by Andrew Stark
continuity, 176–77, 189, 252–53n6
cosmic consciousness, 7, 126, 204–11, 260n8; individual death vs. merger into, 208, 210, 211. See also physical cosmos
Costello, Elizabeth (fictional), 100–101, 102
courage, 244–45n32
Cowen, Tyler, What Price Fame?, 133
Crace, Jim, Being Dead, 214
creativity, 154–55
Croesus, king of Lydia, 34
cryonics, 180–81
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 186–87
cybermind, 207
cyberspace. See digitized life-log
Dalai Lama, 57
Dalloway, Clarissa (fictional), 217, 218
darkness, 197–200, 202, 259nn2, 3
Davis, Clive, 84–85
Day-Lewis, Daniel, 39
“dead life” (Sartre term), 122
death: altruistic view of, 130, 233–34n10; analogies for, 214; anxiety and, 2, 28, 231, 236n24, 239n25, 258n18; awareness of impending, 78–80; as benign (see benign); as “big sleep,” 7, 197–99; consolations for (see consolations); continuing physical imprint and, 212; cosmic consciousness merger vs., 15–18, 204–8; debate over goodness of, 203–4; democracy of, 79; denial of (see denial of death); deprivations of, 6–7; early achievements and, 224; ever-present possibility of, 30, 44, 72, 81, 91–93; fortune-cookie wisdoms about, 72; fulfilled people and, 88, 94; happiness and, 42–45; imagery for, 88–89, 197–202, 259nn2–3; inevitability of, 79, 82–83, 226; irrelevancy of, 2–3, 7–8, 25–26, 38, 94, 95, 128, 203; late-life regrets and, 111, 122; life plan and, 81, 83, 95; losses during life and (see loss); of memories, 107; moving forward to, 16–18, 30, 118–19, 202, 219–21, 224–25, 226–28, 229–30, 231, 232, 252n6; optional immortals and, 191–93; at peak of life’s arc, 83–88; reality of, 230; reconciliation with, 9; regrets and (see regrets); reminders of, 80–84; self and, 2–3, 46; surviving own, 131; temporality and (see time); universality of, 79. See also consolations; immortality; memorialization
death wish, 239n25
Deep Blue (supercomputer), 204, 205, 211
dementia, 6, 189, 227
denial of death, 14–18, 19, 29, 30, 81–82, 101, 141, 212
deprivationist argument, 234–35n11, 237n7
Dern, Bruce, 83
Desai, Kiran, Inheritance of Loss, 173
descriptivism, 143
desires, 5, 57, 67, 69, 70, 87, 159–60; death anxiety and, 239n25; as defining self, 167; object of, 42–44; sour grapes and, 238n18; time and, 161–63, 166, 168, 171, 181; turnovers in, 160
DeYoung, Dennis, 86–87
Dickens, Charles, Martin Chuzzlewit, 111
Didion, Joan, 6, 18, 19, 27, 188, 214, 222–23; Year of Magical Thinking, 18, 212, 215
Diener, Ed, 236–37n7
digitized life-log, 4, 100–109, 145, 230
Dodman, Thomas, 169
Doniger, Wendy, 154
Doors (rock band), 86
Draaisma, Douwe, 184
Dreyfuss, Richard, 58
Dufferin and Ava, Marquis of, 36–37
Dunne, John Gregory, 18, 212, 213, 214, 223
Eagleman, David, 255n9
Eliot, T. S., 123, 140; “East Coker,” 259n3
Eliot, Valerie, 140
Elizabeth (Albee Death figure), 259n2
emigrés, spatial nostalgia of, 169, 172
ennui, 152, 153, 159, 258n18
ephemerality, 44, 93, 223, 224, 225
Epicurus: consolations of, 2, 15, 20–25, 26, 28, 31, 32–34, 42, 44, 94, 260n4; deprivationist critique of, 234–35n11; good life of, 191, 193. See also first consolation; second consolation
erotic memories, 106–7
Esquivel, Laura, Malinche, 172
Esther, Book of, 106
eternity, 101, 153–54, 182, 200, 202, 206, 213
Ettinger, Robert, 180–81
events: digitized, 230; happiness from, 50–51; interpretation of, 112–13; as objects, 48, 224, 229, 261–62n14, 262n15; “old” nomenclature and, 48; peak moment of, 123–24; transience of, 223, 224, 225; treasured, 221–22
Evil, Donnie, 41–42
existentialist consolation, 2, 3, 71–72, 79, 80, 82, 88, 91, 95; logic of, 83–84; nothingness and, 54, 55; statement of, 71, 77, 89, 93, 135
external time, 256n10
false memories, 139
Faustian bargain, 62–63
feelings, 161–63, 166, 167, 168, 170, 171, 227
Feynman, Richard, 137, 138
first consolation (Epicurus), 33, 34, 44, 55; Buddhist consolation vs., 53; digitized life-log as extension of, 101; statement of, 2, 20–22, 24, 25, 28, 31, 32, 33, 42, 44, 46, 54, 94, 101, 220
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 43
flow, 186–90
Forever twenty-seven club, 85, 87
Forster, E. M., 4, 101, 107–8, 245n32
Fosca (fictional), 233–34n10
“four-dimensionalist” argument, 235–36n24
Frayn, Michael, A Landing on the Sun, 187
Freud, Sigmund, 14, 81–82, 136, 138, 239n25
Friend, Tad, 33
Frost, Robert, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” 259n3
future, 4, 29, 82, 128, 204–5; personal continuity and, 66–68, 146, 252–53n6
futurists, 7
Gaia, 209
Garcia, Jerry, 85
generic experiences, 70–73, 79
Gilbert, Martin, 142
Gödel, Kurt, 143
Goertzel, Ben, 209
golf honors, 62
goodbyes, 6–7, 213, 215
Grabinski, Stefan, “Szatera’s Engrams,” 262n15
Gray, Dorian (fictional), 88, 219, 220, 221, 229
Greene, Maurice, 48
Gretzky, Wayne, 99–100, 105–6, 108
Griffiths, Linda, Maggie and Pierre, 209
group mind, 206–8
Hägglund, Martin, Dying for Time: Woolf, Proust, Nabokov, 239n25
Hall, Theodore, 170
Hamlet (fictional), 199
Hammond, Claudia, Time Warped, 254–55n9
Hanks, Tom, 38–39
happiness, 42–45, 50–51; culmination vs. cumulation of, 34, 35–37, 38, 45. See also unhappiness
Harding, Paul, Tinkers, 262n14
Harper, Valerie, 123
Harrison, Thelma and Ronnie (fictional), 106, 107
Hartshorne, Charles, 214
Harvard men study (Harvard Grant Study), 112–23, 124
has-beens, 37–42
Hayles, N. Katherine, 206
Healy, Sean, 151
Hecht, Anthony, 153
Heidegger, Martin, 2, 72, 78, 91–93, 95; on “clock time,” 246n42; on function of naming, 137–38; on types of boredom, 151
Hemingway, Ernest, 124
Hendrix, Jimi, 85
Hepburn, Katharine, 208
Hill, Jonah, 33
Hitler, Adolf, 144
hockey, 99, 100, 105–6, 108
Holderlin, Friedrich, “To the Fates,” 23, 32
Holderlin strategy, 43, 45, 51, 73–75, 81, 91, 123; advantage vs. disadvantage of, 37–38, 45, 75; challenges posed by, 33–42; statement of, 23, 32, 33, 46, 49, 75, 223–24
Holocaust, 108–9
homesickness, 169, 170, 172, 174
Howe, Gordie, 100
human relationships, 211, 212–25
Hume, David, 65–66
IBM supercomputer, 204, 205
Ibsen, Henrik, A Doll’s House, 215
immortality, 3–9, 95, 105, 117, 125, 128, 147, 158, 161–62, 170–71, 204, 209, 212, 226–32, 228, 230, 257–58n17, 18; appealing images of, 257–58nn17, 18; benign scenarios of, 177–89; biographical details and, 133–34; boredom of, 5, 6, 18, 151–59, 166, 167, 168, 170, 176, 177, 179, 180, 182, 227, 228; change and, 160, 176; death vs., 191–93, 213, 231; fantastic speculations about, 177–87, 188; faux, 101, 102, 107, 110, 116; human unconscious belief in own, 81–82; inertia and, 152; life vs., 203–4; as malignant, 7, 226–27; memorial plaques and, 133; nostalgia
and, 172–73, 175, 177, 179, 180, 182, 188, 189, 192, 227, 228; as optional, 191–93; personal mark and, 133–36, 141, 145–46; science fiction depictions of, 257n17; self-alienation and, 177, 180; superintelligence and, 186, 187
inauthenticity, 151, 246n42
Incompleteness Theorem, 143
International Hockey Federation, 106
Iqbal, Samad (fictional), 172
Ishiguro, Kazuo, Never Let Me Go, 173
It’s a Wonderful Life (film), 76, 77, 78
Ivan Ilych (fictional), 14, 15–18, 21, 22, 29, 30, 74–75, 79, 81, 101, 123
Jagger, Mick, 178
James, Clive, 23–24
James, William, 207
Jenkins, Stephen, 38
jersey retiring (sports), 99–100, 105–6, 108
Johnston, Mark, 53, 128–29, 130–32, 146; Surviving Death, 128
Jonas, Hans, 170–71, 172, 173–74, 175, 177
Joplin, Janis, 85–86
Joyce, James, Ulysses, 164, 165
Kane, Charles Foster (fictional), 75
Kass, Leon, 203–4, 223
Kaufman, Charlie, 248n5
Kennedy, Robert F., 259n3
Keynes, John Maynard, 127
Kidd, Jason, 99
Kierkegaard, Søren, 72, 81, 154, 155
Kippenberg, Professor (fictional), 151
Kiss (rock band), 87
Kissinger, Henry, 24, 123
Koch, Ed, 87
Koestler, Arthur, 155–56
Kripke, Saul, 117, 120, 121; Naming and Necessity, 144; theory of reference, 137, 138, 143, 144
Kundera, Milan, Immortality, 123–24
Kurzweil, Ray, 7, 203, 204–5, 206, 207, 210; The Age of Spiritual Machines, 207
Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi di, The Leopard, 197
Larkin, Philip, 203, 231
“last,” two senses of, 231–32
“late,” two senses of, 27
late-life regrets. See regrets
lateral transfer, 127
LaVette, Bettye, 115
Lawrence, D. H., 88
Lee, Spike, 218
Lennon, John, 2–3
lethargy, 152, 153, 159
Levin, Bernard, 174–75
Lewis, David K., 117–19, 122
life. See peak of life
Life is Beautiful (film), 76–77, 78
life-log. See digitized life-log
light, 201, 203
literary legacy, 102
living forever. See immortality
living posthumously, 24–25, 33, 91
Loman, Willy (fictional), 19–20, 89
longevity, 9, 191–93
longings, 44, 56. See also nostalgia; yearning
Los Angeles Kings, 99
loss, 6, 190, 210–25, 245n32; Buddhist eradication of, 61, 62–63; death and, 197, 203, 213, 215, 225, 230; death vs. life and, 190, 210–17, 224; of opportunities, 214; spatial vs. temporal, 216–17
lost past. See temporal nostalgia
lovers, 177–85. See also sexual experiences
Loy, David, 59
Lucretius, 153, 199–201, 202, 213; Folly of the Fear of Death, 201; On the Nature of Things, 259–60n4
macroeconomic theory, 127
Madame (Ishiguro character), 173
magical thinking, 18, 19, 20, 188, 199, 209, 223
Makropoulos, Elina (fictional), 156
male life-course study, 112–23, 124
Malinalli (fictional), 172
Mann, Thomas: Buddenbrooks, 53; Magic Mountain, 18–19
Marcus Aurelius, 140–41
mark, making a. See memorialization
marriage, 121, 211, 212, 214, 215, 217, 223; regrets and, 114–15
Mars, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68
Martin, Steve, 39
Marvell, Andrew, “To His Coy Mis tress,” 181–82, 183, 184, 185, 197
Marx, Groucho, 140
Maturin, Charles, Melmoth the Wanderer, 219
McCartney, Paul, 2–3
McCoy, Neal, 59
Mehta, Suketu, 172
Mellor, D. H., 26–27
memento mori, 80–83
memorialization, 32–33, 99–110, 133–47; audio-video, 136–37, 145; deliberate silence as, 105, 108–10; memory vs., 109, 144; names and, 136–47; personal details and, 135–36; plaques and statues as, 105, 133–37, 138, 141, 143–44, 219, 220, 221; sports jersey retiring as, 99–100, 105–6, 108
memories, 29–30, 64, 66–69, 171; accuracy of, 141–43; digitized preservation of, 4, 100–109, 145, 230; disappearance of, 6, 160, 189, 227; endless life and, 5–6, 192; erotic, 106–7; false, 139; of good life, 191; higher and lower levels of, 102; as identity, 101; immortal boredom and, 166; indescribable, 104; as mortal, 107, 109–10; persistence of, 167; of person, 133, 140–44; retrieval of, 247n19; shedding of, 159–60, 168, 181; teletransportation and, 63–65, 68–69, 242–43n32; time and, 161–63; turnovers in, 160; unconscious, 102, 103, 247n19; unshareable, 107–8, 109. See also remembrance
mental contents: metaphors for, 158, 159, 160, 161, 166, 167; temporal polarization between self and, 68–69
Mersault (fictional), 154–55
metaphysics, 66, 119, 120, 122, 124
Metropolitan (film), 222
Microsoft, 4, 100
Midnight in Paris (film), 169
Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 209
Miller, Arthur, Death of a Salesman, 19–20, 89
Miller, Jason, That Championship Season, 32–33, 37, 39, 48, 49–50, 73, 94, 224, 229
Miller, William Ian, 79
mind, universal. See cosmic consciousness
Minnelli, Liza, 60
Minsky, Marvin, 7, 204
Miss America title, 38, 39
Mitchell-Yellin, Benjamin, 207
Monroe, Miles (fictional), 178
Montaigne, Michel de, 8, 28, 121
Moravec, Hans, 7, 204
Morpurgo, Michael, 35–36; War Horse, 35–36
Morrison, Jim, 85, 86
mortality. See death
motivation, self and, 55–56
Musil, Robert, Man Without Qualities, 126–27
Nabokov, Vladimir, 108, 172, 199–200, 201
Nagel, Thomas, 36
naming, 136–47; function of, 137–38; original act of, 138
narcissism, 60
Narcissus (mythical), 60
Nat Bailey Stadium (Vancouver), 134–35
National Hockey League, 99, 106, 108
Nazis, 108–9, 138
New Yorker, 33
New York Times, 115, 133, 169
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 80–81, 84–88, 114; The Gay Science, 259n3; Thus Spake Zarathustra, 81, 83
Norville, Deborah, 58
no-self: Buddhist doctrine of, 3, 52–64, 65, 68, 69, 95, 131, 230, 240–41n16; language of, 58–60, 62–63, 240–41n16; Parfit and, 65, 66
nostalgia, 6, 169–75, 177, 178, 184, 188, 189, 192, 228; evasion of, 181, 182; flow vs., 186; immortality and (see under immortality); for object, 179; spatial vs. temporal, 169, 172–73, 174, 175
nothingness, 54, 55
number, athlete’s. See jersey retiring
Nureyev, Rudolf, 86
Nussbaum, Martha, 176–77
Oakeshott, Michael, 190
Obama, Barack, 89–90, 92, 117
obituary, 135
object, 48, 179; of desire, 43–44; event as, 224, 229, 261–62n14, 262n15; experience vs., 50–51; persistence through time of, 223
Oishi, Shigehiro, 236–37n7
old, 47–49; two meanings of, 48–49
opportunity, 89–91, 95, 214, 216
optimal experience. See flow
option-immortals, 191–93
oral-history collections, 108–9
Orefice, Guido (fictional), 76–77, 78
Oscar winners, 38–39
Ozymandias, 141–42, 250n13
Parfit, Derek, 53, 63–65, 66, 68–69, 94–95, 161, 165, 230
particulate matter, 205–6, 208, 209
p
ast, 29–30, 67–68, 113–25, 226, 230, 232; closure and, 116, 123, 125, 145–46; moments of life flowing back into, 37–42, 51, 91–95, 110, 124–25, 146–47, 221–25. See also regrets; time
peak of life, 87–88
perdurantist views, 25–28
personal continuity. See self
personal singularity. See singularity
Philadelphia Flyers, 99
Philadelphia Story, The (film), 208
Philbin, Regis, 58
Phillips, Adam, 213
physical cosmos, becoming particles in, 205–6, 208–11
Pieper, Frank R., 87
possibilities, 92–93, 117–20, 122
Praskovya Fedorovna (fictional), 16–17
presence, 128–32
president, U.S., 40–41, 49, 78
Presley, Elvis, “Are you lonesome tonight?,” 217
Princeton philosophers, 53, 117, 121, 122, 128
prison cell, boredom likened to, 154–55
procrastination, 89–90
Prokhorov, Mikhail, 99
ProQuest, 90
Proust, Marcel, 101, 127, 139, 247n19, 248n3
quasi-space, 128, 130–32, 146
Ramses VIII (Egyptian pharaoh), 133, 134
reality, 93, 118–20, 121, 226–27
reference, 137, 138, 143–44. See also naming
regrets, 4, 11–12, 50, 111–22, 248n5
remembrance, 80–83, 133–47; of person never met, 138–39, 144–45; reference vs., 138
restlessness, 151
retirement, 99, 241n25
Reynolds, Simon, 174
Ringwald, Molly, 115
road not taken. See regrets
Roberts, John, 117
Robinson, Jackie, 99; number commemoration, 100
Robinson, Joan, 127
rock music superstars, 84–87
romance: memories and, 106, 107; possibilities and, 118–19, 121, 124; regrets and, 113, 114–15, 116, 124
rope fibers metaphor, 158, 159, 160, 161, 166, 167, 168
Rosenberg, Jay, 191
Roth, Philip, 23, 24–25, 203
Runyon, Damon, 48
Sacks, David, 139
Sacks, Oliver, 139
Saramago, José, Death with Interruptions, 240n7
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 54, 83, 93, 122, 123, 125
Saturday Review, 36
Scatman John, 35; “Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop,” 34
Scheffler, Samuel, Death and the Afterlife, 233–34n10
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 42, 44, 201–2
Schreyer, Ed and Lily, 111, 112, 115
science fiction, 257n17
Searle, John, 206
Sebald, W. G., Austerlitz, 104
second consolation (Epicurus), 3–4, 33, 55; early successes and, 37, 45, 46, 94; Holderlin strategy and, 32, 33; statement of, 22, 24, 32, 51, 54, 224
Sedaris, David, 90