On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

Are you joking, or not? I can't tell...

That we all die, shit head!

Haw! It's funny because people that ask questions to find out things they're unsure of really are shitheads!

Wait...no, they're not.

I think you could take the quote at it's more frontal meaning, that everyone dies, but I think in the context of the novel, it means that no matter what you have, how important you are, or [I]think[/I] you are, there is one great equalizer, and that is death. That pretty much the only thing to look forward to for anyone is to die, and all the materialistic crap them means nothing...

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;981547]Haw! It's funny because people that ask questions to find out things they're unsure of really are shitheads!

Wait...no, they're not.[/QUOTE]

I think it's people who ask questions that they already know the answer to that you're referring to. Or no?

[QUOTE=bigshrimpn;981556]I think it's people who ask questions that they already know the answer to that you're referring to. Or no?[/QUOTE]

That may be what the other guy meant by calling him a shit head, I dunno.
I got a problem with jumping over someone that's asking out of genuine curiosity though.

[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;981560]That may be what the other guy meant by calling him a shit head, I dunno.
I got a problem with jumping over someone that's asking out of genuine curiosity though.[/QUOTE]

Me too. But if there has ever been a question that I could not decipher whether the inquirer was been genuine or sarcastic, this was it.

I think I remember him saying in another thread that he's from France and not an expert in the English language. but, yeah, on it's surface it does look like a pretty obvious answer.

I'm from germany, not france.^^

Oh no guys, my question was genuine, sorry if it was missleading.

Thanks to Yossarian42, sounds conclusive. (If anybody else has another idea, i'm open for all of your opionions).

Watched Fight Club and it was so stunning (so i think im going to read the book as well though i usually never read, especially books xD). And now really interested in understanding every detail, hint in the film, it's my favorite film ever together with collateral, training day etc. xD

I called him a shit head because I thought it was funny, nothing more! No offence taken?

[QUOTE=freundchen;981979]I'm from germany, not france.^^

Oh no guys, my question was genuine, sorry if it was missleading.

Thanks to Yossarian42, sounds conclusive. (If anybody else has another idea, i'm open for all of your opionions).

Watched Fight Club and it was so stunning (so i think im going to read the book as well though i usually never read, especially books xD). And now really interested in understanding every detail, hint in the film, it's my favorite film ever together with collateral, training day etc. xD[/QUOTE]

Fight club is a pretty good book...but you should read the other Chuck Books... they are really something. I used to think that Fight club was his best work...and that it can´t be surpassed by his other novels... I WAS REALLY WRONG. Go and get his books...you should find them at least as interesting as fight club.

i've always thought that the quote meant that not only do we die, but on a long enough timeline it was like we never existed at all, and everything that we have done is inconsequential

It is like a math function on an X - Y graph.
The vertical line Y is life expectancy.
The horizontal line X is the time line in years.
As mentioned in previous posts - you eventually die (survival rate = 0%) after a long time.
See the nice graph I created in the attachment.
OK - I was bored at work.

[QUOTE=rachel withers;983696]i've always thought that the quote meant that not only do we die, but on a long enough timeline it was like we never existed at all, and everything that we have done is inconsequential[/QUOTE]

I think you went a little too deep.

[QUOTE=TexasFan;985086]It is like a math function on an X - Y graph.
The vertical line Y is life expectancy.
The horizontal line X is the time line in years.
As mentioned in previous posts - you eventually die (survival rate = 0%) after a long time.
See the nice graph I created in the attachment.
OK - I was bored at work.[/QUOTE]

This cracks me up. Very nice graph. If you ever get bored at work again, try making some Rant timeline graphs. That would be cool.

A buddhist theory that nothing s permenant. related to humans it means everyone diess

its such a buddhist film if you look closely

You serious?

you can take the words survival and zero and put those together. or you can use your brain  a little and realize it means we are all going to die eventually.

you don't have to die if you become part of scientology church! membership now for half of price!

that works.

I'm not sure what I'm answering for, cause I found this while drunk:
There is only so much a person can take...

I hope that was written in properly english.

It means that if you stretch out a timeline to say, 200 years, every person that was alive at the beginning is dead now. Or farther out, the whole human race would have a 0% survival rate, given enough time. It's not that hard to figure out, and definitely not worth bumping a year old thread for.

More succinctly, it means "No one lives forever."

Run with that.

It means that it doesn't matter what kind of clothes we have, or what kind of job we work, or how much money we have, we're all going to end up dead.

In other words:

We are all part of the same compost heap.

ugh. don't do that.

I'm not trying to impersonate Tyler, I'm just trying to make it easier to understand.

Sorry if I sounded like a douche.

I personally find it an inspirational quote. If everyone had it in mind that they are not eternal and this is all they get, they might be more inclined to do what they really want.

"The certain prospect of death could sweeten every life with a precious and fragrant drop of levity-and now you strange apothecary souls have turned it into an ill-tasting drop of poison that makes the whole of life repulsive" - Nietzsche

You're not trying to impersonate Tyler, you're just paraphrasing his character on things that are only tangentially related to understanding the quote at hand. Real slick...

Just be yourself around here, you'll enjoy it more

(not being an ass, just trying to save you from being lumped in as a mindless durden fanboy.)

Whatever, dude. I actually really hate it when people try to sound like him. I quoted him because it sums up what I was trying to explain to the OP well.

Again I'm sorry if I'm not making any sense. People usually misunderstand me when I quote him when I'm in a Fight Club thread, where everybody knows the quote.

i ask about your ironic chozzing stories and no one will join in
but this guy who has not read anything by CP and doesnt like to read? what fuck man
to top it off he doesnt get this quote edward norton like practically explains to you in its entirety
so vot ich van german
he/she is a bit of a schnitzel
peace
and whats the quote splatter my brains and paint the walls red ? is that it?

So literally: at one year of age the survival rate for humans is 90% (just making this up for example). at twenty years of age the survival rate is 70%. At 50 years of age the survival rate is 45%. At 80 years the survival rate is 9%. at 300 years the survival rate is 0% (unless you buy bible bull shit with people living to 900 and something!). Basically the farther you go from today, the smaller the percentage of those of us who are here today will be left.
Everyone dies.
Every dies soon.
nothing lasts...