Why do people want to be immortal?

[GigaHz]

I'd prefer the exact opposite.

I'd like an extremely painful, slow, undignified death whenever it may happen.

My views are, if you're about to die, you might as well ride whatever sensations your body can experience before you cease into non-existence. After all, there's no coming back from death.

 

[lionrwal]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

 

[loc978]

*snip

And there was a law stating that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. Yet that has been disrpoven.
Furthermore, my point is not to argue that this "universe" will eventually "die". There are other "universes" out there, formed from other big bangs. An infinite amount of them, that are continually generated. There is no "end" to something like the Universe, it will keep fluxating. Science has advanced exponentially in these last 100 years, where do you think we will be in 100 million years? At a stage neither one of us can understand, and we will have a greater understanding of the universal laws.

If you ever do get the chance to gain immortality, send it to me? Please? Seems like you don't know what to do with it.

If I got immortality I'd be happy to send it to you because that's not how I want to live. And regardless of whether the Universe will end, the Earth will get destroyed, and so will any planet humans inhabit at that time, and you will still be left drifting in space.

Not if I am leading humanity to another artificial world. Earth doesn't really matter, but i guess with the technology we will have in a billion years we could move it somewhere else. Or take it with us as a museum piece.
Look, I believe in humanity. I believe in our awesomeness. And I want to be a part of that for as long as possible. We have an amazing capacity for survival, no matter what the challenges, so I firmly believe that with several million years of research we can overcome any problem. If i were an immortal I would not allow myself to end up stranded and alone. And I don't think humanity will allow itself to end up like that anyways. We just have to get by these next 2to 3 thousand years without killing each other. After that we'll be able to outlive our big bang cluster.

I believe in humanity as much as you do. But the Universe is going to end or come to a great big halt, and everything but you will end, leaving you drifting around in space.

You don't know there isn't a way to preserve matter through that any more than I know there is. Don't discount sci-fi outside of your premise as impossible, that's rather disingenuous (plus, theories about the creation and destruction of the universe aren't exactly loaded with first-hand evidence... we could be very, very wrong about that).

 

[Delsana]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

 

[Denamic]

Because death sucks.
I don't like death.

 

[lionrwal]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

 

[SD-Fiend]

in the way of becoming a legend yes

 

[Delsana]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

Constant monitoring of the body through blood channels and veins, recycling of oxygen and purification / cleaning upkeep of the organs such as lungs, liver, kidney, heart and the like, ability to target and analyze for problems via an indexing system that categorizes problematic information and attacks it separately from the body, ability to breach the blood-brain barrier and target anything attacking the brain, and the ability to rebuild damage through protein chains, stem-cell implementation / stretching, and other expected advancements. They could feasibly reinforce muscle tissue and organs with organic technology such as nano-carbon sheathes or enhancements inside or around them.

 

[lionrwal]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

Constant monitoring of the body through blood channels and veins, recycling of oxygen and purification / cleaning upkeep of the organs such as lungs, liver, kidney, heart and the like, ability to target and analyze for problems via an indexing system that categorizes problematic information and attacks it separately from the body, ability to breach the blood-brain barrier and target anything attacking the brain, and the ability to rebuild damage through protein chains, stem-cell implementation / stretching, and other expected advancements. They could feasibly reinforce muscle tissue and organs with organic technology such as nano-carbon sheathes or enhancements inside or around them.

And eventually they will run out of protein or stem cells or any nutrients. Simple logic. No matter can be created or destroyed.

 

[Yopaz]

you'd get to be the chronicler of the human history, how is that not awesome?

You get to live when our resources are depleted, you get to live in a world where shortage of every rare metal causes the civilization to collapse. You get to see the world slowly running out of phosphor and thus the ability to create the membrane that surrounds every living cell would disappear.
Being immortal would basically mean you'd get a long time alone on a planet with no living organisms. How is that awesome?

 

[boyvirgo666]

i would enjoy pointing and laughing as all of existence burned.

 

[Delsana]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

Constant monitoring of the body through blood channels and veins, recycling of oxygen and purification / cleaning upkeep of the organs such as lungs, liver, kidney, heart and the like, ability to target and analyze for problems via an indexing system that categorizes problematic information and attacks it separately from the body, ability to breach the blood-brain barrier and target anything attacking the brain, and the ability to rebuild damage through protein chains, stem-cell implementation / stretching, and other expected advancements. They could feasibly reinforce muscle tissue and organs with organic technology such as nano-carbon sheathes or enhancements inside or around them.

And eventually they will run out of protein or stem cells or any nutrients. Simple logic. No matter can be created or destroyed.

Well that's not true. The real law is that no matter can be created or destroyed barring certain circumstances. That much has been pretty evident.

You can easily fix that issue with constant injections every few years, or having a surplus or giving them means to use the basic nutrients from food to create that. A lot of options.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Dying blows. Immortality? Less so. I mean the logical argument to make is that the Universe is infinitely diverse enough that there will always be something left to learn. The other rationale is that between life and death, it is better to live.

Death is nothing. You're done, you're gone, you're extant no longer in any meaningful capacity. Life? Well, you still get top see, touch, taste, smell, and hear. Which means that at any period in your life you are far more than when you are dead.

So that's why immortality would be awesome. Sure it would suck at some moment,s but you have an eternity to get over them.

 

[Deleted]

I want to be immortal so I would have time to play all the video games I can't right now. I wouldn't feel rushed, you know?

you would procrastinate for years and then one day before you know it, video games are illegal and you will never finish those games!

 

[lionrwal]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

Constant monitoring of the body through blood channels and veins, recycling of oxygen and purification / cleaning upkeep of the organs such as lungs, liver, kidney, heart and the like, ability to target and analyze for problems via an indexing system that categorizes problematic information and attacks it separately from the body, ability to breach the blood-brain barrier and target anything attacking the brain, and the ability to rebuild damage through protein chains, stem-cell implementation / stretching, and other expected advancements. They could feasibly reinforce muscle tissue and organs with organic technology such as nano-carbon sheathes or enhancements inside or around them.

And eventually they will run out of protein or stem cells or any nutrients. Simple logic. No matter can be created or destroyed.

Well that's not true. The real law is that no matter can be created or destroyed barring certain circumstances. That much has been pretty evident.

You can easily fix that issue with constant injections every few years, or having a surplus or giving them means to use the basic nutrients from food to create that. A lot of options.

And under which circumstances has matter been created or destroyed? I'd like to know.
Besides, my point is the Earth will run out of those materials, and so will the next planet we live on. And if humans become dependent on nanomachines, it will be a catastrophe if the make a mistake or stop working.

 

[dead.juice]

I wouldn't mind immortality.
I have to accept that even without immortality that my loved ones will die some day, and that leaves everyone else. I like everyone else in general, but I'm not a people-person.
I'd be in it for the experience, wisdom and knowledge. I'd have so many years to learn everything, it's a dream come true. I'd probably go a little loopy and lose myself in studying everything, and then after I learned as much as I could, I'd probably want to kill myself due to the emptiness of it all at that point.
But that's when I'd put myself aside and began to help and guide mankind with my wisdom.
Speculation of course, but I'd be willing to give it a try.

 

[shasjas]

im more of a fan of indefinite life. i wont die of aging or disease, but mortal wounds would kill me.
but id have to have someone else to come with me for the ride.

 

[Delsana]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

Constant monitoring of the body through blood channels and veins, recycling of oxygen and purification / cleaning upkeep of the organs such as lungs, liver, kidney, heart and the like, ability to target and analyze for problems via an indexing system that categorizes problematic information and attacks it separately from the body, ability to breach the blood-brain barrier and target anything attacking the brain, and the ability to rebuild damage through protein chains, stem-cell implementation / stretching, and other expected advancements. They could feasibly reinforce muscle tissue and organs with organic technology such as nano-carbon sheathes or enhancements inside or around them.

And eventually they will run out of protein or stem cells or any nutrients. Simple logic. No matter can be created or destroyed.

Well that's not true. The real law is that no matter can be created or destroyed barring certain circumstances. That much has been pretty evident.

You can easily fix that issue with constant injections every few years, or having a surplus or giving them means to use the basic nutrients from food to create that. A lot of options.

And under which circumstances has matter been created or destroyed? I'd like to know.
Besides, my point is the Earth will run out of those materials, and so will the next planet we live on. And if humans become dependent on nanomachines, it will be a catastrophe if the make a mistake or stop working.

These plans would only work for a limited time, eventually someone, something, or some event would render you dead. Perhaps you'd survive a fire and the damage would be repaired, perhaps you'd survive a gunshot and the damage would be repaired, perhaps even survive the deadliest disease, but at some point you will be killed. Maybe by a tornado, maybe by a vacuum, maybe by an explosion, but something SERIOUS will kill you. Your immortality will last for a while though, so use that time well. Be it 10,000 or 100,000 years.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

Simple enough question. Every few days it seems a thread involving immortality comes up and I have to ask, why do some people want to be immortal?
I used to wish to be immortal until I realized that would mean I would have to see the death of everyone I grew close to. I would be cursed to live to see the entirety of the human race go extinct, to see civilization crumble, to experience the pain of the Earth being engulfed by the Sun, then be left floating out in space when the Sun consumes our solar system for all of eternity, helpless.

You're assuming a lot of things, mostly that A) mankind will go extinct B) mankind will go extinct before developing a superior form of space travel C) there is no life in the universe save for mankind and D) there isn't a way for others to gain immortality the same way you did.

Anyway, that's my view on immortality. What say you?

It mostly depends on how my immortality is granted. But even then, I'm not keen on taking immortality if I don't get any other abilities in the package. Immortality alone generally just means that anything that would normally kill me results in a fate worse than death. Buried alive is a pretty standard one, but say you get set upon by a pack of carnivorous predators. You'll be torn to pieces and devoured, yet because immortal means you can never die, you'll get to be alive for the whole ordeal.

Throw in a few extra abilities and maybe I'd take it. I'd much rather be unstoppable in the Juggernaut sense of the term. That has immortality built into it, simply because being unstoppable means that not even death can stop you. Plus, y'know, superhuman strength and stamina, that sort of thing.

 

[lionrwal]

To see if things change... to have a new chance at a better life and to be able to experience what life has to offer entirely. The people who live the worst lives should probably be granted immortality until they've had their shot at a good one.

So people should be immortal until they have a good life, then they lose it? I don't think that counts as immortality.

Because it could quell a lot of our fears.

For instance, I have a fear of losing one of my limbs. Particularly, one (or both) of my arms. If I were immortal - or just invulnerable - then that fear would be gone because I could never lose either.

Note that this is the Baccano style immortality I'm talking about. The one where you can a) live forever and b) when something is cut or removed, it just all comes back to you. Arm chopped off? A few seconds later, all the blood comes back into you and the limb reattaches itself. That would be awesome.

Honestly, I don't want true immortality on this Earth because unless we go somewhere else, the sun is eventually going to explode. And then there's the whole bit about the Heat Death of the Universe/end of the universe in some manner. It would, however, be nice to have the aforementioned Baccano immortality at about 27 years old for a few thousand years, or a million or so, just to see where humanity is going.

And, of course, so I could play all the newest video games at my leisure. Also not needing food would save me a whole lot of money, and not needing sleep would save me a whole lot of my already-considerable time, enabling me to earn more money!

On a final note, everyone should go watch Baccano now, no matter your opinion on anime (Hint: The performances are excellent and the humor isn't bad at all). Genius, that show.

The immortality I'm talking about is that no matter what, you won't die. Every kind of injury normal people have will have the same effect on you, albeit death. If your arm is cut off, it's cut off, and you have to stitch it back on to get it back. Just clearing up any confusion I caused.

That's not immortality, that's not even really being a god, its a hybrid between being a zombie and not aging.

Immortality is when you don't age and don't thus die of age. Barring exotic events, you don't die.

And I specifically said you will never die. You will feel all the pain, but you will never die.

A head shot and decapitation will still kill you, that's the trick about immortality.

Not exactly. Sure, the connection to your body will be cut, but the brain cells still exists, and they are still alive, the can still work. You may be reduced to a single brain cell organism, but you will still be alive.

This is becoming pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

No, the body would shut down, you'd be dead, braincells require numerous things to work, can't work independently and also aren't actually identified as "you", that's a small region smaller than a peanut that's in the brain that houses the "conscience and personality".

If we're allowed to talk about immortality, I don't think realistic depictions of bodily functions really matter anymore. Yes, what you said is true, but if you have the power of immortality, that means you WON'T DIE. Just because something kills regular people does not mean it will kill you. That's why it's called immortality.

If your immortality was based on the immunity to natural death via aging and disease and degradation, that could be explained realistically by micromachine nanites in your blood that attack diseases and infections or viruses. Also, they would clean the organs and purify your blood consistently. If they were advanced and programmed well enough, they could quite easily allow for that. A method to decrease or eliminate aging could feasibly be possible too. So no, you have to think of how things work still since immortality in that sense isn't impossible.

Please explain to me how the nanomachines would be able to rebuild your arm when they are in the blood being poured out of the wound.

Rebuilding an arm could be done with stemcells and other such things but that's not immortality in any sense of the definition for anyone, that's regeneration of limbs.

What the nanites would do would be close off the area, fight off any infection and necrosis of the flesh, and then cauterize it.

Explain how they would keep the several billion brain cells you have alive and in perfect condition please.

Constant monitoring of the body through blood channels and veins, recycling of oxygen and purification / cleaning upkeep of the organs such as lungs, liver, kidney, heart and the like, ability to target and analyze for problems via an indexing system that categorizes problematic information and attacks it separately from the body, ability to breach the blood-brain barrier and target anything attacking the brain, and the ability to rebuild damage through protein chains, stem-cell implementation / stretching, and other expected advancements. They could feasibly reinforce muscle tissue and organs with organic technology such as nano-carbon sheathes or enhancements inside or around them.

And eventually they will run out of protein or stem cells or any nutrients. Simple logic. No matter can be created or destroyed.

Well that's not true. The real law is that no matter can be created or destroyed barring certain circumstances. That much has been pretty evident.

You can easily fix that issue with constant injections every few years, or having a surplus or giving them means to use the basic nutrients from food to create that. A lot of options.

And under which circumstances has matter been created or destroyed? I'd like to know.
Besides, my point is the Earth will run out of those materials, and so will the next planet we live on. And if humans become dependent on nanomachines, it will be a catastrophe if the make a mistake or stop working.

These plans would only work for a limited time, eventually someone, something, or some event would render you dead. Perhaps you'd survive a fire and the damage would be repaired, perhaps you'd survive a gunshot and the damage would be repaired, perhaps even survive the deadliest disease, but at some point you will be killed. Maybe by a tornado, maybe by a vacuum, maybe by an explosion, but something SERIOUS will kill you. Your immortality will last for a while though, so use that time well. Be it 10,000 or 100,000 years.

Then that's not immortality is it?