• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Does the thought of eternal oblivion depress you

DongBeetle

DongBeetle

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,017
From what we know, the likeliest outcome of death is nonexistence. We are biological computers and without our brain, there is nothing to process reality with. That being said, does it scare you, make you sad or embolden you to do more with your life? I used to be pretty freaked out by it but I've come to terms with it. Your story has a beginning and an end, things would be meaningless otherwise
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
Maybe don't look at it as oblivion but your body returning to what made it in the first place.
 
kittens

kittens

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,237
I'm excited to disintegrate and become intermixed with the universe (though, of course, we're always intermixed even while alive)
 
Stinkles

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
Not compared to some of the alternatives I've read.

Being turned off sounds pretty painless. I'd be sad thinking about the people you'd be leaving. For them and about them, but when the lights go off, not even sadness.
 
EarlGreyHot

EarlGreyHot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,377
Fine with it.

I'll be dead, so I won't be aware of it. I think it's comforting

Also, my conciousness came into this universe once, there is no reason to think it can't happen again.
 
Xelan

Xelan

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
765
I'll sometimes go into a thought spiral of "oh shit, my consciousness wont exist someday." Then I'll get a weird shiver down my neck, surpress the thought and move on with my day.
 
Sword Familiar

Sword Familiar

Member
Jan 9, 2018
4,403
Sweden
Non-existence scares me a bit. Not like I have a particularly good life, but I'd rather be alive. Of course, I won't notice when I'm dead, but still.
 
steejee

steejee

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,608
No, find it a bit comforting in fact that the human race destroying itself will go unnoticed by the universe at large. I came from stardust and will return to stardust, as will everyone else.

Though I do wish there was a God/Hell/etc just so some of the horrific people that have lived long comfortable lives would get some sort of comeuppance.
 
digitalrelic

digitalrelic

Weight Loss Champion 2018: Biggest Change
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,124
It used to, but reminding myself that how I feel after I die will be exactly how I felt before I was born makes it easier to cope with.
 
CyborgNumberBlue

CyborgNumberBlue

Member
Oct 26, 2017
558
Why have there been like four threads on this in the last few weeks.

Did you feel shitty before you were born? No? Well that's the same way you will feel when you die, so stop worrying about it and live your life.
 

Deleted member 48434

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 8, 2018
5,230
Sydney
Depends on my mood.
When I feel shit, it's nice to know all is temporary and pain isn't eternal, and that there will be a point when all goes black and all will be forgotten.
When I feel good, it's shit to know all is temporary and this happiness can't be forever, and once the blackness comes it'll be like it never even happened.

Ehh, i'd say I lean more towards depressed about the whole thing. I feel shit pretty often, but I feel happy pretty often to, and I remember the happy better.
 
Red Liquorice

Red Liquorice

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,071
UK
I'm sure we just had this thread a few days ago.


To answer the OP, it doesn't depress me because I don't know it for a fact and neither does anyone else. For all the stories and myths we tell ourselves - no one knows. Whatever happens, it's been happening for millions of years, so neither you nor I are even remotely significant in the scheme of things. If anything, knowing that any trouble and bad times I go through is utterly meaningless and a tiny, tiny speck nothingness in time gives me comfort.
 
Powdered Egg

Powdered Egg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
17,070
When you die you return to the collective consciousness. Every one you left on Earth is already there with you the moment you die and onwards because you've reached the end of time.
 
FliX

FliX

Master of the Reality Stone
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
9,872
Metro Detroit
It doesn't bother me one bit. It's the natural conclusion of my life on this green oblong spheroid.
 
Foffy

Foffy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,380
Not really, because when we define "eternal oblivion" we are defining it as something we experience.

What, or whom, gets sapped into the void? Is this just a product of thought?
 
electricblue

electricblue

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,991
"Why should I fear death?
If I am, then death is not.
If Death is, then I am not.
Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?"
 
darthkarki

darthkarki

Banned
Feb 28, 2019
129
It certainly would, if that were the case. Life would be entirely pointless. Thankfully that's not what happens. :)
 
Alice

Alice

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
5,867
<shrug> If I'm dead, my consciousness ends. If my consciousness ends, there's nothing I can be bothered by. Can't even really consider death an inconvenience, things just stop.
 
takriel

takriel

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,221
I mean, it would scare me if we were somehow conscious during eternal oblivion. Otherwise? No.
 
Threadkular

Threadkular

Member
Dec 29, 2017
2,416
that White Christmas episode of Black Mirror which gave a peek into infinite existence terrified me so much that I definitely prefer an alternative.
 
sgtnosboss

sgtnosboss

Member
Nov 9, 2017
4,786
DongBeetle said:
From what we know, the likeliest outcome of death is nonexistence. We are biological computers and without our brain, there is nothing to process reality with. That being said, does it scare you, make you sad or embolden you to do more with your life? I used to be pretty freaked out by it but I've come to terms with it. Your story has a beginning and an end, things would be meaningless otherwise
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
yes, it freaks me out more than depresses though
 
Soj

Soj

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,703
It does, but then I imagine an endless void in which I'm fully aware.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.