meh, I dont care what "debate" there is about it. It was his dying wish. Not for filling that is disrespectful in the extreme.
He wants his legacy to be as static as possible and not pimped out and whore'd to the highest bidder. Fair enough I say.
He wants his legacy to be as static as possible and not pimped out and whore'd to the highest bidder. Fair enough I say.
Or are you arguing these was more potential of some destruction of a legacy?
Every action we make chooses one from (infinite) branches of reality. Favoring one over the other is meaningless. The result of things existing will always be other things not existing. The atoms that I'm using to exist could have been used to compose other entities instead. You're assuming a sort of situation where everything that could exist would exist. A Borgesian library where not only every possible work of Kafka is written, but in every possible variation. The act of writing by itself destroys every alternative work. Are we certain that the Kafka we have is the best Kafka we could have?
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.
One morning, when Georg Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a disgusting bug.
One day, when Georg Valta woke from troubled dreams, he found himself awake in his bed transformed into a horrible vermin.
In the morning, when Georg Sanka woke from dreadful dreams, he found himself awake in bed in the body of a nightmarish vermin.
...
And yes, I absolutely would prefer to live in the world state with optimal Kafka. You really wouldn't? If Kafka came up to and asked him to help you with his wording or something, you wouldn't assist him at all?
I didn't mean that I do not have any preferences, but that my preferences aren't special or better than others' preferences, in the same way that another version of the world (where Pratchett's wishes were overruled) is not a better world than the current one. I think I'm skirting close to Leibniz here. Yes, the world could be better, but it would not be our world, and it would only be better to some of us, and worse for others.
It's highly unlikely that your best Kafka is my best Kafka. As such there is no Best Kafka. The world in which I help Kafka finish The Castle is one in which (for want of a nail) a trillion years from now the Zormulons exterminate the Qdhraxians. I doubt the Qdhraxians are happy I at least got an ending to a story.
It's hard to miss what you never knew.
Would have been great to possibly break out of that before our lifetimes, and I'd guess writing could have played a big part in that.
In my opinion, the only valid positive outcome of respect for the dead can be in benefits to the living - who may benefit from either disrespecting the dying wish, or alternatively from the expectation that their own dying wishes may some day be fulfilled. That's definitely a debate.
I do think they made the right call here, though.