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While on a long drive recently, I was listening to a show on NPR about immortality and time. The one person made a great point about the question: would you really want to live forever? They said, imagine you are now immortal and won't age anymore. Then, count up the scars you have at what ever age you are. Then, how many might you have in a 100 years or a thousand. And, at some point what are the odds you lose a limb or another body part through an accident. After a moment of pondering that, the scientist added, and even if you made it a million.years, how much would have mankind evolved without you, if mankind survived at all. My question to you all is: would any of you wish to be immortal?

Immortality

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Beowulfsfriend 9 Aug 8
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53 comments (26 - 50)

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2

The idea of living long enough for our Sun to grow into a red giant and swallow the Earth really does not appeal.

2

Agree with you that an immortal being would have too many scars and also too many crosses to bear. A never ending life would eventually lose its allure and the urgency with which we live mortal lives. But I would definitely want a long (within 100 years) life that is healthy and reasonably lucky...that is have my dear ones around for all or most of it.

Mimee Level 6 Aug 9, 2020
2

Like nearly everything, there are pros and cons to immortality. Yes, it might get terribly boring doing the same things over and over and the urgency of doing something you really want to do before you die would be gone; you wouldn't have a bucket list. On the other hand, there would be so much to look forward to - new inventions, new discoveries, new places to explore in the universe, always something new to learn about. My vote was for immortality because I believe enough new discoveries would come along to keep life interesting and worthwhile.

2

If it meant I could finally get a jet pack, I'd go a few hundred years!

2

The main reasons I would not want to be immortal, even if my health did not drastically fail or get worse with age, is that I would get really depressed at all my friends dying and leaving me. Secondly, the world keeps getting worse every decade and I would not want to be around to live out a dystopian sci fi story.

2

Positively not! There is a reason we as a species have made progress in as fast a way as we have (can you imagine a person born in the early 1900 seeing the world of computers, cell phones, jet planes and modern cars?). New generations have new ideas. Part of the entire basis of evolution.
Not only that, but we would be even more awash in population than we are, and the planet could not sustain that kind of growth. Just the billions of people inhaling and exhaling would change the planet's climate. In order for that to be viable, there would have to be a total halt to births.

1

My answer is no. heck many days I don't want to live right now... let alone be immortal!! that would be like some kind of personal hell or punishment for me! 😮 :/

1

Whatever it is that makes us immortal would also prevent scars, yes?

Well, the guy on the radio excluded that and disfigurement. For whatever reasons, IDK. Pick your own version. Many would take the immortality with regenerative powers. Imagine when the big crush comes and the universe stops expansion and closes back up again. I know, that is a theory, the Universe may never stop expansion. Either way I won't see it.

@Beowulfsfriend immortality coupled with invulnerability would be perfect but I'd want that for my children also...

scars are the tattoos of a life well lived!

That's what I'd think.

1

I would say yes because there is so much to experience but also because I know I can end my life whenever I want.

1

There is no way that I would want to live forever. I have past scars and am consider myself lucky when compared to others terrible suffering. I hate hearing about or witnessing injustice and the suffering of people or animals. Don't mean to be a pessimist but the older I get the more this saddens me.

AvisG Level 4 Aug 9, 2020
1

Where is the i don't know response?

SCal Level 7 Aug 9, 2020
1

I worked in a nursing home for almost 40 years. I'm glad we come with an expiration date. To see those I love come into my life and die without me being able to go through that aging and death process with them and then losing them. For it to happen over and over as I lived on and kept feeling the loss of all those I loved would be a fate worse than death.

Okay, but what if we all were immortal?

@SCal I guess if everyone was immortal and we were all in the same boat, it would be the norm and I suppose that would be okay.

@SCal So the planet would need a room addition? Who do we hire to get that done? If no one dies then what do we do with those being born? Eat them?

1

Living forever is an incomplete scenario. Will your body not age? Your mind not get clouded? That would have much to do with the decision. As we are now with our aging physicality, no. I've watched quite a few people age, deteriorate and die because as an adopted child, my parents were much older than me. Both my folks passed at 93. It was such a strain on me and others physically, mentally and financially...and I had to make a decision that negatively affected the relationship with my kids...which would have been easier to take if they would have had any quality of life months before the end. They didn't.

My entire adult life I remember my mother bellowing about how she was going to live to 100. When things got bad I asked her about that. She never said yea or nay, but simply that she had no idea it would get this hard. In Colorado, we passed an assisted suicide law, but from listening to the one friend and her parent that wanted to go that route, they were convinced that given how insanely complicated it was, they would have been better off if the sufferer would have taken matters into their own hands. A really really terrifying decision to make, knowing that it would be a violent end...and didn't need to be.

The OP states, "They said, imagine you are now immortal and won't age anymore." I assume"mind cloudiness" is an age-related change.

@JeffMurray I guess immortality would be worth a shot. I mean, if it sucked you could always do the dirty and step out. Immortality would most likely be a nice problem to have.

@Highway-Starr I also don't think that's part of the thought experiment. If you could kill yourself at will, there wouldn't be a downside to weigh against the immortality. Notice the OP says 'immortal' and 'live forever'. Whatever parameters you need to place on it to make those things so, you'd need to use.

1

Hmmmm ... there's constipation and wondering what happens if I get thrown into a mulcher. Do the bits and pieces crawl back together like in the movies? The answer is no. It would pain you a plenty to outlive your grandchildren and their grandchildren. How selfish is that?

1

Conversely, when do you want to die? I think that's a better question

ASAP, this shit is unbearable.

1

I had this exact argument with my buddy about a week ago. He wants to live until the universe reaches heat death. To me it sounds like the worst fucking case of FOMO I've ever heard of. Not only do I not want to live forever, I don't even want to be alive now. If, however, there was an option to be invincible for 5 years then die, I would scoop that deal up in a heartbeat.

I think the people that are saying they want to live forever have not really thought about how agonizing it will be when they're living in the post-life hellscape Earth will become at some point. All alone. For ETERNITY. Not a thousand years alone and unable to die. Not a million years. ETERNITY.

1

I've survived all this time, I can survive the rest, sides I would to see how it all ends.

1

I am 83 years old and satisfied that my existence in any form will end within a few years. I cannot understand why anyone would seek eternal life.

1

To live long enough without any disease, the energetic ability to still do the things I do now, still looking forward to space travel taking me to my next destination of sightseeing and perhaps planet hopping from thereon, hopefully possible. Right now, I look 30, have the energy of one and would love to live a really longer enjoyable life. I cannot say I'm ready to go because I've done and accomplished enough. What is enough? A career, family and financial stability? ...that to me is routine. I wouldn't give up on a longer life that easily, given that I have an adventurous, energetic and curious mind and wish to experience and see much more. I know many Americans haven't even stepped off from their planet (USA)😂. Some haven't even left their state 🙄🤐... and I know that through my travels and having physically spoken to many face-to-face.

1

What are the conditions of immortality? Will it be absolute or can accidents, violence, or the destruction of the earth still kill me?

JimG Level 8 Aug 9, 2020

IDK. The speaker seemed to be saying no illness or death, but bad events could damage you.

@Beowulfsfriend I suppose bad events such as an asteroid or a tsunami which is unavoidable? ...or would it be the case if longevity becomes the in-thing (no illness or death) that scientists could detect and avoid these incidents (asteroid hitting earth and/or tsunamis? ...because by then we could do space travel?

@Beowulfsfriend I think it defeats the point of the thought experiment to say you can be damaged. Who doesn't then take immortality until they feel like throwing themselves into a wood chipper as was suggested earlier.

1

I don’t waste my time with hypotheticals.

guess what. You did. By commenting.

@redhog

You guess what. Immortality is a hypothetical. The post’s words about it are not hypotheticals.

The surrealist Rene Magritte painted a pipe and titled his painting “This is not a pipe”.

1

If the capability of imortality comes to fruition, I imagine regeneration would also be routine. Yes, I would like that opportunity.

1

Being immortal wouldn't be good for many reasons. Every 20 to 25 years you would have to relocate. If you were to have children you would watch them grow old and die. After a few centuries of potentially being everywhere around the world there would be nothing new about any place. I think that boredom and insanity would eventually set in. You'd be wishing for death.

There is a pretty good film based on that - 2007s The Man From Earth.

You wrote, “ If you were to have children you would watch them grow old and die.”

Wouldn’t they also be immortal?

@yvilletom if immortality were genetic, then yes.

0

I do not believe there is immortality, but I would go for it.
Just gotta find a vampire to turn me. A sexy vampire.

0

Sure, why not ? Immortal means you regrow skin, limbs, organs and such - yes ?

TO_BY Level 7 Aug 17, 2020

The guy on the radio dodnt seem to add regeneration.

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