[Icarus]

(01-22-2014 02:23 AM)RawGod Wrote:  

Legacy is BS. Many who left a wonderful legacy were miserable, like Van Gogh.

Of course, as it usually happens, you only remember the extreme cases. However, for every "troubled artist" like van Gogh, there were 100 men who left wonderful legacies in the form of:

1) Human capital: starting a family is a startup whose returns are human capital. If you marry a low-IQ slut with ADHD and spawn subhuman trash, your startup failed. If you marry a high-IQ, beautiful woman who was raised properly, and if your children are intelligent, beautiful, confident, happy... then your startup produced excellent human capital. If you don't want to procreate, then make a load of money and start a foundation, and award scholarships to talented kids in an area that interests you, and take pride in their achievements (which were possible thanks to your funding). Easier said than done, obviously.

2) Intellectual capital: near the end of their lives, Einstein and Feynman said that their approaching deaths did not bother them, as they had taught others all they knew, which meant that their ideas would live on. Go to a library, check the Physics section, and you realize they were right. Of course, not everyone can be an übermensch of Feynman's caliber, but you can try to do something great and create ideas that will outlive you.

If we are here today it is because our ancestors left a legacy. You don't have to be remembered 200 years from now to have a legacy. Remember that humans 200 years from now won't materialize out of thin air, they have to be birthed and raised.