It is fun to think about life as it will be 500 years from now. While impossible to speculate with certainty in any direction, it helps lend this perspective to everything: much of what seems important now is nothing.
We are allotted a century, at most, to make of our lives what we will. One hundred brief years in the face of a limitless eternity. This is not a morbid thought, but it is a stark one. The recognition of life’s brevity can restore your sense of what matters. If everything is temporary: your loves, your friendships, your family, your work, humanity itself; how should that influence the way you conduct your life? The answer is that we must try to live well. Scarcity creates value. Life is a precious thing. Therefore, life must be valued and appreciated. In attempting to assign the proper value through our conduct, we earn the right to our own life.