Our global catastrophic risks are no longer insignificant, and we're seeing in sharp bas relief the tragedy of the commons effect, that people with wealth and power (and control of industry) aren't looking to mitigate the damage they cause, seeking instead to increase their own gains relentlessly.
Beethoven and Beatles and Michelangelo are all in jeopardy of being lost (assuming we don't go extinct within the next few centuries), so I doubt that anything I do will have the same resilience.
There's a point where I realized the human condition may define its own great filter. To get past the ones we're facing now, we'll have to change our polarized attitudes, and to do that, we'll have to invent some sociological tricks we haven't worked out yet. And damn soon.
Maybe the otters will evolve into the next intelligent social species, and maybe they'll be super cute.
Switching from indifference towards my own mortality to embracing it to fearing it to believing I'm immortal (because I haven't died yet) to McDonald's to wasting what limited time I have in this life and back to indifference again.
In all seriousness, though, I'd love to leave something behind, something that can outlive me. An idea, a book, an invention, a song, a photograph, memories in the hearts of my loved ones - anything. When I die and I see my life flash before my eyes - even without the flashing, even if I just realise that this is it and close my eyes -, I don't want to feel shame. I want some kind of pride. I want to be able to look back at my life and tell myself that it wasn't a complete waste. That's all I want.
