house_wilson_ghc | (no subject)

The point still remains, just because someone's willing to risk their life for the truth about life, the universe and everything, does not mean they don't care whether they live or die. This is death with a price. Not the equality of life and death. I very much choose life over death, but I might choose the truth over life. I don't see the truth as death. I guess that's where our views differ.

Do you think you will find out the truth after you die automatically?

Actually, there's a conflict here. According to my world view, there's nothing there (I'm also an Atheist), so if I died, I'd have no consceous left to know the truth. That's why I've been trying to tell you that I'd either have to come back to know the truth, which is what House seemed to think, too, or trade the knowledge for my life before I'd die. Waiting to die would just result in death and never knowing the truth.

*consciousness. Fucking English :D

Well, then I'm even more confused. House obviously thought he'd take a dip into the Nothingness, see that it's really Nothingness, then dive back out and live again. With some possibility of internal injuries, etc. But in any case, whatever there was or wasn't to see in the Thereafter, he'd see it.

You on the other hand, don't mind trading the Truth for death. So if someone told you, with all dire certainty, there there was Nothing out there, then killed you, this would be a fair trade? What can one do with a knowledge that only survives in their mind for an instant, before the mind itself is extinguished?

((Side note: I'm starting to see why Russians think Finns are all terminally depressed. :))

Eh. Do you think I'm depressed? :D

I suppose it would seem illogical to exchange the rest of one's life for information one would only get to enjoy for a short while, but the way I see it, that's one of the Big Truths that are worth it. It still doesn't mean I don't want to live in other circumstances. The truth is the only condition which will make me think twice. I'm still not saying I'd choose the truth. I'm just saying there's a possibility I might.

I realise that this might truly sound like someone who doesn't care about life, but it's all in the way one views life and death, I suppose.

(I don't know about 'depressed', but definitely gloomy. Prehaps it's just the sun leaving. I was raised in Moscow, which was nowhere near as bad, but even so the seasonal shift got to me.)

Anyway, I still want to know something. Why would a Big Truth be worth it if you only got to learn it but not actually *act* on it, in any way? Is an instant of understanding really the same as *knowing*?

Heh, maybe I'm gloomy, but I definitely haven't given up on life ;)

Why would a Big Truth be worth it if you only got to learn it but not actually *act* on it

Because you'd know. You wouldn't have to end your life without knowing! I'm already bothered by the fact that I'll never know how the universe came to be, or to where Space is expanding. If I got to know at least one of the big things, I'd die happy. So, I suppose it all comes down to curiosity, in the end...

So it wouldn't make a difference to you if you did or didn't get to *do* anything with that knowledge? I'm all for curiosity, but what's the point of knowing everything if you die a second later? That's not even a Faustian deal - that's just... well, depressing. :)

Well, of course I'd rather know and live and maybe do something with the knowledge! Naturally. But I'd rather know and die than die without knowing.

Well, you'll die regardless of knowing. That much is given. The question is, how much time will you need between knowing and dying for it to be worth it?

Enough to realise I know. I'm still saying it would be that much sweeter to live with the knowledge.