Immortality, Would you want it?

I'm personally terrified of death.

Sure, if you believe in the afterlife, there is more after the fact, but to some, there is most likely nothing more, you just ceise to exist. Scientifically speaking, that's what I think happens. I would be overjoyed if there was life after death, but it's just not something that seems to make sense to me.

I think of this subject every time I hear about somebody dying, every time I hear of someone crying uncontrolably over the death of their loved one, all the pain and bitter sadness people have to go through over the loss of someone... it's ****ing horrible, and it shouldn't have to happen. So much grief shouldn't have to be so common. The recent deaths of Tim Russert, and now the great George Carlin, have put this subject into my head more often recently, and I wanted to post about it.

Herein lies the question: If you had the choice, and it was proven possible to do, would you choose to exist as an immortal being? What if somebody found a way to have the body sustain itself and never have to worry about anything like heart failure? Or cancer? Or other diseases and conditions that come from the aging of the body? To live for hundreds and hundreds of years without worrying about death aside from outside influences, free from the chains of mortality, free to do everything you enjoy for as long as you want, live for hundreds of years... Would you do it? I sure as hell would. I don't want to die. Ever. I want to keep existing; do everything that makes me happy, and I never want it to stop.

Would you choose when you want to die? Be it 100, 200, or 500 years from now? Or even at all? It's not like you'd be stuck immortal, like a curse you could never break, like in some movies. You could die whenever the hell you wanted. Or if you were so inclined, never at all.

Keep in mind I'm talking about biological immortality. If an outside influence were to occur, such as getting shot or stabbed, there would be nothing anyone could do, like normally. Scientifically, nothing can protect you from having something instantly fatal happen to you, like a gunshot to a vital region. But what if the body could be made to never fail from within?

I've heard a few theories that aging itself is a disease that can be cured. I've read an article once in Scientific American saying that the body's time clock is genetic, and I'm fairly sure that if they can tinker with it the right way, we could unlock radical life extension. Call me a naive Ponce De Leon, but it's something I really look forward to seeing one day. That would be the holy grail of medical science.

What do you say about all this?

This post has been edited by Parakarry on Jun 23 2008, 01:48 AM

If i could still shoot myself in the head when the time comes, sure.

Yeah, pretty much.
Die when YOU want. Or even IF you want.

I'd just get bored if I had it.

I'd get to live forever, but I get to see my family, wife, and kids die. To me, that would be like dieing several times, so I don't think I'd like immortality. I'm just as scared of death as the next guy, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather accept it when it's my time. I don't think I could ever kill myself.

And concerning your theories: if it was made an option to ever become immortal, there'd be overpopulation, a faster consumption rate, and many more dire consequences. Bad idea. There'll be more suffering for the selfish who dont want to die and everyone else alike.

This post has been edited by Pucifur on Jun 23 2008, 02:08 AM

This.

This is how most people should feel.

I mean, really, could you actually kill yourself? You'll also probally be put in government tests, and you'll never know how people would react to a guy who doesn't age.

Yes, and lesser people will make me thier king

this, essentially

My friends discussed this a bunch of times. They said they didn't want immortality because you hurt bad when you're really old.

No, not really. If I was rich and had easy living, then maybe. But even if we could live for a longer period of time, it would just mean more people on the earth, and soon overcrowded areas.(watch soylent green) With overpopulation comes many different forms of social unrest and strain on governmental systems. The amount of money circulated across the globe will have to grow and grow, eventually saturating society to the point where money no longer has any value whatsoever. The earth would just die more rapidly, leaving us to look for another planet to live on, just to ruin that one too.

If you think about it, we'd sound more like viruses attacking planets, feeding off its resources, then abandoning it once we have greedily brought it to waste, just to move to a bigger one. It would be nice, but death is just how life works and a crucial part. And life after death doesn't make sense probably because there is no evidence of it or scientific proof(or can't just comprehend the subject), so that makes it non-existent? well, who knows. Sure, maybe you want to live forever. But then there's many the other billion people who struggle, slave away, are generally unhappy. I guess they too, must live for 500 years in misery. In theory, if we ever decide to have eternal life, we are going to have to rid the world of all problems so it will be equal grounds for everyone. If not, chaos will pursue.

If you believe you will just die and be contained in an black void of nothingness for all eternity, well, I guess I see why you fear death. Also, life will get boring eventually. Doing the same few tasks for a few 100 years will bore anyone. That would seem more like a hell to me. What if another hitler arises in the near future, and an apocalypse occurred. I don't think I want to be tortured and slave away for thousands of years, or suffer that long.With great opportunities comes great disasters.

This post has been edited by kirbyhi5 on Jun 23 2008, 02:24 AM

I'd take immortality in any form.

Especially in Captain Jack Harkness form. That's ****ing badass on all sorts of levels.

But simple biological immortality is fine too I guess.

I want to die in a a glorious burst of indulgence. With women, drugs and food all around me. So yeah I'm personally fine with dying. As long as it isn't too soon of course!

That depends.

I would like to see how things change throughout the ages.

But otherwise, not really. I don't fear death.

To be completely honest I'm ****ing scared of death, but I wouldn't want immortality. It would be cool living longer, but eventually everyone you know would die and you'd be along.
Eventually I would just stay away from people so I wouldn't have to see them die when their time comes.

But what if your relatives never died? And what if we had enough resources to sustain trillions of trillions of people? Then would you want to live forever? Except, this question might be missing the point.

More than biological, please. I want to see the world after it is ravaged by natural disasters no mortal could ever survive.

Immortality... I gave that to the snake.

If I had immortal friends. <: D

I have no fear of death, but I'd still definitely go for the immortality. The tricky part is trying not to let you great great grandchild tell all his friends at school at get you unwanted media attention.

When we start advancing this way in Genetic research (etc) then they'll probably leave it up to chance. No-one will pass up a "cure" for a painful death but immortality is a hard decision.

Well not for me. My survival complex loves me.

And the theory that a single explosion in space created all this does?