Friends, Funerals and Brain Downloads

Friends and Funerals and Passing the Age of Personal Drama

I’ve noticed recently that the older I get, the less friends I seem to think I have. But in reality, I have more friends than ever. They just don’t call attention to themselves like they used to. Because we are past the age of personal drama, I don’t worry, don’t have to worry, about my friends. They have relatively smooth-running lives. It’s kind of boring but in a nice way. When we were younger, the conflicts were more personal, who-did-what and who was at fault. As we get older, our more pressing conflicts have to do with property tax, health insurance, and saving enough money for a decent retirement. Reminds me of Billy Joel’s song, Angry Young Man: “I believe I’ve passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage. I found that just surviving was a noble fight.”

I know I have a ton of friends because I imagined that I died, and began to count the people at my funeral. It would easily be more than people who will go to my wedding, because I do believe that more people think that I will never die, compared to those who think that I will never get married. But both numbers would be staggering, because people like a good freak show. In either case, the caterers would have to charge extra and they would need folding chairs to accommodate the overflow. Latecomers will have no choice but to eat cold lumpia, no dipping sauce. This makes me smile.

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Really cool article:

CNN: Brain downloads ‘possible by 2050’

If we delete memory chunks like Reality TV, Britney Spears music and the like, we might be able to have this ready by 2040.