Life is Short

"So many books, so little time."

Frank Zappa, possibly.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

Hunter S. Thompson

There is a stark, terrifying fact I must come to terms with. An idea more mind-rending than Lovecraft's cosmic horror, or quite possibly akin to it; the universe does not exist with the interests of humanity built in. Obviously, I am (and for a long time have been) aware of the lack of human bias in the universe. It's impossible to forget Douglas Adams' Parable of the Puddle (as I am now going to call it):

Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, "This is an interesting world I find myself in — an interesting hole I find myself in — fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!" This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it's still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise.


So all this is pretty clear-cut and acceptable, the consequence of this fact I have not yet accepted - or at least not yet modified my behaviour in light of - is that my own life is very much finite. Life really is hideously short. Is this, in itself, a reason to be passionate and live every moment like it's my last? I don't think so, it seems like a huge reason to prioritise what I want to do so that I can squeeze as much as possible into the time I've got. This certainly doesn't mean I wont be passionate, it doesn't mean I wont skid to a halt at the end of a life well-used and worn-out to loudly proclamation whatever seems fit; it's just I only have a limited amount of time which I want to use to maximum effect, the only question remaining is how...


The men in my family tend to live longer than the women, between 80 and 110 years. Taking into account likely medical advances (and assuming no early discovery of the singularity) I think it's reasonable to expect the reaper at the conservative old age of 91. As I'm 21, this gives me 70 years but I'll take off 10 years for dementia and other such depressing conditions. So that's 60 years to maximise fun and positive impact.


The key areas I want to take (part) in are science, literature, nature, philosophy, politics, history, food, drink and cinema. What I mean by this is that I want to contribute in science and possibly literature, I want to read classic and thought-provoking books, I want to look into the grand canyon, the clear night sky and the aurora, I want a general understanding of most concepts within philosophy and a specific understanding of several areas, I want to understand why the world is in the place it's in politically and where it is advisable to go, I want to be able to cook a lot of different types of food and I want to have eaten most things, I want to have an understanding of various wines, cocktails, beers and spirits, I want to see important and beautiful movies.


I currently have a stack of 50 books in my bedroom plus another 50 on my wishlist. Many of these are introductory texts or the beginnings of series', I can expect maybe another 10 or so per year leaving me at a figure around 700 hundred. So that's about 12 books per year I need to get through. 1 a month seems pretty reasonable.
The philosophy, history and politics are likely to come bound in the the books, so that's a plus. The science should be pretty well crossed off if my career goes well. The cooking plus a little bit of effort, should come with merely fuelling myself. The drinks might take a bit of effort but I'm sure I'll find the time for that (I have done pretty well, so far). The same goes for movies too.


So the last area I need to put some effort into is seeing some of the marvellous sights in nature. Doesn't seem like as much of a challenge as I'd expected it to be although it's probably too much to expect to go into space.