Nothing we do matters, which is very liberating. Coming to that realization makes life so much less stressful.
Conan O'Brien: "Eventually, all our graves go unattended"
- Thread starter BWoog
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Conan is a treasure and that whole interview is a delight. Hopefully the new format breathes life into his show.
One thing is for sure. He is one of the funniest persons alive right now and will always be remembered by me (well, until I die).
That's true. A select tiny number of people have been remembered for thousands of years, people like Jesus Christ and Aristoteles. But even they may not be remembered thousands of years from now, and certainly, most of us alive in the present day, will be long forgotten. 300 years from now, we will have had a plethora of amazing musicians and actors; the superstars who we think will be remembered forever will soon be replaced by someone else.
I think about Clark Gable sometimes, in that I sometimes forget the guy from Gone With The Wind.
Honestly, being forgotten and not mattering is perfectly fine with me. It keeps my ego in check. It's why I don't want a grave or a funeral, and why I don't worry about "legacy".
Honestly, being forgotten and not mattering is perfectly fine with me. It keeps my ego in check. It's why I don't want a grave or a funeral, and why I don't worry about "legacy".
I also think society as a whole is putting their mark on the world. Everything we enjoy and we experience was laid by previous generations. So for me, even if only one thing I do affects a few kids, for example, that experience will affect them down the line, and their experiences and actions affect others.
It's just that no one might know that I had a direct or peripheral influence on some of these people, but something you do likely will have some little affect on something in the world, and it all adds up to affect everyone generation to generation. It's weird to me but also comforting to know it's a shared experience, so it's not like the world will stop for everyone's death except mine. =P
BTW all, his convo he recited with Albert Brooks is really interesting:
I actually thought of that! But technology actually has made it so I can enjoy this old stuff even before I was born, so maybe some stuff will live on for longer. Who knows? Whatever happens happens.
OP
OP
Conan wrote Marge vs. The Monorail and was on Space Ghost. He has a (small) permanent place in my psyche.
Only I may dance.
Honestly, I'll remember that scene alone the rest of my life.
Shit, if we're not off this rock in the next 100 years, it's over.
The species won't survive being here too much longer, and we do have a finite amount of resources to GET us into space... I think about that a lot... what if we develop the capabilities to launch, and then only have enough fuel/resources to get a small amount of us off in a rescue attempt for the species.
We will live on for longer than previous generations. My great great great great great great grandkids are bound to be horrified at old mp4s of me drinking alcohol and chewing on animals.
Man is free. Once you stop caring about dying or failing everything in life becomes much easier.
I'm going to get my vasectomy reversed so that I can have kids and grand kids and tell them about Conan. The legend of Conan will live on!
I mean, their names and vague contributions are remembered. Nobody remembers shit about who they were. Which is arguably worse. They aren't people to us, they're just words.
But I like the phrasing from Conan a lot. Goddamn.
I think Coco is a nice thought! Some people are forgotten, but the holiday is a beautiful one where you really appreciate what came before you in family, including and especially the ones you've never met.
It made me want to do something like that when I have a family and look up my ancestors. If anything has struck me as cooler now, it's that technology has made it significantly easier to preserve things and transfer them, and appreciation for your family's history is also made a lot easier. =)
Well I'll remember him, Conans great.
But when I die I'm pretty sure my kids won't know who the eff he is.
Although that's not to say everyone gets forgotten. Look at all the historical figures from centuries ago that have had movies made about (what we think) their lives
But when I die I'm pretty sure my kids won't know who the eff he is.
Although that's not to say everyone gets forgotten. Look at all the historical figures from centuries ago that have had movies made about (what we think) their lives
An almost unanimous nihilistic attitude in this thread, not surprising lol. Although I don't buy that everyone thinks it's "liberating" or relieving. Most people that say that are susceptible to crippling depression if they actually sit down and dwell on it.
Also Conan is saying this, but because it's largely about show business. And, show business is not exactly going to leave a mark on history. But look at art, literature, history. Countries and society as a whole idolize and preserve the memory of countless extraordinary people that made advances in life as we know it. Ask how many people know Calvin Coolidge compared to those who visited his grave. And likewise, a lack of education might be the reason historical figures are "forgotten" (read: no-one learned or informed themselves about these figures)
Also Conan is saying this, but because it's largely about show business. And, show business is not exactly going to leave a mark on history. But look at art, literature, history. Countries and society as a whole idolize and preserve the memory of countless extraordinary people that made advances in life as we know it. Ask how many people know Calvin Coolidge compared to those who visited his grave. And likewise, a lack of education might be the reason historical figures are "forgotten" (read: no-one learned or informed themselves about these figures)
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It is liberating, and true.
If you want to leave something behind, you can create art, plan trees, make something good for others. Your name will soon be forgotten, but the great work you do will at least endure for a while. The love you give will endure in your children and friends hearts. It won't bother you anyway once your dead, but it is a great feeling nonetheless while you are alive.
Nothing in the Universe is static, even planets and stars and galaxies. I think somehow, the Universe retains all the information in the giant matrix out of time and space, but in a way far remote from what we can understand. We are participating in the evolving Cosmos - while our lives are temporary the Universe is eternal.
If you want to leave something behind, you can create art, plan trees, make something good for others. Your name will soon be forgotten, but the great work you do will at least endure for a while. The love you give will endure in your children and friends hearts. It won't bother you anyway once your dead, but it is a great feeling nonetheless while you are alive.
Nothing in the Universe is static, even planets and stars and galaxies. I think somehow, the Universe retains all the information in the giant matrix out of time and space, but in a way far remote from what we can understand. We are participating in the evolving Cosmos - while our lives are temporary the Universe is eternal.
In the grand cosmic scale it's true about everything.
It does make it all the more interesting to me the few people that most people at least know something about. A Julius Caesar or Cleopatra or Jesus or Mohammed.
It does make it all the more interesting to me the few people that most people at least know something about. A Julius Caesar or Cleopatra or Jesus or Mohammed.
Calvin Coolidge is a bad example regardless. His laissez Faire attitude towards the booming US economy is what percipated the global economic collapse of the 1930s, which precipitated the rise of fascism, which precipitated WWII, which precipitated the rise of the Cold War etc. Etc.
Even if you don't know his names, his actions (or inactions) still ripple through our current events. His name is just a curiosity
Even if you don't know his names, his actions (or inactions) still ripple through our current events. His name is just a curiosity
The thing is, I am not convinced that we know as much about these people as we do about those who have written about them
At least donate your organs for ill patients before you die.
It benefits humanity than having a rot body in the grave.
It benefits humanity than having a rot body in the grave.
I know my dad. There's another child my dad had I know nothing about. I met my grand-dad a couple times when I was a baby but remember none of that. I never met my grand-dad. From what I know of my ancestral tree, there's 6 to 8 more generations from just that one branch of my grand-dad's side that not only have I never met, I never heard of, I never even considered. All lived their own lives, all had their own names and faces and identities, all did their own things and had their own struggles, and none of it was ever a thought to me until I randomly looked it up one night to pass the time after a particularly boring day.
There's enough headaches and stressors in life. Try to let go of some of the extra unnecessary ones like worrying about your last name lingering
There's enough headaches and stressors in life. Try to let go of some of the extra unnecessary ones like worrying about your last name lingering
Sometimes I lay awake at night thinking that I'll never be remembered outside of the cluster of friends and family I've accumulated over the years. There will be no wikipedia entry or encyclopedia entry bearing my name.
But in time even Wikipedia and all encyclopedias will cease to exist, so fuck it, I guess.
But in time even Wikipedia and all encyclopedias will cease to exist, so fuck it, I guess.