Spam and the Afterlife

There is very good reason to think that spam coming to your email addresses will be the longest lasting mark of your existence on this planet. Depressing isn't it?

But think about it: spam emails actually constitute considerable fraction of the interactions of which you are party on a daily basis. More importantly, they are the least discriminate. Spam is sent whether you are there or not, and I'm sure even whether your email address is there or not. Basically, as long as there is an internet in any recognizable form, some computer somewhere is going to be trying to sell you penis enlarging pills (on the bright side, they might just work by then!).

What about other traces? Basically everyone you will know will be dead within 60 years of your own demise. A very small amount of the population will produce any sort of intellectual work that people will care about in 100 years. The number of philosophers, writers, artists, scientists, and so on, that make that kind of mark is small indeed. As for products of physical work: well, buildings and so forth may stand, but they do not have your name on them. They are not about or for you in any way. And of course, you are not going to be rich enough to put your name on any of them. Even if you are, someone else can come along and buy the rights.

So there you have it. Every other mark you leave will fade into the collective cultural memory. The only thing left specific to you will be the spam aimed at your email accounts. So do not lament spam. Do not curse those messages that actually get through your filter. Think of them instead as happy little reminders of the long ranging mark you leave on this world. Think of them as a little taste of the afterlife.

"I'M BORED!"

When I proclaim that I am bored, i do not want it to be merely a self report of my feelings.

I want it to be a call to action (namely, a complete dissolution of the current situation). I want it to be an accusation of those around me of having bored me. I want it to be an indictment of all organizational/cultural/social factors that have brought things to this point. I want it to proclaim a lamentable state of the universe. I want it to assert that some genuine wrong has been done.

I have been working on my delivery to this end. Still, though, no one seems to get the point. No one would tell me to shut up if they really understood all I am saying.