Poll: Would you accept immortality?

[Purdy14]

There is a flaw to this story...
The kool aid man does not simple call at your door, he's got to bust down a few walls as an entrance.. So until this flaw is rectified, I don't feel I can immerse myself within this story to come to proper conclusion of whether I would like immortality or not.

 

[Imper1um]

Spoiler

1. Evolution will turn you into a freak: Over thousands of years something better, stronger, faster, and smarter will likely develop from humans, leaving you left behind as a freak.

2. Nobody can ever find out: If you've got immortality then everybody will want it. Governments, CEO's, the masses, you name it. And they don't care what they have to do to get it.

3. You're still getting older (mentally): You will be forced to remember everything that happens over the course of infinity, which your brain just isn't built to do.

4. Time speeds up till you're insane: As time flies by, your different friends, loves, and lives slowly fade from your memory, making 50 years seem relatively equal to a saturday night.

5. You will eventually get trapped there forever: Eventually, you will get trapped in a pile of rubble, or the rest of the human race gets wiped out, and you till be trapped there forever.

1. So? Even if humans did evolve, it would be the minority. We humans are reactionary creatures and would destroy the first thing that was different than us.

2. So? They can't physically harm me. They want to arrest me, but they can't harm me. They try head-butting me with a weapon and I go "ow" and snap their neck (with all of the time I now have to learn different karate styles).

3. Perhaps, but the brain is an amazing thing. We only utilize 5-15% of our brain. What if this causes me to evolve super powers because it has to unlock the other 85% for storage? I imagine about 50% of the storage will be used for boobs, but, that's another story.

4. That is perception. Your brain would remember back a while, but time wouldn't "speed up". Reminiscing would be odd, but actual perception during the present would be constant.

5. Yes, but there is plenty of time. If I get trapped in rubble, I slowly dig my way out. I'm immortal. No need for food, air, and water. Yes, I might finally get "untrapped" about 10 years later, but, it would be amazing when I get out finally.

I would take it.

 

[karloss01]

Only problem with the cracked article is that they make the assumption we'll never encounter another sentient race, never colonise other planets, or integrate technology with our own beings along with a host of other possibilities.

And for that reason I would say yes, I would take to the pill to see where humanity goes. Once space travel is made for the average guy I could go off exploring. When someone integrates computer technology with the human brain I will be able to defrag my brain and/or store it on external devices. The time speeding up may be fixed with technology, just have to wait and see.

As for family and friends I would protect their later generations like a guardian angel, ever watching over them until it is no longer needed. I think the evolution thing wouldn?t drastically noticeable until a couple of million years.


Only problem is getting stuck somewhere, I?d just have to be careful.

Lastly perhaps this kool-aid guy visited some other people from the human race or maybe those scattered among the stars. There is always a chance of that.

EDIT: the brain speed up thing seems be solved by keeping it active. great, i'll learn new languages, skills, research into new technologies. that will keep it going.

EDIT2: also how invulnerable am i? I mean if I throw myself into a volcano will it out-perform the invulnerability or will i be able to got snorkling in lava?

 

[shroomie]

If I stay the same age physically then hell's yeah. But you're explanation is vague, I cannot die at all but when the universe finally ends what happens then? Do I stick around for the new universe? do I die? Am I just left in the cold darkness of pure nothing? If so then fuck that.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

If immortality equals invulnerability, then sure. I'm just fairly suspicious that before the end of the current century, I'd end up regretting my choice. Seeing everyone I know and love die, watching the world change at an increasingly faster pace?

Eh. If I could turn into some sort of dandy-ified esthete, then yeah. Assuming I can cut myself off from everything that's even remotely sucky and spend all of eternity reading books or enjoying fine art. Seeing as the Great Wide World always finds a way to creep back in, though...

Again, I'd probably regret it. So my first impulse is to say Hell yeah, but my more rational brain is being a little bit more, well, rational.

 

[Kris015]

What happens if I eat half of the gummi bear?

 

[Syzygy23]

What kind of hipster douchebag answers no? Seriously? LIVING FOREVER. You could rule the world by default, no questions asked. Could get boring? Did imagination die in the past 5 years and I just haven't noticed it or something? Too much depression on this forum. Lighten ups.

We live in a finite universe. Even imagination has it's limits. Eventually you will have imagined everything there is to imagine. Eventually you will have done everything there is to be done.

And what do you do when the universe dies a heat death/the big rip happens/etc.?

You will be alone in an empty void forever with absolutely nothing as company.

Your face will get stuck in "Forever Alone" mode. FOREVER.

The green kool aid man is clearly the devil, because immortality as described sounds like hell.

 

[Drake666]

[quote="Sandor [The Hound] As for the issue of the government doing anything to get it, well your immortal and can't be harmed and barely feel pain. So fuck em, if they fuck with me, I'll fuck with them and well, only one of us is immortal and invincible.[/quote]

I love the way you see/say it
"You wanna fuck with me, punk ? I've got an eternity to fuck with you, your family, their descendant, etc. So, just don't go there."

:| Creepy :| That could make a great "psychological horror" movie...

 

[Raregolddragon]

Hell yea I love gummi bears.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

All the problems brought up by time in that CRACKED article could be solved by time

 

[ShindoL Shill]

yeah. i read the article and i'd still be cool with it.

 

[Kair]

Accepting immortality is dumb. This question is like asking a child if he wanted to grow up instantly or have claws instead of fingers.

 

[Sansha]

Without a moment's hesitation. I understand the consequences and pitfalls of such a life, but I maintain that I can do a world of good with the time I have - and I have a damn lot of it. I can become an expert in any field, an athlete in any sport and a master of any craft.

More than anything I can be the most reliable and accurate source of history humanity has in the next thousand years. I can tell children what the world was like before neuro-projection online game worlds, radiation-based performance enhancers, teleportation and ultra-porn.

With the limitations posited by the OP, you would not be able to do all of this. Your brain can only store so much information before you simply cant think the way you used to, and time will skew your memories long before then.

I'm happy with going insane and being an immortal legend of death and nightmares.

 

[NastoK]

FFfffffffff.... Dang, there's a really good movie about something like this, but I forgot the name. Aaanyway:

1. I may not age, but I may be mutated. I mean, if there's a gummy bear that can give me immortality and it came from the future, there's certainly something that can keep me up with the times.

2. After a dozen of years I can just move to a different place, not necessarily far away, and after every few dozen of years I could pretend to be my own son.

3. If my body isn't aging, than it's only natural to assume my brain isn't aging either. That said, I don't remember all the bits and pieces of my life, so after 100 or 1000 years there won't be any real reason to remember the things from my earlier life, and they'll fade as I get new experiences.

4. I don't think I'd go insane. Knowing I've got all the time in the universe would pretty much null the whole feeling of time flying by as I've nothing to lose by its passing.

5. Meh, that could be ugly but it's better than not being alive. I simply cannot comprehend death. And who knows, pain being nullified I might be able to wiggle my way out of the rubble, and in case everyone dies it's just a matter of waiting for new life to be born.

So to sum it all up, gimme that candy please!

 

[quantum mechanic]

Hard to say...definitely would if I also got a TARDIS.

 

[cdstephens]

Only if Mr. Cadwallader gave me an escape clause.

Hopefully someone gets this twilight zone reference >_>

 

[The_Waspman]

What happens when the Sun supernovas and engulfs the earth? Also, what if you don't like Gummi Bears? They contain a lot of e-numbers.

Meh, I'd ask him to come back once I've gotten rid of the flab and got my eyes sorted out. I wouldn't want to have to wear glasses for the rest of eternity.

 

[NastoK]

With the limitations posited by the OP, you would not be able to do all of this. Your brain can only store so much information before you simply cant think the way you used to, and time will skew your memories long before then.

If you read the linked article, you'd know they're not so much limitations as they're opinions of the article's writer. Though they are realistic, I just don't buy much into the brain storage one.

 

[Xaio30]

I'd eat it. I'd have an infinity of time to train my memory, and immortality would make me best at everything eventually.

As a side note; Idiocracy. Not evolving works the other way as well.

 

[GoldenDragon14]

I definitely would! It would be really sad having to watch your family and friends growing old and dying, so i would probably be alone forever.... unless there was someone else immortal too! but the amount of knowledge you could gain being immortal, and the things you could achieve, that an ordinary lifespan would not be enough for, would be amazing!! also, if i couldn't die, i would be able to do things that would be fatal to a mortal! freezing myself in liquid nitrogen and setting a computer to wake me up in a couple billion years would be fatal for a normal human, but not for an immortal!! so saying hi to some aliens would be fun! or freak some people out by jumping off a really tall building, and walking away like nothing happened...