On Achieving Immortality

My brain is a miraculous piece of faulty engineering. To put it bluntly (yes the pun is intended) I'm about as sharp as a beachball. My mind ends up working overdrive 24/7 and several times during the day I catch myself saying "Wow! Is that ever brilliant! I should blog this!"

This happens consistently when I am away from the computer. It happens often when time constraints, or the environment prevents me from blogging.

Then, late in the day, when I am sitting at my computer, I open a Blogger window, expecting to write about every subject I had considered over the past day.

But that blank screen staring back at me, seems to cause my imagination to become equally blank. And then I get really pissed off. I managed to use every ounce of creative energy before I could make it to a computer.

I have some mental issues that I cannot adequately explain. But I can do my best within these entries to convey, to the best of my ability, not just what goes on in my attic, but my feelings on my purpose in life.

I am not happy with some of the cards I have been dealt. I think it's unfair that I can expect to live 75 years and accomplish everything I want to in my life. I don't think it's fair that out of those 75 years, a full-third of my time will be spent asleep. I am too ambitious and I have too much to accomplish in my short life. I also think it's unfair that once I depart for the great beyond, my existence will eventually be forgotten. Every brilliant thought of mine, every proof, every fact, every action, and every argument I ever had will disappear. I have been on a mission to achieve greatness for an undisclosed number of years, and I really don't want to think my efforts have been in vain.

Steve Jobs used to tell his employees that their mission, as members of Apple was to make a dent in the Universe. The greatest people that have ever existed have left visible (and metaphorical) marks in every one of us. You don't have to look further than Mohammed, Buddha, or Christ to see the kind of impact a powerful, charismatic, and loving person can have on this world. Philosophers, artists, composers, and scientists throughout history have enjoyed similar admiration, spewing out their "gospel" to the world.

Everyone of these people believed in their craft; as do I. I may be a mere mortal, but I have seen how so many people have managed to cheat death. Oëtzi is likely the oldest human being that we know a considerable amount of. His mummified remains, and his possessions have told us much about prehistoric technology, diet, and even gives speculative insight into prehistoric culture. If you would like to know more about the Iceman, I suggest you read Brenda Fowler's book. Being preserved for many millennia has made Oëtzi achieve a form of immortality. Sure there are remains of hominid species that are millions of years old, but they usually don't tell us (comparatively) a lot of information, especially with respect to primitive culture. One of the most fantastic finds in human evolution were the footprints at Laetoli, which proved that our ancestors have been bipedal for at least 3.5 million years.

Musicians, philosophers, playwrights, and authors have been able to achieve immortality. Scholars have been able to translate and decrypt some of the oldest texts ever found. The Dead Sea Scrolls, for example is likely the oldest translation of the Bible. Conversely, the Rosetta Stone allowed us to decrypt ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Ancient Greek literature, such as Homer, has been translated, allowing us to learn the history of the Greeks.

The great authors and playwrights, Chaucer, Shakespeare, among countless others are still alive in our minds and our hearts. They shall live on through the ages, just as Newton, Einstein and even Darwin will.

But there is a catch. These people will only life on as long as we allow them. This is largely connected to our society, as well as our ability to communicate through spoken and written means. Eventually we will all die off. Eventually, the human race will cease to exist, and everything we have sought to achieve, will be in vain.

The dent we have created in the Universe will eventually close.