Beldarius
Beldarius t1_j1lsrwv wrote
Reply to comment by platitood in This is an excerpt from Cixin Liu's book "The Dark Forest", describing what happens to people when they lose all hope in Humanity by RobleViejo
This is why I enjoy Astrid Lindgren's fairytales so much. Brothers Lionheart features death in a major way, and tries to portray it as a perfectly normal thing that shouldn't be feared (particularly powerful at the end where >!the protagonist jumps off a cliff with his dying brother on his back, and realizes they're going to enter a second afterlife... and he's just excited, yelling "Yes, Jonathan, I can see the light!"!<).
There's also a Finnish fairytale called "The Prince of Shadowland" where the big brother of a boy dies; the boy can't accept it, finds a strange book and after opening it, suddenly finds himself in Shadowland where his brother is the prince. It turns out at the end Shadowland is the afterlife, and the brother sends the boy back to the real world; yet the boy, after his adventure, has matured and accepted the reality his brother is gone. His reaction is basically "I'll join him there one day, but not now... I still have my own life left to live.".
Beldarius t1_j1lrqke wrote
Reply to This is an excerpt from Cixin Liu's book "The Dark Forest", describing what happens to people when they lose all hope in Humanity by RobleViejo
> I don't want anything, because I feel like being happy is selfish when the Human existence is based on destroying the world around us.
There is one thing you can be happy about, though! A few years ago, two NASA scientists reported that there will be a massive solar flare within the next 100 years; this solar flare will destroy all satellites around Earth, bringing down our electric grids, communication networks (including phones and Internet), electronic bank accounts (lol rich people go brrr) and blasting us technologically back to the 19th century.
When that happens, all the wealth of the rich won't help them, all the factories will stop working, all the superficial kids will have to learn how to survive without their social media... and new satellites will likely take decades to send back up. Maybe it'll even be enough time to let the ozone layer and nature heal a little. (I honestly wish I'll be around to see that. Would be fun.)
Beldarius t1_j1ltf98 wrote
Reply to This is an excerpt from Cixin Liu's book "The Dark Forest", describing what happens to people when they lose all hope in Humanity by RobleViejo
This book might not have anything to do with humanity or the future, but never read The Sorrows of Young Werther if you're feeling down.
I'm largely unemotional, but the ending of that book affected even me. Let's just say, it was no wonder it caused a spike in suicides when it was released.