
+John Doe I think that all humans actually have an innate fear of the Unknown, which death classifies as. Once you accept that you won't ever actually experience death, as touched upon in the video, you realise that there is no unknown to fear it's just the cessation of existence
I'd like to think Epicurus valued life enough that he would have posthumously choosen Guy Fieri (4:38) as his Model Organism of Being before cessation of sensation in his ethical framework
While I was never a huge fan of Socrates or his philosphies, especially as it relates to political idealism of the republic, I've always thought like he did in terms of death. I don't fear death or dread it's arrival. When it's my time, it's my time. Be it tommorow or 60 years from now. Either I'm wrong and there is an afterlife and I will be judged somehow, or we just die and rot. Not going to change how I live based on the remote possibility there is an afterlife.
Absolutely. But you are also basically saying what Epicurus did. I am curious - is political idealism of the republic really all you took from Socrates? If I had to put that label on somebody, it would be Plato. The reason that I loved Socrates, and why he will forever remain one of theas greatest, is his dedication to knowledge, and what it means to know something, and the truth. The Socratic method laid the foundation for everything to come, not just philosophy, but science as a whole. What it means to actually know the things that you thing you know, is vastly more complicated than people realize.
So you would have no issues with being a soldier in the front-line of a classic 1600's English battle front, or sticking in an alleyway by the residence of a serial killer, or (if there is an afterlife) being judged as no good and suffer for eternity? I mean, I believe the same as you but because their could be an afterlife and a possible hell, my life would be altered in that I wish too prepare for said afterlife. I think huge majority who applies logic to the concept of death would have the same opinion as you and me and Socrates, but how you deal with it is very personal.
Philosophers: "I can logic myself out of feeling sad if I really try hard enough"
I believe, that when you die, Hank greets you and educates you eternally in an entertaining fashion.
I suddenly don't fear death and instead count down my days with joy
Player Review nice...
Player Review well...isn't he doing that now? am I already dead?
Death is not always final.
I'm down.
The counterargument to the FOMO argument (that you missed out on the past and didn't care) doesn't quite work because you do get to experience the past... by being aware of it -- something that can't be said for the future. Additionally, the future holds the answer to where we (as a species) are ultimately heading. That is definitely something we will miss out on.
Science allows us to have knowledge of the future and the past.
@Abhi Prakash
Well, thas is why history was made
Extinction because protons will decay, which means molecules can't exist, meaning entities can't be created.
how do you wind down before bed? watch a video about death
*raises hand* Great minds think alike.
Lol thought I was the only one
you die everytime your sleep anyways
Same
You know, all that thought you did before [hopefully] finally crashing would probably shape who you're gonna be for the rest of your life. Your brain's natural compulsion to lock all that "important" stuff away is gonna end up being your doing.
This should be required viewing in school.
ayyy it's Cody
Cody get off the computer and back to mining
Yay Cody, how's that bull doser doin?
agree, most people don't understand how liberating and truly intelligent philosophy makes us
I don't think you understand the point of school.
It's not fear of death, it's mostly fear of the unknown
No its FOMO, fear of missing out
yeah but death is unknown, so you're really saying the same thing
If death is like a dreamless sleep then it isn't unknown - you practice it every other night
and whatever's after death is unknown? or is it actually death itself that's the unknown?
i just wrote something relevant
Death isn't what scares people, it's the cessation of life. The thought of never being able to experience anything for eternity strikes up feelings of terror in most people. I'm unsure if its a matter of self-preservational fear to keep us from carelessly dying, or something deeper only present in advanced sentient life, but I still feel that terror when I think about death despite knowing that death itself is nothing to fear.
Odd bit of cognitive dissonance.
I agree with you. To start, it's a common trait among all sentient beings to avoid death. If we think about fear itself, it's an emotion - a mechanic that can be used to sway us toward or from something. I applaud the idea that most have an instinctual fear of death present as a mechanic for self preservation. This, coupled with the common desire for love, companionship, and a family, helps to promote the continuation of our species. In short, some believe that the fear of death, much like the drive for sex, is an evolutionary/instinctual mechanic that promotes the continuation of our species.
Personally, I find it hard to rationalize my fear of death but I feel that I can best attribute it to a fear I had when I was a kid. As a child I often found the act of falling asleep to be scary. The reason I found this to be scary is because, when I slept, I was not conscious. I would wake up with no recollection of what happened when I slept (aside from the dream, possibly), and I had a basic, child's understanding that I did not hold my senses while I slept. In a sense, it felt like I was nonexistent during that time and it frightened me. Being older, of course, I have since outgrown this fear but the basis of it is still there. I fear nonexistence. I fear the time in which I would cease to exist and would never exist again. I fear never being able to hear, see, feel, think - exist - again.
Ω Sorry about your 1st comment being removed as spam, can't reinstate it either because.. youtube is incredibly broken.
Is it not some consolation knowing that although *you* will not experience consciousness/life again, it will however continue to be experienced by the universe which you are a part of?
insiderunner It is and it isn't. I believe everyone is at least a bit selfish in a sense. We have to force ourselves to see the world from other perspectives, and so if I sit and think philosophically I can hold onto enough appreciation for the world without me to make the thought of it less morbid. I'd like to think most people feel that way to a degree, at least those who aren't entirely narcissistic.
maya
“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
-Mark Twain
Yolo.....Such an ancient term
"yolo"
- most philosophers
well, they used, carpe diem, but same thing
+Andre Vieira carpe diem means seize the day.
used to urge someone to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future.... like he said, yolo
*I NEED YOUR PROFILE NAME.*
yol∞
Don't you think it's suspicious that you and death are never around at the same time? What if you are death?
Illuminati confirmed
Cameron Goode you have opened my eyes to this lie we call life. thank you for the enlightenment you have brought upon me good sir
HOW DID YOU KNOW
if death is a permanent state, it must be permanent for all time(p,p,f) which would mean that what we call life is just a movement of permanence but the fear which death or the idea of dying gives suggests a separation between life and death but that very separation is time. So, what we call death is the death of fear because time brings with it its own end. So, you are not death but fear which is time.
Yeah, because you're dead..
Born to late to explore the earth.
Born to early to explore the galaxy.
Born just in time for dank memes.
Gary Oak the sciencephile AI. Nice.
Born too late for a dictionary.....?
Too*
Too
But just in time for youtube.
You killed it, Hank.
Quite litterally
+Emiliano Ruiz and you killed the joke.
*You let it move on.
FTFY
THIS GUY.
Yeah this one is now my favorite
Death is not what I fear but rather those few agonizing minutes beforehand.
That's what hydrocortone is for.
Well said. As for dying in sleep, well the fear is real when you're a lucid dreamer...
even if it is something bad, adrenalin will keep it from hurting, a lot of people describe dying as very peaceful and that it does not hurt as you go
Are your not afraid of what might be after? If ther is something?
There are some who say that its very likely in cases of inevitable death (in cases like a bear charging you and you know you dont have bear mace or a gun etc) that your brain releases tons of hallucinogenics and you really don't know what plane your on much less that your going to die. I hope this is true.
What if after you die, you wake up in an alien space ship holding a bong and you're asked, 'how was it?'
Nick Nderitu Dammn
i'd say, "kill me"
Heaven's Gate already believed in that.
Why should they speak English ?? LOL
@@mamadamin438 Well I asume that the term, 'how was it?' is here not to show how they would say it. But show the nature of the question asked.
"Therefore, either way, death is nothing to fear" - my problem isn't that.. it's more like being afraid of not being able to "wake up", feel nothing or interact with the outside world as if I never existed in the first place
then starting to doubt whether your present existance matters... you fear because you care about the world. this loops but can totally freak you out. if you consider how much does the world really worth to you, maybe this will change(could go worse too) that's definitely something to try to solve your existential crisis. or if you manage to convince yourself of having had enough fun (or produced enough value). No fearing death?
Here's a interesting story that explains death in the first person. May 17, 2015 I died of a massive heart attack. For me it was a dreamless sleep. No pain even though I was electricuted 5 different times I never felt anything. 8 days later in a CCU the doctors told my kids that it was over they could do no more. Now (granted my son told me all this stuff after.) My kids were to return in the morning at 8 am and say good bye. The staff would then stop the machines keeping me alive. That night or morning I don't know, but I woke up, I felt the tube in my mouth and began to chew on it, my chewing set off the alarm and the nurse came in to the dark room turned on the light and saw me looking at him. It sounded to me far away but he yelled He's alive. From that point forward I felt everything that had been done to me. Coming back is the same as being born, nothing works, I had to relearn my life, walk, talk, just like a baby, it's been 5 years and I feel great, 1 big stent in the front of my heart fixed me. You know I can sometimes feel it. 😏
In Turkey, we say 'Fear does not pospone death'. You know, since afraiding to die doesn't help you not dying, you're gonna die anyway so why fear?
There are many reasons to fear the inevitable. What makes inevitability a reason NOT to fear something?
Yz Fool
Because it's impractical.
What's "it's" refer to in your sentence? If by 'it' you mean inevitability, what do you make of the following reasoning? I will inevitably die. Therefore it is impractical to let the fear of death motivate me, as that would be a practical affect of the fear of death. It is impractical to let the fear of death motivate toward making decisions designed to improve of extend my life and the lives of those that will live after me. If fear of death had any were practical affect, then it should motivate at least some of us to fear dying before I have achieved at least some of these other-directed goals. But it isn't practical, because when I die does not matter. Tragedy is to be feared, but no death is a tragedy whenever it comes, so we should not fear death.
Yz Fool
The word isn't about 'never fear to die, or don't care to extend it'.
It is about the fear, that some people overestimate and freak out when they even think of it.
M Bayrak that was helpful bro
Death doesn't fear me at all. It's losing my mind is my greatest fear from old age/damage. To be alive as a shadow of my former self is the worst.
Skeptic Solo Don't you mean death doesnt scare you
(+Bombalurina) I agree so much. I feel like amnesia would be worse than death. And Alzheimer’s runs in my family. 😩
But if you are dead, you will lose your mind too 'o_o.
Me to, i really want to be a wise badass old grandpa, but unfortunately this also means loosing my physical abilities, my greatest fear is genuinely just not being able
This is why I'm sympathetic with old people who decide to take their own lives rather than live as helpless invalids.
"Death is not the end of life. Death is the completion of life."
Death is the beginning of a new life.
That's interesting. What about 1 year old babies or aborted fetuses. Are their lives complete when they die? lol
+Kyle Dolor they completed it faster than us
Trung Tran Oh that's nice. Barely any experience to life yet they completed it.
Kyle Dolor dude they were pros!
I don't fear death. What i fear the most is inability to control my life, which also includes a possibility of ending it. Thought of having a complete paralysis is what i fear the most.
Death is not bad for the dead. It is, however, oftentimes bad for the loved ones.
What if the dead was about to win the lottery!
the reason i havent killed myself
tired2sleep like literally everyone? good job bud, we’re all proud
I'm not trying to be apathetic so sorry if this is insensitive, but if we were dead and lost our sense of emotion, wouldn't we be unable to feel empathy for the sadness of our loved ones or be able to sense thier sadness?
Im not afraid of non-existence, its the dying painfully part that sucks.
So according to your logic, getting a broken bone is worse then death. If you break a bone, pain is imminent, if you die, you either die painfully or abruptly.
but these are just physical pain,,,,,, mental pain is worse, the death of children, parents ,family around you,, living so long everyone around you is dead... being painfully alive is worse the death. even a painful death
I agree. Life is indeed pretty painful ;D
Exactly. I wouldn't fear death at all if I could just close my eyes and be dead in a click. It's the thought of being tortured by disease or intense physical pain that scares me.
+Vanessa Feng lol me too. And what scares me most is being alive even after that 'near death' xp and had to endure it's effects for life.
I don't think we are supposed to know what happens at death. But I know that anticipation is the worst part of anything we perceive as scary, so fearing death is probably way worse than death itself
It is definitely worse than death as death feels like nothing.
Truly, this one should've been co-hosted with the resident specialist on death: John.
how's that? (real question)
Listen to Dear Hank and John, they talk about death all the time and John is always very afraid of dying.
TBH I think Emily is also a good resident specialist on death? :-)
+Nahuel Deltrozzo John has arguably thought the most about death of anybody in the office. I can't say that definitely though because i don't know anyone else
Yeah, I've just look up what's about, seems good, maybe I'll give it a try. Thanks!
"What are you afraid of?"
(immediately thumb falls onto screen and accidentally skips video to the end)
Me: "That"
It is at this episode, where I felt truly peaceful. This change in perspective of death has opened my eyes to how temporary everything is. With this new found knowledge, I feel happier now. I no longer worry about the future or the past. I'm just happy to live and experience it all.
Non-existence doesn't necessarily scare me - it just makes me extremely sad. Here I am, a person, with thoughts, feelings, dreams, fears, quirks, favorite colours, favorite dishes, memories of childhood friends and school trips to the ocean etc...and all of that will one day be completely destroyed at my death. Everything that I've cultivated in myself will be gone forever. I'm just so sad for this person - born, loved, lived and lost.
And it's the same for everyone. People live through trials and tribulations that form their character, endow them with wisdom, and make them better people...only to be utterly destroyed. Why does it have to be that way?
13 years ago my father passed away, I didn't cry because he died but because he's moved on to another new journey, however, it's without me. I didn't feel left behind I just miss seeing him, hearing him and hugging him. The very things I enjoyed while he was alive, I never took anything for granted but before he passed I never thought I'd those little things about him.......about life with him. I don't fear death because whatever happens after I die the worst that can happen to me is not seeing him again and not be able to tell him my life story.
for me it's just an irrational fear of actually being able to be aware of your nonexistence, and you'll just stay that way forever going crazy
How can you be aware of your own nonexistence. This may be debatable but to exist is to be have a sense of awareness (of your existence). If you're dead, you lack all senses which means it's impossible to be aware of your own nonexistence. Kind of a paradox but yeah.
@@flora6360 i know its dumb. Thats why its an irrational fear. I've recently just kinda transitioned from that fear into a general fear of death after some personal development so I guess thats cool.
I imagine death will be just like it was before I was born.
Exactly
right.
It's pretty much the only logical option.
me too! we won't be able to tell time or feel at all
That kind of thought really boggles my mind, it is just something I actually physically can't imagine. Beyond my capability.
We are all version of each other, variations of the same theme - Being Human, Being Alive.. When each of us dies, "living" goes on - in others. We all, after all get to say "I am". And though our memories are different, they are similar. The joys and sorrows recur - joys of discovery, love of a parent, falling in love, loss, reflection, fear of death, admiration of the beauty of it all. We all together live for all those who are no more, for all those who are yet to be. All of us, together serve as "a way for the cosmos to know itself". So we should live the best lives we can, with each other and those who will come after us in mind. Take it easy.
In the end we are just a bunch of selfish genes competing for resources, many times not in a nicely way..
Adriano Me
while the genes may be selfish, they are not conscious. So the selfishness is an allegory. Though they are struggling for survival without being aware of it, in the process they created a species to house them and in turn gave rise to cooperation, to love, to the sense of beauty and compassion. Those of us who are not that way are to a large extent outliers, just very visible ones.
With thousands of nukes pointed to your heads, I cannot not see much cooperation.
Adriano Me
Perhaps time will prove you right. But so far, here we are. Still kicking. It's not over till the fat lady sings.
The time is ticking!
"When it's time for the people you love to move on, the last thing you should do is hold them closer." 💔
“You missed Woodstock.”
Don’t remind me. 😭
What's that?
Biggest concert in history in the late 60's i believe
There were so much people and drugs that 9 months after it was over the birth rate in the usa significantly increased lol
If you can remember Woodstock then you weren't really there.
How old are you Alexis?
Yup, wannabe hippie or 80s rockstar here
Do you know what we say to death?
Not today
I say not this time, then take my pills.
Not today
Ah you'll be sad about this episode, and not for the usual reasons. :/
I knew someone who said that once.
I've bever seen him again since episode 7.
I love you
"When it's time for the people you love to move on, the last thing you should do is hold them closer."
Beautiful.
this really is a great help for us to change our perspective about death...
Zhuangzi's idea is exactly what I was afraid of thinking. I always felt bad because I didn't really find dying a bad thing. I wanted to be happy for them, but I felt like people wanted me sad.
I'm happy I got to see this, because that's a perspective I didn't know existed. This something to look into. I'ma pay attention to his name to see if I see it again.
In stark contrast, I am afraid of the fact that an afterlife might in some capacity, exist. I am afraid of infinity, as such I find solace in the thought of complete cessation of self entering a dreamless sleep.
is that guy fieri
Glad I'm not the only one
5:35
But I do feel a sense of loss at what I missed before I was even alive.
Also, it's important to distinguish between the fear of dying, and the fear of being dead. The former is a lot harder to get rid of.
I believe that death brings about true peace. Peace is often defined as the minimization of suffering. Following that definition, is death not the harbinger of ultimate peace? You are truly absolved of all suffering. The burden of living is lifted from you. You no longer need to push the rock up the hill and watch it fall in a perpetual cycle for there is no you to move the rock. Once I adopted this perspective, I accepted death for what it truly is. The ultimate absolution from suffering. The true bringer of peace.
RIP
Death IS the end of all suffering but you can experience this end of all suffering while still in this world! Seek Enlightenment! Union with the Supreme and you will NEVER suffer again!
@@cosre3165 a great pizza flavor
What if you feel that your pleasure outweighs your pain? My suffering is not so great that I'd be desperate for it to end anytime soon.
@@mgduran20 man why do so many theists write comments like they're a part of a cult lol
There is only One god, and his name is Death,
And there is only one thing we say to Death
"Not Today"
Oh god I recognize that quote but I can't place it for some reason. I want to guess Game of Thrones but that doesn't seem right
+Stephen Marco you were right. it's GOT. Serio Forel's philosophy when teaching Arya to fight.
Yes, now I remember it. God, that feels so long ago.
Poor Serio Forel...What is dead may never die.
Sounds like the motivation for a twenty one pilots song
Most people don't dread the fact they didn't exist in the past because they already exist in the present. If you are alive in the present, being "dead" in the past doesn't matter because the past no longer effects you. We care more about the future than the past because the future will eventually become the present and the present has the most impact on us. Not existing in the future will permanently interrupt everything in your life.
Also, it's not mentioned in the 'fomo' argument that we loose contact with everyone we care about. If it makes sense to dread loosing one person in your life, surely it's bad to loose all the people in your life by being forcefully separated from them by death.
The video is still very interesting.
The Gerasimos Spanodimitris argument:
"Why do we fear death?"
"Because what happens next is unknown."
"Nonsense. Then I should be afraid of Gerasimos Spanodimitris."
"Who is he?"
"I have no idea."
(Arkas)
Just some modern greek philosophy, along with dark bitter humor.
"Fear was no match for his ability to argue" - Most inspiring words I've heard today
"When it's time for the people you love to move on, the worst thing you could do is hold them closer" I think I heard Hank tearing up a bit at that, and I don't blame him at all.
An interesting thing to point out is that you die constantly, technically speaking. The physical matter that makes up your body breaks down and is completely replaced very quickly. Granted it might be the same _type_ of matter, but not that _exact_ matter. Although your body is efficient at recycling matter, it's an immutable law of nature that no system is 100% efficient. Likewise, your consciousness is just information and signals between your neurons, so as your mental state changes significantly, you as an abstract being die too. The ideas that make you _you_ change all the time, and if they don't then that's when you have the most problems. You now and you 10 years from now will be, for all practical purposes, completely different people.
That's just entropy; all systems break down over time. The illusion of "living" comes from us being able to repair ourselves faster than we break down, both from a physical and mental perspective. Evolution, then, is really just the process of systems becoming better at repairing themselves through trial and error.
I feel like these ideas are rationalizations that help us accept what seems inexorable, but they are not fundamental, any more than death is. I submit that nobody wants to die, and we'll figure out before too much longer how to prevent it. Mortality has the same level of inevitability as our former inability to fly. It's just something that takes time to figure out.
Humans are programmed to age and die. Read "Charlotte's Web." The way we are now cannot be made immortal. But maybe we can create immortal beings. :(
+John Doe
If we figure out how to repair telomere, we might have "immortality" in the bag; At least we'll be free from the aging form of death.
+John Doe I'm not convinced that I won't be able to upload my consciousness to a computer, or get gene therapy to extend my telomeres in the future.
Or we'd slow down our reproduction. Or subsist solely on electricity and therefore overpopulation wouldn't be an issue.
+OzixiThrill I think you are on the right track here. It is important to make that distinction. We may find ways of rejuvenating the body or slowing / preventing / reversing aging. And we know this is essentially possible because there are living things that do not appear to age. But I don't think that everlasting immortality is going to be attainable. Also, there are big population and sustainability problems if a large portion of humanity is living super long
Do A course on the philosophy of Mahayana buddhism, Vedanta Hinduism, and Taoism!!
Maybe not a whole course, but I would love if he at least touched on these schools of thought.
YES! Great idea!
I've never been scared of death -- which is remarkable, because I'm scared of literally everything else, from heights to horses. This video helped me come to a better understanding of why that is.
If spiders could speak publicly (a notion I find quite terrifying), what would their topics of concern be?
Tyler Durden charlottes web
probably about sticky situations
Food... gotta eat... something land on my web already... food... food. Anyone? Food.
what to do with all the bodies of humans that died from fear
How high are you?
"When it's time for the people you love to move on, the last thing you should do is hold them closer." EPIC ! EPIC ! EPIC !
This video is a very nice piece philosophy. Everybody instinctively fear his death of their beloved ones. However I still think somebody dying at the age of 20 is a tragedy, and sometimes not only because he/she missed 60 potential years. Avoidable deaths, caused by medical negligences or some car accidents, are more than tragedies. They are homicides, and in this case I don't share the time definition made by the end of the video ("When it's time for people you love to move on, the last thing you should do is to hold them closer"). I think we would find some comfort reporting them, fighting for a fairer world.
One of the reasons we don't worry about events we missed is because we can see the effects and consequences of them. Civil rights, abolishment of enslavement, the inventions of cures, we can see those now. We fear missing the future after we die because we won't be able to see the consequences.
Socrates' reasoning leaves much to be desired. If this short life we have is the only time that we have a body, we should focus exclusively on things that require a body. We'd then have all eternity to cultivate our minds.
I think what he meant is that if you spend your life learning to cherish and train your mind you won't miss your body (you never cared about it, why should you the moment you have none left?). But if you spend your life only enjoying physical activities not only will you come unprepared in the after life but you'll have spend all your time cherishing something you knew you would lose, thus making the loss unpleasant. It's not a question of "efficiency" it's a question of feelings. The question as not much importance though as an afterlife make little sense ^^
Yoann Gouon So "ignorance is bliss" basically. Great message :)
Well, in a way, but I would say it's more a question of priorities. You know what you are missing, you just don't care about it whereas you wouldn't spend your whole life enjoying your body if you didn't care.
Yoann Gouon I'd argue that many people at the end of their lives are already ready to let go if they feel they've lived a full and good life. So I can imagine having had a life of bodily joys puts you in a much better place than someone who will have to spend eternity listening to other people how great it's been.
But then again, the premises here are junk so it's not really worth thinking too much about it. It's only that if the video didn't dumb Socrates' argument down a lot, I now have a bit less respect for the man who supposedly was really sharp.
I'd argue many people die in various circumstances, of which most are painful and sad.
The ten year old me who loves playing hide n seek is dead. I'm the now me. So essentially, we die everyday, because we are different everyday.
If I lived the exact same way that I did yesterday, thought the same thoughts and did each action exactly like yesterday, what proof is there that I am a new me compared to tge one yesterday? What proof is there that I have grown?
@@flora6360 proof then is that only your physical body is growing older. but is that what you value? staying alive just for staying (physically) alive? If that's what you want to do, then people will advise you that yolo :P
I do not fear death, but I wish to postpone it as long as possible.
"Rage, rage, against the dying of the light."
Yep, that sums it up for me too.
"I wish to live forever or die in the attempt"
+the Golden Spider-Duck So far you're succeeding ;)
Hell ya
Death is literally my greatest fear in life.
And yes, I did use literally semi-ironically.
My number one goal in life is to become immortal. After all, when I'm immortal, I'll have lots of time to do other things.
And when he does, I'll give him a Melvin.
When you become immortal
they will create a new book
base on you.So you will be
GOD.
Albert Milbert Or, you know, just do what you want and donate money.
its not the years in your life, its the life in your years that matter. Immortality is stagnation.
I have never understood why people want to be immoral? Why is one life not good enough for you? It's your own fault if you waste it. I think death, in any form, is peaceful because we just stop being. (I believe that) there is nothing after life so why should we be afraid?
"Mourning can actually seem selfish. When it’s time for the people you love to move on, Zhuangzi said,
the last thing you should do is hold them closer." ~Crash Course Philosophy #17
death is a mercy!!! imagine if a tyrant is immortal, or a slave is living an eternal slavery, sometimes, death is the best way.
death is probably even worse the other way around when a really good person dies that is on the verge of changing something bad in the world
Yahia Waleed yes!!!
It would be unfortunate for the people alive but for the dude who died, it wouldn't really matter at all.
KnotApps
agreed
the guy himself would probably feel sad about them even more
Isn't the best way to free the slave? Or to dethrone the tyrant? Death may be a solution to a problem, but I do not believe it to be the best.
This channel is fantastic. I hope it never dies!
I am pleasantly surprised at how pleasant this video is! I nearly had a mental breakdown with the last video on Existentialism, and this one on death is much more relaxing by comparison
There was a few mistakes in this video. Epicurus was definitely not a stoic philosopher. Stoics were "against" epicuranism. Also some greek phrases were a bit off in the English translation. From Hellas (Greece) with love. Keep up with the good work!
And that isn't the only mistake.. I'm a dutch philosophy student, and Epicurus has nothing to do with yolo or hedonism how it is generally explained. His Epicureanisme was about modesty. The hangover explanation is therefore also wrong. Epicurus condemned even drinking a lot because of the hangover; the pain from the hangover is more than the pleasure of the alcohol consumption. He even said gif me a pot of cheese so I could choose when I could feast... but the doesn't fear death part was right
@@1piip He utilized the hangover exemple just for explaining the concept, not to refer to Epicurus...
Yes! I agree!
My parents mourned when I transformed from a child into a teen. Now I'm a complete shithead.
Don't be so hard on yourself. You are actively learning.
Thanks for the support. Means a lot.
Hmm, maybe you should get buff. That way at least, you can be sexy ripped shithead.
+Jackboy019 Lol, I'll get on top of that
I think the fact that you think your'e a shithead suggests that your're not
"He was a philosopher and death was no match for his ability to argue".. Easily one of my favorite statements of the day.
Pretty positive vid about probably one of the greatest fears of humans. I like the way Sócrates thought 😁👍
It's okay I've already accepted that even if I live for the next 70 years I won't be alive to read the next G.R.R.M. Book
To quote one of the great philosophers of the 21st century,
"Yolo" - Drake
I don't fear the process of dying, rather I fear not being able to experience life.
Even when confined, you can still think and sense things around you or even things that are not there. To think of a state when I cannot think, where I'm not even aware of my existence, a state in which all of my acumulated experiences and thoughts are rendered null; now that is truly terrifying.
The rest doesn't really affect me.
I would rather live forever with the pain of having to witness an endless life than having my awareness snuffed. I find joy in simply existing. No matter how miserable my life has been or will be, I was always glad to be there to experience it and I will try to always be.
I's call that a paradox, don't bother imagining not existing because when you stop existing, you won't suffer lack of sensation because you don't exist. No sense of time, not even dreamless sleep, it's impossible to imagine it correctly.
TheLivingGlitch
I'm aware it's a paradox, but the nature of it being paradoxical makes it even more so terrifying. Since there is no good way to comprehend death because of it's paradoxical nature, how can you say that there is no sense of time? Or that there would be or not any sense of anything at all?
The closest thing we have compared to eternity is the present moment, since it cannot be quantifyed, it happens all the time throughout our whole lives and it has no begining or end. Therefore, since your death is eternal, how can anything be perceived inside eternity? Including non-existence.
Who's to say that death isn't just an endless stream of endless sensations and thoughts that you cannot comprehend or be aware of (since you cannot comprehend the things you experience in the same moment you experience them)?
Since there is no good way to comprehend death, except for a drastic change in consciousness and awareness from the way they are right now, there is no way for me to feel good about that.
I like experiencing life the way I do now. I want to experience the things it has to offer indefinitely, and whatever death is, it would change that.
And I don't want that.
Sabin `ul That's were definitions comes to play, if you live forever you could say your immortal, and if your immortal or eternal you can't die, therefore, you cannot die if you are eternal. Furthermore, death is not eternal and there has to be an afterlife.
I switched it all around simply by defining death as the discontinuing of bodily function and therefore sense. It all comes down ultimately by what you define specifically as death. We haven't even discussed souls yet...
I don't fear death, but I fear the horrible pain or sickness before it.
yes thats my view too. I dont care if a Bear Kills me, But i care about That a Bear is Killing me.
that's dying not death
This is for all theists watching the video.
Lucas Fajardo No, It's fear of extreme pain and sickness.
+Dr. Conspiracy which is kinda dying stupid
"Life is a short warm moment, death is a long cold rest."-Pink Floyd
The one thing about missing out things in the future is not knowing things that are going to happen in the future. Meanwhile most people went throught history class and still remember a good amount of it. So yeah death sucks.
Dying made the world better in the first place, so think of death like a quantifier of life. In contrary immortality is probably the worst innovation man ever created. But it's one of the earliest ones too, so...
+kalle hänninen True, immortality=overpopulation and over pollution of earth.
I think you hit the nail on the head there. Thinking about it, if right before death someone came to me and told me everything that was going to happen - "your great-great granddaughter becomes a famous artist", "humans achieve faster-than-light travel in this year", "poverty is eliminated in this year", "first-contact with alien life occurs in this year. This is what they are like and they are from this star system" - I think I would take it much better.
+comedygal21 The fact of not knowing is sort of depressing but at least you know what happense before you die. afterall, humans are curious.
FangMaster I was thinking about fixating on period when everything was better, like tens of thousands of years ago.
Nice to have some non-Western philosophy included, and it made me realise that this is Philosophy and not Western Philosophy Crash Course. Hopefully there will be more perspectives like that in upcoming episodes.
I used to be troubled by this. I realised later that life doesn't have to make sense in our limited imagination. Its just a short ocasion for us to "feel" the world and return to nothingness. If the thought of being noghing for the rest of the world, imagine living 1 milion years. Imagine living one hundred billion years. Imagine living this one billion times again and again. And that would be just a grain of sand compared to the infinity. I would better go to sleep forever then being alive forever without any purpose and without a way. So i get back to life and take advantage of this small window, will try to be better and leave a good impresion behind
I liked the last philosophy it made a lot of sense to me
What if, when we die, we just continue living as if we never died without realizing that we have already died? In other words, we could be dying every second but we just don't remember it.
Death, your participation award for living. Everyone gets one. It is, in my humble opinion, the only phenomena which grants one Liberation as life demonstrates responsibility even if it is autonomous at times.
I prefer dying by doing a 360 no scope off mount everest
Just hope that you don't miss.
LOL ^
but faze invites you to join after it
haha that would be dope af
you mean den/den *****
the non existent after life thing scares me, not because I will stop existing but because I will never ever get to talk to or see my loved ones again once they die. I just can't get over that.
Now i am feeling sort of deep sense of loss at what i missed before i born and after i died.Thank you,really.
"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next adventure."-- Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard...
Onodera1980 don’t disrespect the GOAT
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, ONDERA1980... ;)
Onodera1980 it brilliantly makes sense
You meant Joanne Rowling😉😁
I work at a hospitap and when a patient dies, one of my coworkers calls it a "graduation". I thought it was just a way to keep death 'light' but I guess it's more truth than joke.
As a life long migraine headache sufferer, death actually is reassuring in a way, because the suffering will one day end
I don't know why I get these sudden short bursts of anxiety about this...trying to define this fear whether it's my own or someone else's...overall, I just hate seeing death and I would never wish that upon anyone or anything...
Tbh...I don't even know why I'm here...damn these midnight thoughts.
The short bursts of anxiety for me come from thinking about “what if the Big Bang didn’t happen and none of this existed at all”
I had Death anxiety for years my friend. Heart beating out of my chest, arms clenching into crab-claws, face numb and tingly. Very scary. I got over it. You can too. All you have to do, is do it.
Death is the ONLY thing that can POSSIBLY save me from having to exist without end.
Existing without end is only a problem if knowledge is finite.
It would have to be VERY interesting to hold my attention for a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion subjective years...and then, after all that, there would be the NEXT second of eternity.
You'll be fine. It'll only take you the first millennium to learn to stave off boredom indefinitely.
+philhellenes Well there is the infinitely satisfying Supreme Being called God. If he is superlative in all his attributes and character, like the Bible says, then I think that would keep the afterlife interesting.... actually sounds like heaven. Lol
you're assuming god exists.
Hank Green, the sound of your voice about to lay some knowledge smackdown on my brain brings a smile to my face every time :)!! I would like to thank Crash Course and SciShow for making all of these videos that have made it easier for me to learn something new everyday. Not only have they helped me to gain a better understanding of the crazy world around us but my grades benefit as well. Thank all of you and your passion for knowledge!
I just enjoy hearing him speak
The funny thing is, I do feel a sort of loss for important parts of human history, so it does indeed reinforce my thanatophobia. I'm at least comforted in the sense that fear of loss seems to be a natural side of appreciation of something's value.
I always forget how scary it is that life will cease, until I watch something like this and start having an existential crisis
Do a video on Pessimism
that would suck
Maybe it won't suck, stop being pessimistic ;)
+Mah Nef when someone say that the cup is half full or empty they both wrong atom are made of 99.9% of empty space so it practicality empty
They can even save an episode and just pair it up with realism, basically the same thing.
They already did.
Acceptance of morality makes me live in a more vital way. That’s just the way it is. I think when you are young you don’t think about it. Now as you get older, you take this on board and your life becomes more valuable!!😅😘❤️
Death absolutely terrifies me, I have anxiety attacks about it before bed time. A million people say they have an answer, consider life on alien planets and you realize there are literally trillions of viewpoints on death therefore the only answer is "I don't know."
Even anesthesia is scary as hell for me but screw epicurious because I say this fear actually makes me appreciate the wonderful miracle of observation I currently have considering the impossible mathematics required to take place for me to be able to be here. From the right amount of matter to anti matter at the big bang all the way to enough water on earth to the perfect spermies coming along to make me exist.
Never pull the plug on me, I want every possible second before it's gone - even the painful bits.
"I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory"
I don't know, I've mourned at times, watching my niece and nephew grow up. Not a full "someone just died" mourning, but deep sadness nonetheless. It's sad to realize they will never be that age or the way they were again, while simultaneously exciting and joyous to see who they are becoming. I know a lot of parents truly mourn, with "Empty Nest Syndrome". So, I’m not feeling ya, Zhuagnzi.
I'm not afraid of death, but the suffering before death is what scares me.
My fear stems from the complete stop of conscience-ness I guess you could say? Like I don't want to come to a complete stop I want there to be something at the end it scares me to think that I'd just completely stop and not get to experience things that would be promised in... say for example, heaven in heaven you get 2 whoop it up and talk to those of the past like George Washington about their lives and experiences what they've been through from their perspective- you still have your thoughts and processes and you get to see those who have passed with you-so when they died it wasn't the final time you'd see them before they fall into an ever lasting dreamless sleep where they will never wake up or experience new things again idk my ideal afterlife is basically kinda like Earth honestly... except a better Earth where people don't die and you guys can through parties every night ;3 idk it'd be nice 2 sleep 2 but like... ~sleep is for the weak~ sleeping for a long nice while is okay but sleeping forever is 2 long
But think about how _boring_ heaven would get after like the 5 billionth year!
Yeah, sorry, but the annihilation of all my memories, thoughts, and emotions; the loss of all my family and friends for all of eternity; and the eventual death of all humans and the decay of every single human idea, story, or piece of art *scares me*. And it should. All people fear the death of their loved ones, at the very least. Even religious people cry when their family members die, even though they probably wouldn't cry if they'd simply moved away somewhere very nice. Every human on some level understands that death is a terrible final ending. Fearing death is like fearing a giant monster with claws and sharp teeth. It actually makes a good deal of sense, because death is basically the worst possible outcome. You say it's a tragedy when someone dies at 20, because they missed out on so much life. But if we could live for 200 years, dying at 80 would seem a terrible loss. It's only because we _have_ to die so soon (currently) that we rationalize and pretend like it's okay; it's too hard to look at it straight in the face. And if some species never had to die at all, the existence of death itself would seem a deeply terrible tragedy, and that's exactly what it is. We only pretend otherwise because it's inevitable.
Tremendously deep insight. People have an instinctual fear of death.
It's true, but it's selfish, not just for yourself, but for all of our species, it's very sad that we acctually plan as a species to stay around all we can, We are a cute little, whimpy accident in a wet infinitesimal rock that we'll probably never leave, so you should probably trash all your desires of transcendence and wait and greet the inevitable
(Sorry if i misspelled anything, i'm mexican)
Its realllly bad for you to fear the inevitable.
+John Doe I think that all humans actually have an innate fear of the Unknown, which death classifies as. Once you accept that you won't ever actually experience death, as touched upon in the video, you realise that there is no unknown to fear it's just the cessation of existence
so basically nyx from persona 3 if you ever played it cause you just described death(nyx)
I'd like to think Epicurus valued life enough that he would have posthumously choosen Guy Fieri (4:38) as his Model Organism of Being before cessation of sensation in his ethical framework
While I was never a huge fan of Socrates or his philosphies, especially as it relates to political idealism of the republic, I've always thought like he did in terms of death. I don't fear death or dread it's arrival. When it's my time, it's my time. Be it tommorow or 60 years from now. Either I'm wrong and there is an afterlife and I will be judged somehow, or we just die and rot. Not going to change how I live based on the remote possibility there is an afterlife.
Wonderful way to put it. Here have a cookie. (Thumbs Up)
Absolutely. But you are also basically saying what Epicurus did.
I am curious - is political idealism of the republic really all you took from Socrates?
If I had to put that label on somebody, it would be Plato. The reason that I loved Socrates, and why he will forever remain one of theas greatest, is his dedication to knowledge, and what it means to know something, and the truth. The Socratic method laid the foundation for everything to come, not just philosophy, but science as a whole. What it means to actually know the things that you thing you know, is vastly more complicated than people realize.
So you would have no issues with being a soldier in the front-line of a classic 1600's English battle front, or sticking in an alleyway by the residence of a serial killer, or (if there is an afterlife) being judged as no good and suffer for eternity? I mean, I believe the same as you but because their could be an afterlife and a possible hell, my life would be altered in that I wish too prepare for said afterlife.
I think huge majority who applies logic to the concept of death would have the same opinion as you and me and Socrates, but how you deal with it is very personal.