Beethoven's Ninth Will Never Be Played Again

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I can't decide whether it be a tragedy that Beethoven's Ninth was supposed to be said, forget all the things we're talking about. He influenced classical music forever, and then influenced pop music and other things forever in all kinds of ways. So maybe it's just a misperception that it feels like a tragedy. But at the same time, there's something really powerful about the idea that a human being created something that was never here before,. And it was lost or never enjoyed again by other people.

Suppose all of humanity was infected by a virus that left us all infertile--no one will come along after us. How would you react to such a world? Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago says she would be filled with despair. But why does this seem worse than our own inevitable deaths? Callard speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the meaning of life, and what exactly about the end of humanity is so demoralizing. The conversation concludes with a discussion of whether humanity is making progress.