It is part of every mans biology that compels him to want to pass on his genes. He wants to pass on his legacy because he knows that his life will end one day. And if he can't pass on his genes, he might feel ... inferior.
This is was Liquid was feeling. Being a clone of the greatest soldier in history, his life was not really his. He was created to be a pure back up to the Big Boss. Liquid, Solid, and Solidus were all cloned and the ability to reproduce was engineered out so that no new copies could be created without the will of the patriots. Not only could they not breed, they were given significantly shorter lifespans. By the time Solid was in his 40's, he had the body of a man well in his 70's or 80's. After Liquid Ocelot's insurrection, Solid only had a few months to a year left to live.
We are all on the verge of death on the genetic level.
In order to break the curse of his heritage, Liquid wanted to create Outer Heaven. A military nation where war was perpetuated and soldiers would always have a place.
Solidus, knowing that his time was limited, wanted to destroy the patriots plan of censorship and go down in history as the man that freed America from tyranny of the patriots. He would be an exon in history. That would be his legacy.
Before the Shadow Moses incident, all Solid wanted to do was raise huskies and compete in dog sledding races. But afterwards, he dedicated his life to destroying nuclear bipedal tanks.
Every man has the urge to want to pass on his genes. If not that, he wants to do something to leave his mark on the world. But I have to think about it more logically. Not passing on genes might make a man feel inferior, but what about the man that does pass on his genes?
His offspring will be there to continue on his name, genes, and bloodline. However, when he dies, his genes will be gone. Once he is dead, his offspring and legacy can do no good for him.
It is for this reason I don't see the need to personally have children. It is for this reason that I want to try to use up as much of my wealth and money before my genes fade away. I'll take this life and enjoy it the way I want to live it.
It's irrational in a strict nihilist sense to care about this world once we're gone. Yet the world belongs to the delusional who care about leaving a legacy.
ReplyDeleteYou write this blog that many people will read. If you cared nothing for legacy, your memetic children, you would not write a blog. For others do not matter since their experience is not yours and they soon will all be dead too.
Genetic children are another part of leaving a legacy, a more sure way to go about it than leaving behind ideas.