Somehow, me collapsing on my keyboard mid code doesn't seem all that great way to go. I will have to get another passion that I am mid stream in and enjoying life to the max before I have to cross the river Styx...
He was a great songwriter and he wrote a brilliant ending.
> Vierne suffered either a stroke or a heart attack (eyewitness reports differ) while giving his 1,750th organ recital at Notre-Dame de Paris on the evening of 2 June 1937. He had completed the main concert, which members of the audience said showed him at his full powers ("as well as he has ever played"). Directly after he had finished playing his "Stele pour un enfant défunt" from his 'Triptyque' Op 58, the closing section was to be two improvisations on submitted themes. He read the first theme in Braille, then selected the stops he would use for the improvisation. He suddenly pitched forward, and fell off the bench as his foot hit the low "E" pedal of the organ. He lost consciousness as the single note echoed throughout the church. He had thus fulfilled his oft-stated lifelong dream — to die at the console of the great organ of Notre-Dame. Maurice Duruflé, another major French organist and composer, was at his side at the time of his death.
Some others in this thread have brought up the point that sudden death is more difficult for those who live on. I agree with that, too, so I suppose I don't know what I think about this.
Dying mid-code doesn't sound as great as dying after having just completed a coding project or task. The feeling of frustration and confusion changing to pride and accomplishment is a powerful one, at least for me.
I think Tom Petty set a better example, dying a week after the end of his farewell tour.
After experiencing a few longer drawn out deaths I might argue a quick death as being "better" of the two options.
When he had a heart attack on stage, people thought it was part of his act and the curtain closed to a standing ovation.
Furthermore, symbols are largely how our species interprets and experiences reality.
Symbols provide meaning. Without them, moments are mere streams of phenomenon.
Otherwise, you're just hijacking short term reward systems and facilitating the consumption of empty calories to the (health) detriment of all parties involved.
There's no inherent meaning in the scenario.
Sounds like you are conflating meaning with the felt quality of immediate experience.
You seem to be conflating "am I enjoying this moment?" with "does what I'm doing matter?"
Food preferences / aversions are a product of culture.
The ability to ask both "am I enjoying this moment?" and "does what I'm doing matter?" is a byproduct of symbolic thinking. Culture is both the vector for those symbols and the product of them.
That doesn't follow from anything the grandparent said.
> Food preferences / aversions are a product of culture.
They are certainly subjective, and culture has some influence on them, but “product of culture” is far overstating the case. Food preferences exist without culture for purely (though still varying across individuals, because biology does) biological reasons.
> The ability to ask both "am I enjoying this moment?" and "does what I'm doing matter?" is a byproduct of symbolic thinking.
Insofar as all use of language is, and this the ability to ask any question framed in words is, certainly. It's less clear whether the ability to distinguish momentary enjoyment from significance is, because we don't really have address to the cognitive processes of those without access to language.
> Culture is both the vector for those symbols and the product of them.
This may also overstste the influence of culture, but it does so less than the prior example.
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2017/01/holographic-unive...
And yeah, everyone is aware you don't remember anything when you die. When I die, I want to die in a way that impacts those left behind, because like you said, I won't remember it but they will.