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QUESTION Would You Opt for Immortality? - Quillette

The idea of living forever, in fact, is not such a radical idea when you consider the fact that the vast majority of people already believe that they will do so in the next life. Since the late 1990s Gallup has consistently found that between 72 and 83 percent of Americans believe in heaven. Globally, rates of belief in heaven in other countries typically lag behind those found in America, but they are nonetheless robust. So powerful and pervasive are such convictions that even a third of agnostics and atheists proclaim belief in an afterlife. Say what? A 2014 survey conducted by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture on 15,738 Americans between the ages of 18 and 60 found that *[13.2 percent identify as atheist or agnostic, and 32 percent of those answered in the affirmative to the question:] “Do you think there is life, or some sort of conscious existence, after death?”

zblaze 7 Mar 9
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54 comments

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1

I could get into immortality as long as I didn't have to live in South Dakota.

14

Yes,oops, I thought you said immorality.

12

Fuck yeah, I'd choose immortality. I'm pretty sure I'd never run out of things to do.

me too, I never have enough time. Also, I might be immortal....until proven otherwise.

12

No I want to die when its my time to go - I am not in touch with my society I feel it gets worse and worse by the day, ready to go any time.

Hey don't say that

I am an accredited Person -Centred Counsellor, this last 30 years - and I am 70 years old and have never before seen the like of what is happening in the U.K. I am in my right mind thanks; and am seriously ready to go, any time (I am not talking suicide here) I am just ready.

@WhiteChocolate Why on earth not ? As I said I am not talking about suicide just want out of all this craziness - I don't fear death it may come when it likes. I night yet live to be a hundred but I am not crazy about that idea either

@jacpod When I say to my family that I am old and do not have much more time here, they reply, "oh granddaddy, you will live to be 100" and I reply "god, I hope not".

@jlynn37 my mom used to tell me she didn't want to live to 100. I always said, "Tell me that when you're 99". Well she made it to 93

@jacpod This all brings up a pet peeve of mine as a therapist. This field has increasingly turned to the medical model. Sociology has lots it's significance. If someone is depressed or having anxiety, well it is all just seen as clinical. What about society? Maybe the problem is, at least partly due to the person's environment. I know a big part of the change is due to pharmaceutical companies. They are making a killing on psych meds.

@Rudy1962 I am totally with you on this one; here we have six weeks of CBT and guess what! bingo you're cured!

My counsellor tutor was a lovely man who likened the process to walking round and round a swimming pool being with the client at every step whilst they put in a toe and withdrew and always being a gentle presence, versus the guy who takes you up in an aeroplane and drops you out in the deep sea and you say "boy that guy was great he sure taught me how to swim. and the one who had the swimming pool said "I learned how to swim all by my self!"

9

I don't believe in any afterlife, there's nothing to support the idea. As for immortality, I wouldn't want it. Death is inevitable. Anything that might prevent it, in favor of immortality, is more than likely to backfire spectacularly, and have numerous unintended consequences.

The obvious consequence would be that we will overpopulate the planet even more rapidly and to a much more devastating level. That would lead to habitat destruction and extinction for most other animals and inevitably wars for rapidly dwindling resources. Immortality doesn't sound desirable to me either.

8

I would not. Especially groveling at the feet of a god forever.

6

A quote comes to mind: "The same people who want to live forever don't know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon." Living forever, to me, is not a pleasant prospect. As I've gotten older, my health has slowly gone downhill. I can just imagine how bad it would get in, say, another 50 years. The idea of spending eternity bedridden in a nursing home does not appeal to me. The immortality that Mark Twain has does appeal to me. Having something I've done survive after me; having my ideas discussed, argued over, and enjoyed sounds far more workable.

I wouldn’t want to grow older forever. But I’d consider it if I could stay young and healthy forever

6

I would not unless I could choose to end it.

5

It's all about the quality of life. There's way worse things than dying and they all eventually lead to death, at least currently. But if I can continue to learn and laugh and fuck and bring joy and comfort to those around me then yeah, sign me up. Onward forever.

4

No, I only want my fair share, preferably not in pain, then happily pop my clogs and let the next generation have their turn.

Kimba Level 7 Mar 9, 2018
4

The only immortality is in the legacy that we leave behind.

3

I would rather have the choice of when to die instead of being unable to die.

3

Nope, the sheer lenghth of immortality would drive people to extreme decadence...

Or boredom !

3

Sometimes I think I would like to live forever, but other times I think, "oh hell no. I'm already getting tired."

3

I wouldn't. Imagine how boring it would get. No, I'm happy in the knowledge that I'll eventually pop my clogs.

3

No! And, I have no understanding of why a person would even want to live forever.

3

No way, I want to die, only not before I achieved what I am expected to. Its the responsibilities we have, that make us fear death... Will not want to die before finishing my responsibilities as a son, husband brother father and ofcourse as a human. .. Beyond that I don't want to live. But I am not a fool to believe that I will be successful in it. Moreover, immortality also causes a problem. Earth may not be able to handle that much of life on it.

3

I figure it's just lights out. My conscience existence has spanned it's lifetime and is over. I wouldn't mind sticking around for awhile though; there's lots to learn and experience. Especially to see how far technology reaches over the next two hundred years or so.

Go John??

@ashortbeauty LMAAO

3

Yah I would. Assuming its on earth and its just me other people aren't immortal. I'm not above saying I'd act like I was a god. Do some fun crimes. Drink blood if its a vampire kinda immortality. That'd be neat. Oooh, or as a black-mirror / soma esque computer consciousness that can be downloaded into robots. Basically anything thats not heaveny cloud shenanigens.

What if you're immortal but your body keeps aging normally lmao

@LadyAlyxandrea that'd be awesome! That means in like 50 years..SKELETOR!!! Edit: Forgot the "Myaaah!"

@Ersomething yaaaaas! But you'd also have to go through a gross decomposition period where you look like crypt keeper

@LadyAlyxandrea I'm okay with that, both for future skeletor and for there being a short period in which I make awful horror-based puns and have a neat laugh.

@Ersomething I like you!

3

I don't believe in heaven, but I do believe in reincarnation---much more fun.

I think it's true, although we do breakdown to basic elements, then recycled into another life form . But actually coming back as a different sentient being is not out of the realm of possibility, think quantum physics.

Reincarnation is just as much a myth as heaven is. Belief in it doesn't make it any more or less probable.

I hope to be reincarnated into a nice fossil. Maybe opalized, on display at a scientific institute or museum. There are different kinds of immortality.

2

I have had dogs all my life. If pressed, I could probably name each one and tell their story. I have seen them all go from gravity defying pups to arthritic old dogs curled in a sunny spot on the ground. Now that I'm 70, I see the exact progress of time in my own body. We are all carbon based life forms and just like the tools in my shed, we wear out. No way in hell I want to extend this process or go back and start over. I'm grateful for this wisdom and curious about what, if anything, comes next.

2

Not an afterlife, I like the idea of downloading my mind into a computer.

2

Well, we're living a lot longer than our ancesters and I suspect another 100 years or so is within reach given modest advances in medical technology. As usual, it will be the privileged who attain the greatest benefit. That aside, it wouldn't take much for us to be able to upload our consciousness to the cloud and have some semblance of ourselves made available indefinitely, though I'm not sure how appealing that would be. I rather enjoy having a body!

1

Define Immortality:

Infinite lifespan but still killable and able to suffer injury, disease and traumatic destruction?

When you become immortal do you do it at your current age and health, or are you "reset" to a perfect version of your self?

Getting it a 80 and in a wheelchair with dementia seems like a curse more than a boon.

Or truly invulnerable, god-like immortality?

If you're immortal but stranded on an island would you feel the starvation and dehydration but never succumb to it?

Being truly immortal and watching the world annihiliate itself around you while knowing you cannot die would seem another curse.

None of that is really appealing to me.
Life is definited by death, and its existence as opposition to the pull of it.

Aging is the curse, the slow wiithering away of all that you once were, the fading of former glories, the inability to move as you once did.

I'd take a finite, mortal life that's free of aging, but not immortality.

1

If I could have immortality in my twenty two year old body I would love it. But the older I get the less I feel it's worth it to hold on beyond my natural lifetime.

1

I would like to live LONGER, that is for sure, but I would not want to live forever. Here is why-first immortality without the immortality of those you love would be AWFUL. I have buried one wife, and one girlfriend. Each experience has taken something out of me I never get back. I have lost both my parents, and several friends. An eternity of grief does not sound very appealing.

Secondly, time is what gives many experiences their VALUE. If something lasts forever, what good is it? It becomes background, it no longer registers. I want to LIVE, and truly living means accepting death. Otherwise, there is no present to be present IN. Every moment is an opportunity to touch timelessness, if you but know how. Our lives would be so much duller if there were no time to fight.

Third, life is full of many sorrows besides death. Disappointment, conflict, unrequited love, growing apart from someone, the constant change of things that have become familiar and comforting to you. Just how many sorrows do you think the human psyche is capable of carrying?

 That it only comes once
Is what makes life so sweet

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