>So the meaningfulness of his life seems to have been an unanswered question
>at the time of his death. How is this possible? -- In other words it seems
>that either posthumous fame has no bearing on the meaning of one's life or
>that there is some mysterious backward causation taking place whereby
>future events can affect one's present life. Both possibilities seem cou
>nterintuitive...
>
>...so what's the way out of the dilemma? (If I've convinced you that there
>is a dilemma, that is.)
I don't think there is a dilemma because the meaning of a particular
life can change over time. When Mendel died, his life was relatively
meaningless compared to now. I don't think it was predetermined in any
sense that his life would become meaningful decades after his death,
a different set of arbitrary circumstances could have doomed him to
eternal obscurity.
The fact that lives can be given meaning after death helps explain
what I call the Crusader Effect. If someone dies, their grief-stricken
friends and/or relatives are often spurred to go on crusades so that
no-one else dies in the same way. I've seen the local civic gov't.
erect really silly signs saying obvious things like "Don't Jump Over
Railing" on overpasses and "Don't Dive When Water Level Low" at the
end of piers because some idiot killed or maimed themselves and their
respective relatives were seized by the Crusader Effect.
It also helps explains why nations continue to fight wars and waste
lives long after the battle has been lost, so that "our sons shall
not have died in vain". People can't stand having their loved ones
die without positive effect (meaning).
-- David McFadzean david@lucifer.com Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/ Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/