Episode 207 : Mystery Episode 20

7 Responses to Episode 207 : Mystery Episode 20

1. William says:

   February 26, 2015 at 6:33 pm

   This episode is weird on so many levels. Like, to the extent that I feel like I have to apologize for how weird it is.

   🙁

   Reply
   • themagicaltalkinghat says:

     February 26, 2015 at 8:14 pm

     It is pretty freakishly weird. But we haven’t apologized for the other four years of crazy crap, why start now? 🙂

     Reply
2. Beth says:

   February 28, 2015 at 8:48 am

   I was surprised you didn’t talk more about defining eternity. For example, if it ended with the earth ceasing to exist, I think eventually you would become an evil supervillian who actively worked to destroy the world. It may take several thousand years, but I predict that’s what would happen.

   Reply
   • William says:

     March 2, 2015 at 10:16 am

     How would this happen, if you don’t mind my asking?

     I mean… what would be the process of that transformation?

     It’s a fascinating suggestion…

     Reply
3. jas says:

   March 2, 2015 at 5:50 am

   Interesting conversation.

   I think the question of whether one would want to be immortal is one of those kinds of questions which might involve a category error, that is immortality=more of the same of what we experience now. It might be that it would be different enough, affecting one’s sense of time, how one related to others, etc. that we can’t really conceive of it.

   However, if we’re kind of taking as a given that it’s going to be more of the same, then I think what you guys were talking about divided up for me into two somewhat different scenarios:
   1. Could something happen that would be so horrible that one couldn’t recover from it, even with eternity to recover? And William’s answer was that for him, given enough time, things would get better. ( I think)

   I actually think anything which wiped out all the rest of humanity might not be something that time would take care of because of the social nature of human beings. I think about the effects of solitary confinement–which actually causes brain damage. I sometimes wonder if one of the problems Western society is dealing with now is the effect of social isolation, despite the fact that there are so many of us.

   But maybe William has enough other people in his head that this wouldn’t be a problem. 🙂

   2. The other question which wasn’t quite articulated was–is there something so horrible that you wouldn’t want to have to suffer through it, even is you knew at some future point that things would get better? That’s pretty subjective, but I can imagine some pain that I wouldn’t want to have to live with even if I knew that in several years time (or whatever time amount), I would begin to grieve less.

   Reply
   • William says:

     March 2, 2015 at 10:44 am

     Indeed… there are a lot of people in there!

     After millions of years I’d still be having novel conversations with you, Jaz, even if you weren’t physically there to have them with me! 🙂

     But of course, as you know, no one asserts the essential social nature of human beings more than I do. And as we discussed outliving the Solar System or being buried alone in a tomb, those points came up in my head, though I didn’t take the time to mention them. To me the conversation became less about what it would be like to be immortal/whether or not one ought to decide to become immortal and more about one’s outlook on life. An optimist (like myself and like Tony is sometimes) will likely accentuate the opportunities and minimize the risks. A pessimist (like Tony is sometimes) will likely minimize the opportunities and accentuate the risks. And a person who sticks with the reality of how unknown and unknowable the consequences are (like I imagine Tony is most of the time and like you, Jaz, seem to be — and, note, Tony and I both acknowledged this reality) will either suggest the question is fundamentally unanswerable or, if they feel pressed to answer, will assert that one might as well flip a coin to decide.

     Expanding on those points a bit… I don’t think any of these approaches is more rational, logical, or in any way better than the other. Or worse, for that matter. Nor do I think a person who’s optimistic, say, about immortality is necessarily going to be optimistic about every other question. The immortality question isn’t a personality test! 🙂 But the question does seem more interesting to me in what it reveals about the person answering rather than in what it might reveal about the nature of immortality (fundamentally unknowable) or how one might arrive at a “correct” answer to an offer of immortality.

     But that’s just my opinion. 🙂

     Reply
4. Mark says:

   April 9, 2015 at 8:58 pm

   If there are multiple alternate universe hosts of The Magical Talking Hat; does that also mean there are multiple alternate universe listeners? Could there all goatee wearing audiences? All female audiences? Audiences that are deaf, but some how still manage to leave comments on that alternate universe version’s blog?

   Immortality has always struck me as a bad idea. An incredibly long lifespan, assuming your body never gets worse (and can get better), seems like a better option. Though I suppose if you were immortal with the option of dying when you want that would work too.

   Reply