We physicists know that a beautiful postulate is more likely to be correct than an ugly one. Why not adopt this Postulate of Eternal Life, at least as a working hypothesis?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality.
Seeing life from an eternal perspective helps us focus our limited mortal energies on the things that matter most.
No matter how correct a mathematical theorem may appear to be, one ought never to be satisfied that there was not something imperfect about it until it also gives the impression of being beautiful.
Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times. And a very small number really.
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.
If we can prove an afterlife, then we have less pressure to make our physical life last forever.
Science has faith. We make postulates. We can't prove those postulates, but we have faith in them.
What I have tried to show is that the scientific attitude implies what I call the postulate of objectivity - that is to say, the fundamental postulate that there is no plan, that there is no intention in the universe.
Life is beautiful because it doesn't last.
I think that there is something beautiful about mortality. It makes our decisions mean more.