by Andrew Stark
self: abandonment of, 55–63; alienation from (see self-alienation); authentic (see authentic self); biographical information about, 133–34; changes over time of (see under time); components of, 227; continuity of, 66–68, 176–77, 189, 252–53n6; creation of, 94; death’s relationship with, 2–3, 46; detached view of, 59; different parts of, 26; distinctive personality and, 176; earlier versions of, 159–60; existentialist view of, 71, 77; factors in, 161–64; as illusion, 3, 61, 230; invisibility of, 78; life vs., 45, 57–58; as mental construct, 52, 66; metaphors for, 158–61, 166, 167, 168; movement through time of (see under time); nonexistence of (see no-self); Parfit concept of, 66, 94–95; possibilities for, 92–93; presence of, 101; singularity of, 75–76, 77, 176
self-aggrandizing, 59, 60
self-alienation, 159, 170, 177, 178, 180, 181, 189, 192, 252–53n6; avoidance of, 182; flow vs., 186; perpetual, 159
self-consciousness, 186–87
self-effacement, 58–69
selflessness, 57–58, 64
self-love, 60
self-reference, 58–60
Seneca, 32–33, 50
sexual experiences, 177–80, 183, 213; erotic memories of, 106–7. See also romance
Shakespeare, William: Hamlet, 199; King Lear, 215; Romeo and Juliet, 259n3
Shaw, George Bernard, Back to Methuselah, 192
Shawmut, Herschel (fictional), 151
Shelley, Percy Bysshe: “Death,” 215; “Ozymandias,” 141–42, 250n13
ship planks metaphor, 158, 159, 160, 161, 166, 167
Shtigo, Srin (fictional), 257n17
Signoret, Simone, 169
silence, 108, 109, 197, 198–99, 259n3
Silverstein, Harry, “The Evil of Death,” 235–36n24
Simpsons, The (TV program), 46–47
Singh, Vijay, 62
singularity, 70–78, 127, 135, 205
Sisyphus (mythical), 201
Sixteen Candles (film), 115
sleep, 197–200, 201
Sloane, Everett, 75
Smith, Zadie, White Teeth, 172
Socrates, 47
Solon, 34, 37
Sorensen, Roy, 255–56n10
soul, 138–39
sound. See silence
sour-grape strategy, 238n18
Spacks, Patricia Meyer, Boredom, 154
spatial nostalgia, 169, 172–73, 174; temporal nostalgia vs., 173
sports titles, 32, 37–38, 39, 40, 224; jersey retiring and, 99–100, 105–6, 108
Stanfield, Robert, 113–14
Stanley, Paul, 87
statues, 94, 95, 105, 108, 109, 141, 219, 220, 221
Stendhal, 151
Stewart, Jimmy, 76, 77, 208
Stewart, Martha, 58
Stillman, Whit, Metropolitan, 222
Stoics, 43–45
Streep, Meryl, 39
Stumm, General (fictional), 126–27
Styron, William, 199
Styx (rock band), 86
subjective consciousness. See consciousness
successes. See accomplishments
suffering, 220, 221
suicide, 191, 192, 193
supercomputer, 204, 205, 211
superconsciousness. See cosmic consciousness
superintelligence, 186, 187, 204, 204–5, 207
Sylvanshine, Claude (fictional), 164–65, 166
Szatera, Ludwik (fictional), 262n15
Tabler, John, 86
Tantalus (mythical), 201
teletransportation, 63–66, 68–69, 242–43n32
Templeton Foundation Immortality Project, 207
temporality. See time
temporal nostalgia, 168–69, 172–74, 175
“temporary” death, 154
terrifying incidents, 254, 255n9
That Championship Season (J. Miller), 32–33, 37, 39, 48, 49–50, 73, 94
Theseus, ship of, 158, 167
Third Eye Blind (rock band), 38
Thomas, Dylan, 197–98
thoughts: as defining self, 167; higher-level of, 102; immortal boredom and, 166, 170; time and, 161–63, 168, 171
Tillich, Paul, 71, 74
time: day-to-day approach to, 161–63; as dimension, 235–36n24; events in, 90, 254–56nn9–10; flow and, 186, 188; given moment in, 47–48; loss and, 214–15, 217; movement through, 16–18, 30, 118–19, 132, 180, 202, 219–21, 224–30, 231, 232, 252n6; nostalgia and, 168–69, 172–74, 175; ordinary understanding of, 246n42; packing events into, 255–56n10; “quick days” and, 184; self’s relationship with, 28–31, 46, 91–93, 94–95, 159–63, 168, 189; slowing down of, 182, 254–55n9; speeding up of, 183–85, 188–89; stopping in, 219, 220, 221, 228, 229; transience and, 223–24. See also immortality
timelessness. See eternity
titles, 38, 39, 40–41
Tolstoy, Leo: Croesus and Fate, 34; The Death of Ivan Ilych (see Ivan Ilych)
torpor, 151
Townsend, Tom (fictional), 222
transience, 223–24
trophies, 32, 224
Trudeau, Margaret, 209
Trudeau, Pierre, 113–14, 209
Turgenev, Ivan, Diary of a Superfluous Man, 13–14
Unamuno, 135
unconscious memories, 102, 103, 247n19
unconsciousness, 205, 208
unhappiness, 34, 35, 37, 191, 236–37n7
universal mind. See cosmic consciousness
unknowns, 126–32
Updike, John, 213; Rabbit at Rest, 106, 107
U.S. Open, 40
Vaillant, George, 114, 115
Vancouver Mounties (baseball team), 136
Van Tricasse family (fictional), 167–68
Vashti, Queen (biblical), 106, 107
Velleman, J. David, 45–46, 94, 220–21, 239n25; “So It Goes,” 25–28, 29, 30
Verne, Jules, Dr. Ox’s Experiment, 167–68
veterans’ license plates, 133–34
Vinge, Vernor, 204
vivid experiences, 74–75, 77–78, 139
Wallace, David Foster, 151, 156, 187; Pale King, 164–65, 166
Walsh, Peter (fictional), 217, 218
Washington Post, 169–70
Wegner, Daniel, 206–7; “Don’t Fear the Cybermind,” 207
Weidenfeld, George, 15
“We’ll Be Together Again” (song), 215
West, Kanye, 41–42
White, Carol J., 92
White, Edmund, 31
White Spot (hamburger chain), 134, 136
Wilde, Oscar, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 88, 219, 220, 221, 229
Williams, Bernard, 158–59, 160, 165–66, 168
Winehouse, Amy, 85
Wirtz, Derrick, 236–37n7
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 104
Woods, Tiger, 62
Woolf, Virginia, Mrs. Dalloway, 217, 218
world-weariness, 154
wrapping things up, 15–17, 22
Yang Zili, 185
yearning, 42, 43, 44, 45, 66; for immortality, 133; spatial-temporal, 170, 171, 172
Zarathustra (fictional), 81, 83
Zelazny, Roger, The Immortal, 257n17
