Death and the Meaning of Life - Miami Day 2
We made it to Valdosta. We found a decent pet friendly hotel.
We’re more than halfway through the journey and GPS says we have another 6 and a half hours to go.
During my leg of the drive yesterday, I listened to an excellent episode of the Lex Fridman podcast, where he interviewed Brian Greene. Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist and has worked extensively on String Theory.
I especially enjoyed the end of the interview. Lex Fridman (the host) went to MIT and I believe he studied robotics. During a bit of the conversation about consciousness, he had a great insight that artificial intelligence won’t actually become self aware until it starts to understand and fear it’s own death. Death, and the existential anxiety associated with the fleetingness of life, is the driving force that motivates us to do what we do.
I’m terrified of dying. The terror has only intensified since I’ve had my son. But my fear of death is a huge motivator for me. I remind myself every day that I will die, and that my death will come sooner than I realize.
The daily death reminder on Twitter helps me to keep this front of mind.
Anyway, the conversation was wide ranging and full of all the things that makes me wonder. But I highly recommend listening through till the very end.