Exactly, what happens when you get older and realize that you haven't actually DONE anything.
You will die and no one will actually blink an eye. YOU may have had great experiences, but if you have no one with to share them, after you die they are gone.
Start a great company? How many of the web 2.0 companies people are starting actually will change people's lives?
In eight generations time, about 200 years, your offspring will have 256 ancestors to learn about.
Do you really think they will bother if you have no other achievements other than having kids? How much do you know about your ancestors from the 1800s? How much do you know about the greatest scientests from the 1800s?
Immortality doesn't come from your children. For most of us we don't have a shot at it at all, of course. But as we will be dead I doubt we will care.
I said nothing of immortality, I said of SHARING. When I was 12-14 I used to go play golf with my grandfather and he would tell me stories of his time in WWII, or working on the nuclear tests after the war. My other grandfather used to take us out on his boat. Neither will be remembered in 200 years, but they both had a lot of fun sharing their stories with their grand kids.
As for immortaility, I don't care to get my name in a history book, but I do want to leave my mark on the world. I want to CHANGE something. One of my grandfathers was a doctor and started a hospital in Guatemala. Which do you think has had more positive effect on the world? One of you guys comes us with a web 2.0 startup selling advertisements, makes 10 million dollars for yourself, has no kids, and then the site dies after 5 years, you die 50 years later. Or the guy who never made a huge amount of money, but started a hospital? His name may not be remembered, but his contribution has an effect on people everyday.
1) You can share stories with lots of people other than grand kids. Try having a wife, friends, or a blog.
2) Guy who makes 10 million and donates 1 of it probably has more positive effect on the world. I'm not sure what the going rate on a Guatemalan hospital is, but sure it's less than that.
3) One living startup founder is by far the biggest philanthropist of all time, and has raised and begun to deploy an amount of charity money that could probably double the number of hospitals in the world and still have 3/4 of its funds left. He'll likely do more to wipe out malaria than all of humanity has up to this point.
Nice subtle racism. "I'm not sure what the going rate on a Guatemalan hospital is, but I'm sure it's less than [1 million dollars]". A million dollars barely buys you an MRI machine - which would cost the same no matter where you are since it is an international market. A million dollars doesn't build a building, even if you think Mexico is cheaper, it is not 1/500th of the price.
Preceded by "try having .. a blog". Yes, the father/son connection and the blog/reader connection are definitely comparable. I see your point, and will now sever family ties in favor of blogging.
And then you site Bill Gates - as if that is a typical startup founder. Not even sure what that has to do with anything.
I'm pretty glad Jonas Salk's forebears didn't share your opinions on "immortality". Fortunately, yours is one of the rare misapprehensions that self-corrects. ;)
In a bit of stereotypical geekery, anyone remember the star trek episode where they pick up the fighter pilot when they go to the past, and realize they can't keep him because he's sort of a nobody, but his kid will be someone very important?
YOU may have had great experiences, but if you have no one with to share them, after you die they are gone.
Shall I introduce you to the phenomena known as "writing" and "publishing"? No, wait! I see you've already discovered them for yourself!
There are also concepts like "teaching", "friendship", "neighborliness", and "public service" that you might like to explore. If you die without kids and "nobody blinks an eye"... it's not because you didn't have kids.
You will die and no one will actually blink an eye. YOU may have had great experiences, but if you have no one with to share them, after you die they are gone.
Start a great company? How many of the web 2.0 companies people are starting actually will change people's lives?