Nope. Why? I am a fairly unstable person if something can get past my bull-headed-ness, and eventually I will lose my cool and fling myself off a building or grab a gun and shoot myself. I'd rather die when I landed or when the bullet goes through my head.
Yes, because if I ever get sick of being immortal, I could just blow myself to smithereens. I think you can, or you just feel the pain of being in tiny bits for eternity? o.O
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Quote from CrockedZodiac »
Wait a second,
9/11/2001
remove the zeroes and you get 21, get rid of the 9 and you have 1121 then add two more twos for luck and..
those are all the numbers needed to make 12/21/12.
oh my gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood
Yes, because if I ever get sick of being immortal, I could just blow myself to smithereens. I think you can, or you just feel the pain of being in tiny bits for eternity? o.O
You wouldn't be in pain, you would just be very spread out.
I honestly reckon I could survive being the last man on Earth, seeing as I'm quite content on being alone. And it would be interesting to see the entire remaining course of our races history.
But if I maintained a youthful appearance, I could simply relocate and start a new life.
How many wives would it take before love becomes a meaningless concept? How could you relate with anyone when you are thousands of years old? People would become but a momentary distraction, a whole lifetime in their eyes would be nothing more that a weekend to you.
By your logic, there's no reason for elderly people to own pets because the short life of an animal would be but a weekend compared to their long life.
I disagree. People do not have the same level of emotional involvement with pets as they do with their significant other. We are also talking about completely different time scales. I doubt you would give a crap about any of your pets if they only lived a day. Remember, your spouse would live to 90 if she's lucky, while you would live eternally. It would seem like your spouse would die every time you blink your eyes.
Quote from OmegaLambda »
I'm assuming I would still be a "normal human" in all capacities except that my mind and body would not age. Memories would still fade with time. I would still have same "short" world view as most people. I would still live in the moment. Whether you live for 1 year or 100 years you always live in the moment. Human relations mean just as much at any attainable age, so I'm assuming they still have the same value at unattainable ages. Asking an immortal what's the point in love is like asking a 13-year-old what's the point of having a girlfriend/boyfriend. Sure, you'll get your heart broken a few times, but is that any reason to stop trying?
While your memories may fade, they do not disappear. You will still have the perspective of having lived for a million years. It's not like a computer where information is deleted when your hard drive is full. But, then again, I'm not an expert in this subject by any stretch. However I feel that the reason the time you spend with your friends and family is special, because you only have a limited time. So, I disagree with your 13-year-old analogy. You say people live in the moment, but for an immortal, what is a moment? A thousand years? A million years? Humans as we know them today began about 250,000 years ago. A long time for a human, sure. But only the tiny fraction of a fraction of the 13 billion year old universe. It's pretty hard to imagine living that long, and what you would be thinking about after a couple million years.
Quote from OmegaLambda »
Sure, after the first couple of lifetimes I would never find someone who was on my level intellectually, but that would be made up for in different ways. The times make the individual. People brought up a few generations after me would have new, interesting ideas. Different sensibilities. Different tastes. Combine this fresh vitality with wisdom and knowledge in a relationship and you have the potential for a complimentary bond.
Here I have to disagree again. Having unlimited time, you would be so far ahead of everyone else, they would all look like idiots. I think it would be incredibly frustrating trying to relate to people having lived for generations.
Also, I am unfamiliar with the fictional characters you mention.
Quote from OmegaLambda »
In all likelihood, I'd eventually tire of the stresses of romance. I'd probably focus more on friends, colleagues, and adopted children (whether literal or figurative). I could teach the highest-level courses. I could invest money over time and draw it out to support higher learning and scientific advancements. I could become more influential a force than Socrates, Thomas Edison, and the Rothschild family put together. These may seem to be several disparate ideas, but the combination of learning, innovation, and economic control could all work toward the same end.
I imagine that with your infinite life span, you could contribute enormously to society. I personally wouldn't adopt children, but I would help to advance science. I would probably take great pleasure in that. Hopefully I could help humans to leave this rock and settle other planets, because if humans were annihilated I wouldn't have any distractions at all. I would be the perfect candidate for space exploration also, as I wouldn't need any kind of life support to live on other planets. I just don't see how I could become attached emotionally to someone when I know they would only live for an infinitely small fraction of my life.
Quote from OmegaLambda »
I fear I'm doing little more than rambling now.
Rambling? Maybe. Speculating? Definitely. But either way, it's good mental exorcise. :smile.gif:
Quote from Rafe »
Why does love have to be a meaningful concept to want to live? Perhaps you would just look at love as a mechanism for human cohesion and see the social commerce in it rather then imbue it with mystical essences and turn it into god like the neoplatonists did. Would that detract from it's usefulness to you ? i don't think so.
Well, that was just an example. Love is a meaningful concept because it drives us to reproduce, which is essential for our species. I don't imbue it with mystical essences at all, in fact I don't believe in supernatural claims. This is despite the fact we are talking about immortality, which is, by it's definition, supernatural. I view love as a mechanism currently, so I don't think that would change if I lived eternally. That is not to say that I don't think love feels good.
Quote from Rafe »
Also many people on earth now view others as a momentary distraction and find joy in other things. Some might cry this is a horrible way to live but those are the same people that stand to benefit something by forcing the happy introvert into a socially awkward position where he's forced to grant his critics greater consideration or care.
I obviously can't speak for you or anybody else, but I don't view my friends and family as momentary distractions. Maybe the activities we partake in, but the people I care for mean more than that. I'm not sure I understand the second part of this point.
Quote from Rafe »
The most likely scenario is government officials would identify your condition as defying all known laws of thermodynamics and you would be taken to a secret lab where you would be harvested as an unlimited source of fuel forever suffering the same fate as Prometheus except your vulture would be scientists.
This is a frightening possibility. But also not too far fetched, in which case, I would hate my immortality.
This is coming from the guy who is horribly afraid of death, who wakes up at night screaming in fear from dreams, no...nightmares he had, and my answer is...no, no I wouldn't. Even though I'm so afraid of death, I wouldn't take up immortality, life is a gift...death is just an inevitable result of it. I wouldn't be able to stand all those of my loved ones dieing around me as I live on, it would be much more painful than that of the end result of death, that which is the ending peace of your life.
If I got the choice to pull my plug at any time, than yes.
Like, a brain in a jar full of nutrient water.
Then I can be an antagonist for some SCI-FI plot by remotely
controlling machinery by hooking myself up to a mainframe!
MWAHAA.
I would never do that. After a few thousands of years i would have nothing to do and would start crying, begging for life to end... But it never would. What is 3000 years with fun and joy compared to an eternity with crying? After a while you would become mentally damaged and turn insane.
It would be better to have a longer lifespan with slower aging, maybe a lifespan of around 1000 years
Just think of all the things you would like to do with your life.
I want to be a programmer, a musician, a construction worker, graphic designer, actor, among other things.
Now think of the time it takes to do each one to a professional level of understanding and comprehension of that occupation.
20, 40, even a hundred years to live even one of these to the fullest.
People only have about 60-70 years, max. You have to choose only one of these things, two if you are lucky.
What if you picked wrong? Well, there goes 20 years of your life. You have now wasted a very large chunk of your life doing something you now realize you don't like. This may not be true in all cases.
Of course I would choose immortality.
And think of the history you would watch happen.
Now you look at life and think "Wow, its really changed since then." which may be several hundred years ago.
If you were to live forever, you could help world leaders learn from the mistakes of the past and create a world in which you would want to live forever in.
You could also watch the technological advancements.
Now, you may think, "Man, what would I do with a whole Terabyte of memory?"
But in 50 years you would think, "Petabytes of memory? That couldn't even hold <insert unimaginable amazing here>"
The universe is infinitely expanding, even if you learn the near-infinite knowledge of this Earth, you could then explore the entire universe, spending eons of your infinite life exploring and improving each one.
tl;dr, yes, yes I would live forever.
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Quote from awsomjosh »
Have you ever seen thore palls off pollen boken up?
But why should we accept death as inevitable? It's not written into the laws of physics
Sure it is, the second law of thermodynamics. Eventually everything will have to die. It doesn't have to be soon, but it will happen after some finite amount of time.
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Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
But why should we accept death as inevitable? It's not written into the laws of physics
Sure it is, the second law of thermodynamics. Eventually everything will have to die. It doesn't have to be soon, but it will happen after some finite amount of time.
Death is a medical component to our inner organs. Which, I might add, has been prevented numerous times in hospitals. Many people have been brought back to life after seconds of death, sometimes even hours.
If we can produce the ability to stop death, why should we not embrace it?
Besides potential ethical issues, there's no reason we shouldn't. I never argued otherwise. I was simply pointing out that your assertion that death isn't written into the laws of physics was wrong. It most certainly is because there is a limit to how much entropy you can shift around. Eventually you're not going to have enough useful energy left to do it anymore. Granted that won't happen any time soon.
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Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
If I didn't I couldn't.
My Pathfinder Campaign for the denizens of MCF: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1939035-where-are-we-sandbox-pathfinder-campaign-ooc/
You wouldn't be in pain, you would just be very spread out.
My Pathfinder Campaign for the denizens of MCF: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1939035-where-are-we-sandbox-pathfinder-campaign-ooc/
My Pathfinder Campaign for the denizens of MCF: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1939035-where-are-we-sandbox-pathfinder-campaign-ooc/
I disagree. People do not have the same level of emotional involvement with pets as they do with their significant other. We are also talking about completely different time scales. I doubt you would give a crap about any of your pets if they only lived a day. Remember, your spouse would live to 90 if she's lucky, while you would live eternally. It would seem like your spouse would die every time you blink your eyes.
While your memories may fade, they do not disappear. You will still have the perspective of having lived for a million years. It's not like a computer where information is deleted when your hard drive is full. But, then again, I'm not an expert in this subject by any stretch. However I feel that the reason the time you spend with your friends and family is special, because you only have a limited time. So, I disagree with your 13-year-old analogy. You say people live in the moment, but for an immortal, what is a moment? A thousand years? A million years? Humans as we know them today began about 250,000 years ago. A long time for a human, sure. But only the tiny fraction of a fraction of the 13 billion year old universe. It's pretty hard to imagine living that long, and what you would be thinking about after a couple million years.
Here I have to disagree again. Having unlimited time, you would be so far ahead of everyone else, they would all look like idiots. I think it would be incredibly frustrating trying to relate to people having lived for generations.
Also, I am unfamiliar with the fictional characters you mention.
I imagine that with your infinite life span, you could contribute enormously to society. I personally wouldn't adopt children, but I would help to advance science. I would probably take great pleasure in that. Hopefully I could help humans to leave this rock and settle other planets, because if humans were annihilated I wouldn't have any distractions at all. I would be the perfect candidate for space exploration also, as I wouldn't need any kind of life support to live on other planets. I just don't see how I could become attached emotionally to someone when I know they would only live for an infinitely small fraction of my life.
Rambling? Maybe. Speculating? Definitely. But either way, it's good mental exorcise. :smile.gif:
Well, that was just an example. Love is a meaningful concept because it drives us to reproduce, which is essential for our species. I don't imbue it with mystical essences at all, in fact I don't believe in supernatural claims. This is despite the fact we are talking about immortality, which is, by it's definition, supernatural. I view love as a mechanism currently, so I don't think that would change if I lived eternally. That is not to say that I don't think love feels good.
I obviously can't speak for you or anybody else, but I don't view my friends and family as momentary distractions. Maybe the activities we partake in, but the people I care for mean more than that. I'm not sure I understand the second part of this point.
This is a frightening possibility. But also not too far fetched, in which case, I would hate my immortality.
Anyway, I think I've gone on long enough.
tl;dr much?
Either way,You're around forever.
Like, a brain in a jar full of nutrient water.
Then I can be an antagonist for some SCI-FI plot by remotely
controlling machinery by hooking myself up to a mainframe!
MWAHAA.
If it is Monday, I'm sorry. I lied.
It would be better to have a longer lifespan with slower aging, maybe a lifespan of around 1000 years
1. If I had to be immortal, I could make myself die peacefully at any point.
2. Reincarnation.
I want to be a programmer, a musician, a construction worker, graphic designer, actor, among other things.
Now think of the time it takes to do each one to a professional level of understanding and comprehension of that occupation.
20, 40, even a hundred years to live even one of these to the fullest.
People only have about 60-70 years, max. You have to choose only one of these things, two if you are lucky.
What if you picked wrong? Well, there goes 20 years of your life. You have now wasted a very large chunk of your life doing something you now realize you don't like. This may not be true in all cases.
Of course I would choose immortality.
And think of the history you would watch happen.
Now you look at life and think "Wow, its really changed since then." which may be several hundred years ago.
If you were to live forever, you could help world leaders learn from the mistakes of the past and create a world in which you would want to live forever in.
You could also watch the technological advancements.
Now, you may think, "Man, what would I do with a whole Terabyte of memory?"
But in 50 years you would think, "Petabytes of memory? That couldn't even hold <insert unimaginable amazing here>"
The universe is infinitely expanding, even if you learn the near-infinite knowledge of this Earth, you could then explore the entire universe, spending eons of your infinite life exploring and improving each one.
tl;dr, yes, yes I would live forever.
yes you would have it all. all that was left
but no one to share it with, all alone, with no one, empty and devoid of life, it would be hell
Sure it is, the second law of thermodynamics. Eventually everything will have to die. It doesn't have to be soon, but it will happen after some finite amount of time.
It depends on you views of life. An anti-social loner such as myself wouldn't find it as bad as it looks like you would.
If it simply means indefinite lifespan (ie; no aging) then sure.
Besides potential ethical issues, there's no reason we shouldn't. I never argued otherwise. I was simply pointing out that your assertion that death isn't written into the laws of physics was wrong. It most certainly is because there is a limit to how much entropy you can shift around. Eventually you're not going to have enough useful energy left to do it anymore. Granted that won't happen any time soon.