Death and Useless Humans

[thistlechaser]

Warning: This will probably be the most serious (and personal) post I ever make. (Assuming I go through with this and post it, anyway.) Feel free not to read it.


As I mentioned yesterday, my grandmother (mother's mother) had a stroke. A big one. And a couple of seizures, too. She must be about 85 years old, which can't be helping this at all. Things are pretty bad. I'm no doctor, and I know little about strokes, but I'm thinking such an old woman can't be looking at a very good resolution of all this.

The doctor said she made improvements yesterday (less than 24 hours after it happened). What kind of improvements? Eye contact. That doesn't really seem like much to me...

The timing of this is a little odd. Yesterday I decided to start sending my grandmother money on a monthly basis. There are a couple of reasons for this, including that most of my family (other than mother and sister) aren't well off at all (close to poor? Money is tight, at least). I have more money than I need, so that seemed like the right thing to do.

The second reason for wanting to send her money is the second half of this post's title. I am, in the grander sense, a useless human. I have no kids (and intend not to) and all I do is use up resources on the earth. After I die what will happen? Will there be some impact I leave? Nope. My genes will end with me. I do tech support, something anyone can be trained to do. I run a MUSH, one of thousands of games out there and one which would hardly be remembered a year after it closed. The only thing of importance I have is money, so I try to use that to do some good.

I try to support artists I like, I try to give to free websites which I enjoy, I try to help my family along, I try to give to "the poor" (assorted charities). Does that make me any less useless? I don't think so, but maybe it makes some people feel better in the short-term.

That's about all I can do.

Comments

Not having kids isn't useless

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

In general, the world is massively overpopulated, and the U.S. isn't immune. Overpopulation leads to problems like expensive housing, traffic, unemployment, pollution, and just generally a lower quality of life. It's probably the most serious issue that nobody does anything about.

So, not having kids (and, to a lesser extent, having only one kid) is a very good thing for future generations. People just don't die enough anymore, globally speaking, particularly in childhood. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and we'll fondly remember when it was just L.A. that had that kind of traffic when we were young.

I also think that it's a thing of lasting value to have a positive impact on other people's lives. My life has value if people remember me and think, "My life was better because of knowing him." Conversely, it is a tragedy if people look back and say, "I wish I hadn't known him." That's the benchmark I choose for measuring value.

The vast majority of people are not famous and make no substantial personal change to the world, so that's setting yourself up for failure from the start.

Donating to charities and artists and the like is good - it feeds into my principle rather directly, as you're making these people's lives better!

[mallen.livejournal.com]

You're not useless.

Useless are the people in front of me on the freeway.

Just to keep things in perspective.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

I think the fact that you're even concerned about what positive impact you have on the world and are doing things to help make it better indicates that it's something that you really shouldn't worry about. :) Just keep trying to do your best! I think your attitude is laudable.

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

I'm with Firebyrd on this one.

You once told me (something that has seriously had an impact on my life - hint, hint) that simply because I recognize that I *am* shallow is partially what makes me *not*.

Does this make any sense to you? Useless are the people who don't care that they're useless. These are the people that ignore the rest of the world, care only about themselves, and generally make the world a more miserable place for the rest of us. And on that note, some people aren't useless - they just do more harm than good.

I think that the simple fact that you realize that you are, at least to you, useless only influences the fact that you're not. The fact that you care (and the fact that, no doubt, you'll do even more in order to prove to yourself - the only person you *should* be trying to prove to - that you're not useless) means a lot.

But I sure don't think you're worthless. You can ask me anytime what you've done for *me* alone (not to mention the other MUSHers) and brace for a very spammy reply page.

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

Today's quote brought to you by The Indroduction to Evolutionary Biology FAQ (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-intro-to-biology.html)

In some cases, organisms will completely forgo reproducing and only help their relatives reproduce. Ants, and other eusocial insects, have sterile castes that only serve the queen and assist her reproductive efforts. The sterile workers are reproducing by proxy.

My wife and I are pretty sure we're not having kids. I still consider myself useful. I like helping others, not necessarily by being charitable, but by communicating and being a good friend. I'm very good at communication.

Perhaps there is something you are good at and enjoy and is also helping others? (And yes, tech support counts, as long as you do it well and you do good things for the customer! You can train any dumb stack of proteins about the product, but it takes something special to interact positively with people, empathize, etc.)