--human race-- *life.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I think the reason it says human race is because other animals don't really get famous and remember each other through generations.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

This post is about how we're all just going to be replaced and not remembered. So you've only proven my point.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No other animal even has a chance of being remembered through the generations, which is why it refers to humans. For them, it's a fact of life that they don't think about. For us, it's unlikely that we'll be remembered, which is kind of a disconcerting thought. The fact that we could be remembered but we won't be, I mean.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

How so? I don't find it cold or cynical at all. That's just life.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I said cyclical, not cynical. The word "cold" here is obviously metaphorical, but it just means that there is little hope for any of us to be remembered when you look at the hard statistics.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Keep in mind that most of the people we do remember had done something to be remembered, so it's not really a matter of probability.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

way to go to ruin my day -.-

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I'm kind of just splitting hairs here, but while you may only be able to name a few hundred people, history has documented probably tens of thousands if hundreds of thousands.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

sorry *if NOT hundreds of thousands

by Anonymous 11 years ago

That's why I think the story of Achillies is so cool. That a soldier could be so clever, strong, victorious, and whatever else that his story was remembered for over 2000 years. You call the human race cold for remembering hundreds of people, what should we think of every other species on earth who's members remember between 0 and 3 of their own kind give or take?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I got this statistic from a fiction book, so it might not be true, but apparently there are 14 dead people for every living person. So it would be possible for everyone to be remembered, but some dead people aren't remembered by anyone while others are remembered by tons of people. “There are about fourteen dead people for every living person,” he said. The credits continued rolling. It took a long time to identify all those corpses, I guess. My head was still on his shoulder. “I did some research on this a couple years ago,” Augustus continued. “I was wondering if everybody could be remembered. Like, if we got organized, and assigned a certain number of corpses to each living person, would there be enough living people to remember all the dead people?” “And are there?” “Sure, anyone can name fourteen dead people. But we’re disorganized mourners, so a lot of people end up remembering Shakespeare, and no one ends up remembering the person he wrote Sonnet Fifty-five about.”

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I officially love you for quoting 'The fault in our stars' That book is amazing

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I agree. Congrats on POTD, I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity

by Anonymous 11 years ago

And then after the sun burns out the human race won't be remembered at all. That's just what happens.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No, not at all. We have more opportunity to become famous than ever before. If you are holding a computer right now, there is great opportunity for you. We are no longer all modest farmers and workers. It is no longer that just the LEADERS are recognized.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Not just humans, my friend.

by Anonymous 11 years ago