Quote Originally Posted by Tacitus View Post
Considering we all seem to be in at least the most basic philosophical mood, I have a question to pose to you delightful people: How important is being remembered to you? Specifically post-death rememberance. Assuming it is important, is being remembered by those you love enough or is being remembered in a historically significant manner a form of imortallity?

I'm in my philosophical mood, also known as my "too much time on his hands" mood.
Being remembered isn't all that important to me really, BUT I get the feeling a lot of people will remember me for some time. If not as an individual than as a part of a crazy ass group. Just for a generation or two as it's more infamy than anything else...

As for the second part, I'll say no. I feel there will be a time when no-one is left on the Earth, and the Earth itself may be destroyed at some stage. To this extent I'd think we'd all die from this world eventually including the memories of us people and history books hold, regardless if the world ends from a meteor or two smashing it in the right places, severe volcanic activity, some sort of biblical apocalypse, a combination of these things, or any other thing.

And in other ways, regardless of our beliefs we will always exist. If you're religious you may believe in immortality in some way, perhaps in another state (my personal beliefs), if you aren't you may come to realise that there's only so much our matter can break down. We'll become parts of other creatures and perhaps other people.
A small example: Dude dies, scavengers eat parts of him up, some scavengers and corpse bits get broken down by plants, and eaten by bigger creatures, which in turn get eaten by bigger creatures and so on, up to the vegetables we eat, and the meat we eat. Parts of us will become parts of other beings or just the landscape. If you think about it, we're made up of other plants, creatures and perhaps people. And depending on how the cycle works and where everything goes, we may even have little bits inside us that were once dinosaurs and the like.

Science class was good for daydreaming...