#93 Death Isn’t the Problem. Delay Is.
09 February 2026

#93 Death Isn’t the Problem. Delay Is.

Think First with Jim Detjen

About

We don’t talk about death very clearly.

We whisper about it at funerals…
then scroll past confident voices explaining how to manage it.

This episode started with a conversation on a plane — about a Yale philosophy course taught by Shelly Kagan, and a deceptively simple question:

Why is death bad at all?

From there, we explore the idea that death isn’t frightening because it’s painful — but because it deprives us of future goods. And how modern culture quietly replaces that reality with a more comforting story: that more time automatically means more life.

Along the way, we examine what philosopher Bernard Williams warned about immortality, why “forever” isn’t just more time, and how the Extra-Time Illusion shapes the way we delay conversations, risks, forgiveness, and meaning.

This isn’t a lecture.
It’s not a belief statement.

It’s an invitation to think more carefully about how we spend the time we already assume we have.


Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. #SpotTheGaslight
Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity

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