In the latest episode of House that I've seen, I think the penultimate, House gives his friend a sedative to give him a taste of "temporary death" and his friend tells him that he has not proven that death is nothingness but that the sedative is nothingness, House says he expected that nothingness is better than something terrible would be the response but not that there would be hopes of a hereafter.
He says in response to his friend telling him that he was unconscious that he had no thoughts, no dreams etc. and now think of that times infinity without the waking up on the couch.
The "experiment" is meant to compell or motivate a further course of chemotherapy to try and seize some more longevity, later when a patient makes a similar life threatening choice House tries to strangle them and says "you are fighting back because of the human responsibility to live".
Now there's a lot to discuss there, for instance the responsibility to live thing and impulsive responses to life threatening stimulus, although what I would like to ask is does anyone else think that the "nothing times infinity" would be a terrible fate? I dont believe so, given that any time I have slept that "deep sleep of the dead" its never been a bad experience, sometimes I dont like waking from it, especially if its waking to stress, strain and demands on me.
Of course I'm a theist and do not believe that this would be perpetual, there is an eventual awakening to new life but that's a different question and I dont think relates directly to this one, it would perhaps be more important if you dreaded that kind of state.
He says in response to his friend telling him that he was unconscious that he had no thoughts, no dreams etc. and now think of that times infinity without the waking up on the couch.
The "experiment" is meant to compell or motivate a further course of chemotherapy to try and seize some more longevity, later when a patient makes a similar life threatening choice House tries to strangle them and says "you are fighting back because of the human responsibility to live".
Now there's a lot to discuss there, for instance the responsibility to live thing and impulsive responses to life threatening stimulus, although what I would like to ask is does anyone else think that the "nothing times infinity" would be a terrible fate? I dont believe so, given that any time I have slept that "deep sleep of the dead" its never been a bad experience, sometimes I dont like waking from it, especially if its waking to stress, strain and demands on me.
Of course I'm a theist and do not believe that this would be perpetual, there is an eventual awakening to new life but that's a different question and I dont think relates directly to this one, it would perhaps be more important if you dreaded that kind of state.