From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 29 2000 - 18:38:55 MDT
> Exactly, and that's what makes it such a potent symbol. There is IMO
> no more appropriate symbol for the end of the human (biological) era
> than the good old skull. It basically says: "one way or the other,
> biology is finished".
This misses the point in a rather grand way. As Eliezer pointed out,
we have fear impulses in response to skulls; it triggers our "run
away" response. The notion of "prevention of harm" becomes foremost
in our minds. It makes us think "avoid this; avoid this URGENTLY."
You don't want to communicate the notion that "those who view this
T-shirt should avoid the end of biology," if I understand you
correctly. You want to communicate the *inevitability* of the end of
flesh. But a skull necessarily registers an "avoid this" response on
the part of the viewer. So that's not the one you want.
What may perhaps be a consoling thought to many of us, there IS no
symbol for the inevitability of death in Western culture. Death
itself, and dying, has many symbols: the skull, the grave, the coffin,
the funeral dress; they may suggest inevitability if one is in a
thoughtful mood and you happen to think that death is inevitable.
But, so far, there is no symbol which, itself, communicates that
"death will come to you." If there were one, that is the symbol that
you'd want to put on your T-shirt.
-Dan
-unless you love someone-
-nothing else makes any sense-
e.e. cummings
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