[Film review] The man from earth: an unnecessary assumption

Lilyan 2021-10-22 14:34:49

Someone asked me: As a philosopher, what do you think of this movie? I first replied: The questions discussed in the movie, and the extent to which they are discussed, are nothing new to a person engaged in the history of ideas. The other party still asked me: What is your opinion? I thought for a while, and answered ta like this: The

ancient Greeks said: "Death is the muse of philosophy." Philosophy starts from the existence of human finiteness. If one does not die, there will be no philosophy, nor will there be Questioning the meaning and value. Therefore, I don't even have any imagination about immortality.
Furthermore, if it is not eternal life, but only to live longer than others, then some basic issues will not change much. You know, length is a relative concept. Even for 14,000 years, it's just a moment for relative eternity. Relative to the average person, I can only say that this length is really impatient to live... If only an individual lives It's extremely long, and it grows beyond the limits of human beings. It actually doesn't make much sense. Because the so-called "experience" is social, a single individual cannot constitute any "experience" (not to mention, even if there is, his "experience" has no meaning to any other person. For example, a person in his seventies or eighties said: Wait until you are my age. It's kind of interesting, but isn't it nonsense for a 14,000-year-old person to say this?) His true life will only stop at around 80 or 90 years old, he will not become more knowledgeable (as the movie says, he will not know more than the most knowledgeable person of this age), nor More wise, in other words, standing at thirty, not confused at forty... After seventy-eight, he will not create a higher realm in isolation. (This truth is actually enough to ask a simple question: both the director and the actor of this movie are human beings just like us, so no matter how advanced the understanding is, you think it will take 14,000 years to live. Can it be obtained?) In the
final analysis, the film only uses this hypothesis to reflect on our limited lives, and this way of reflection, in my opinion, is too dramatic and therefore quite clumsy. To borrow a word from a Western philosopher: I have no need to make such an assumption. And our ancients said it more directly and cheerfully: Being old and not dead is a thief.

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Extended Reading

The Man from Earth quotes

  • Dr. Will Gruber: If I shot you John, you're immortal? Would you survive this?

    John Oldman: I never said I was immortal, just old. I might die. And then you could wonder the rest of your incarcerated life what you shot...

  • Dr. Will Gruber: We will die, you will live. Will you come to my funeral, John.

    Sandy: You've gone too far, John didn't ask to be what he is.

    Dr. Will Gruber: And we did not ask to hear about it...