Death is not absence. Absence is only with respect to a presence, where there is no presence there can be no absence. You can say yes but, other people I know will be there after I die so they can witness my absence, I say sure, but you're only able to say that because you exist now. See where were going?[/QUOTE
When he said absence, I believe he meant absence of everything which would be present. The absence of conciousness, absence of life, absense of all sense and material. Playing a warped game of semantics won't prove a point.
And who is there to notice that absence? Absence is also perceived by a presence, or, the perceiver, when the perceiver is dead, who is there to notice things like an absence? See, you still can't let go of yourself when you're trying to visualize death...you're cheating, you say you're dead, but not quite because look, you can notice an absence. In death, there is no absence, there is no ab and there is no sence also. There is not even nothing.