The Mortality Paradox, and Optimizing for Death
One thing that has always fascinated me is that, in general, as people get older, they become more and more risk-averse, more and more set in their ways, and less and less open to change. This makes no sense to me. Every second that ticks by is a second closer to the end meaning in theory, we should me more open to exploration and new experiences in our quest to capture every essence out of life before it’s over. Furthermore, our experiences and learnings in the past should makes us stronger to persevere in any situation, should make us more willing to try and fail, and should make us understand that to get the most out of life we need to get out of our comfort zone. However, all of the empirical evidence suggests the opposite, and I think it is because of the Mortality Paradox.
Coined by Stephen Cave, the Mortality Paradox states that despite all the evidence that death is inevitable, we believe our own death is impossible. Cave has given a TED Talk on this where he talks about the four narratives that we tell ourselves “in order to help us manage the terror of death”, that you can watch here. In the talk, Cave essentially tells us we shouldn’t worry about death, since it’s going to happen anyways, and instead just focus on making our lives a “good story.” I think we should definitely focus on making our lives a “good story”, but I think the best way to do is to have that worry about death in the back of our minds. And this worry should be so present in our minds that we should actively Optimize for Death.
Optimizing for Death is about harnessing this fear of death to push ourselves forward, seizing opportunities and not holding ourselves back. It requires deep introspection where we must determine what we want out of life, and not stopping til you get it. In your decision making process, ask the question “Knowing I am going to die, what should I do?”. By knowing there is an end, and that it will come for me, what should I do to make sure my life is most successful.
I think if we are more willing to acknowledge our mortality, and put it in the forefront, we will be more willing to take chances, more open to new experiences, and better prepare ourselves to live a meaningful life. One that is filled with happiness, seized opportunities, and no regrets.
Carpe Diem
