I Don't Want to Die Before I Get Certain Things Done That I Want to Do

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"I want a different solution from Chef Lorta's. I think his solution has the pyramid scheme problem," he says. "And so my thought is what if that's the same panic we're feeling on behalf of humanity, that we don't want humanity to die before we finished our project? And when I think about dying before I finish those things, then I feel this kind of panic."

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.