http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=never-say-die

I did disagree with one part. I think that no-consciousness can be simulated by imagining the universe before you existed. That's what happened while you were not technically dead, but definitely not conscious, either. Furthermore, anytime you imagine the future, you are simulating death. There is no guarantee you will be alive at any point in the future, and thus, any time forward thoughts are simulations of non-existence.*

I can support my wild claims. Just because you do not exist does not mean that time ceases to flow. This is obvious.

But this is how I actually picture my life. It may seem contradictory. My life consists of a very long period of non-existence, an infinitesimal period of existence, and then another very long period of non-existence. From the now outdated "Big Bang" to just prior to my conception, I did not exist. Thus, that period of time can be called my non-existence. That period of time is followed by an infinitesimal disturbance, known as existence, which is then followed by another period of non-existence. It's important to understand that the lengths of time are not known. Eventually, the infinitesimal length can be known, but only by others.

EDIT:

  *This is obviously a problem, and maybe even a paradox. Any time forward thought in which you picture yourself is not a simulation of non-existence. This is similar to having the ability to picture yourself in the past, which is different from the past in which you did not exist.

Agnostic kitteh sees no evidence of Ceiling Cat...

*Sigh* Why try so hard to convince us that God or the afterlife don't exist if they don't exist, then...?

Your fear is not that of death, it is a fear that you will live forever...

It's merely my solipsistic squanderings. It's, um, supposed to be amusing.

Ahh, okay. For a second there, you had me convinced you've been suffering from a long-running case of manic depression...

its those damn spiders...

I'm not sure what manic depression is, but I have had depression. It's not difficult to understand why, either. One of the problems with being depressed is that you don't try to understand why at the time. Since I read a lot, I found an interesting answer. When I was younger, up until my early twenties, a great bulk of my time was spent outdoors. And even earlier, before age 12, a lot of time was spent very close to the soil or in wooded areas (none of which exist anymore). Researchers have found a bacterium in soil called Mycobacterium vaccae, which is now known to alleviate depression. (It can be used to treat depression.) My reasoning assumes that humans will become depressed if they remain inside for too long and avoid "dirty" places, such as wooded areas. I never experienced depression prior to the age of 24. In my mid twenties, I noticed I was thinking about suicide, but I didn't let it bother me, nor did I attempt to determine why. I went through a period of time where it disappeared, but it came back at age 28. I invented a term to explain how it felt - norgasm. An orgasm is a very pleasurable feeling and a norgasm is the opposite.

My depression correlates perfectly with my chorological (fancy way of talking about 'place') behavior. Spending time indoors seems to be a trigger mechanism for depression. If I spend an entire day outside, I notice that my mood improves considerably. But now I can stay inside and not be depressed. What's trickiness am I up to? It's called vitamin D. I take 4,000 IUs of vitamin D per day (recommended amount for males). Lack of vitamin D, or lack of time under the sun, can also cause depression. The light in your house is not a reasonable substitute for sunlight. This is because it, along with the light emitted by tanning salon lights, does not produce the type of UV radiation that your skin converts into vitamin D. Vitamin D is actually made in the skin and it is not possible to receive toxic amounts (above 40,000 IU) from sunlight. This is because your skin eventually burns, which shuts down vitamin D production. It is extremely difficult to get a sufficient amount of vitamin D from food sources, such as milk (all of which has vitamin D, even those not advertised as such). The problem with trying to obtain vitamin D from pills or food sources is that it takes a while for your body to make it. It is instantly processed by your skin, but takes a long time through ingestion, as the kidneys and liver have to deal with it first. But vitamin D is also fat soluble, which means your body can store it.

I normally don't care for your rants, but you definitely deserve a cookie for this one.

are you saying the forest is dirtier than the city?!? (unless you're referring literally to the volume of dirt/soil). That sounds like Adrian Monk.

for me the forest is the perfect escape from the clutter of the city, the traffic, the GDMFN airplanes. its the perfect rush, and at the same time the perfect level of peacefulness...

I'm actually referring to the healthy bacteria that strengthens immune systems and prevents asthma, as well as depression. When we were younger, we were often told to clean the dirt off our shoes - don't track that stuff in the house. That horrible dirt we try so hard to keep out of our homes and work buildings is good for us.

  Our current society is still a couple of cans short of a six pack. We're not much more advanced than the Romans in terms of understanding what is healthy and what is not. It's fine that we have these nice houses to live in, but we didn't evolve in houses.

I told a girl at work about norgasms and her interpretation was definitely entertaining. She stubbed her toe and told me she was having a norgasm.