Why do people want to be immortal?
- Thread starter lionrwal
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When I was younger it was because I viewed death with absolute horror. A few years ago I sat down and thought about it and now I'm not afraid anymore. I still would enjoy being immortal but for a different reason. I enjoy observing, just watching stuff for no particular reason and with no goal in mind. Nature, people, weather, movies, machinery, ect. I want to see everything up until the very end.
The main point of Immortality is, I feel, twofold:
You can come at it from the perspective of Fear, in which case you want it because you're afraid of death.
Or, you can come at it from the perspective of someone who has realised that some of the most mindblowingly EPIC accomplishments of mankind are probably not going to happen until way after our lifetime, and they want to see it.
I could really go for the latter - I want to see the World of Tomorrow!
You can come at it from the perspective of Fear, in which case you want it because you're afraid of death.
Or, you can come at it from the perspective of someone who has realised that some of the most mindblowingly EPIC accomplishments of mankind are probably not going to happen until way after our lifetime, and they want to see it.
I could really go for the latter - I want to see the World of Tomorrow!
Yeah but dude, think how like all wisdomy and stuff that would make you. You could sit on a mountain and be a legitimate oracle.lionrwal said:
For it's a three part thing.
Part 1, disappointment with the current age. When I was a kid or a teenager in the 80s or 90s we expected the world of the 2010s to be so much more advanced, not just more refined in technology. Where the hell is my hover board!? Where is my manned mission to Mars? Where is the sub-orbital plane that can take me from Melbourne to New York in 3 hours!? So I want to be immortal, or at least age-less, in order to see this damn stuff that was promised to me.
Part 2, plain old Thanatophobia, I just plain find the notion of death terrifying, even after embracing a faith, I still really would rather not.
Part 3, the notion of death as "natural" is insane. If could cure it, we should damn well do so, we've conquered so much in our history that is "natural", anti-septic child birth comes to mind, the idea that human beings should grow old and die, just because it's always been that way is insane.
Part 1, disappointment with the current age. When I was a kid or a teenager in the 80s or 90s we expected the world of the 2010s to be so much more advanced, not just more refined in technology. Where the hell is my hover board!? Where is my manned mission to Mars? Where is the sub-orbital plane that can take me from Melbourne to New York in 3 hours!? So I want to be immortal, or at least age-less, in order to see this damn stuff that was promised to me.
Part 2, plain old Thanatophobia, I just plain find the notion of death terrifying, even after embracing a faith, I still really would rather not.
Part 3, the notion of death as "natural" is insane. If could cure it, we should damn well do so, we've conquered so much in our history that is "natural", anti-septic child birth comes to mind, the idea that human beings should grow old and die, just because it's always been that way is insane.
I never liked the argument that you see your loved ones die makes immortality bad. Over the course of a natural life time all of your loved ones are going to die anyway so regardless of how much time you personally have on Earth it is always important that you make the most of the time you have with them.
Besides there is no way that you can become bored of eternal life if you apply yourself, there is a lot to see and experience not only on Earth but in the universe at large (which is very large, billions of light years across). The only thing that would put a damper in you enjoying the fruits of human civilization forever is if something happened to humanity but hopefully by then you would have found a way to save everyone.
Also just to put things into religious perspective, Christians think that immortality was the original state of humanity and that death is an unnatural thing that came from our sin. Immortality is the way we were meant to be, so there is nothing unnatural about that type of existence, death is the oddity of life.
Besides there is no way that you can become bored of eternal life if you apply yourself, there is a lot to see and experience not only on Earth but in the universe at large (which is very large, billions of light years across). The only thing that would put a damper in you enjoying the fruits of human civilization forever is if something happened to humanity but hopefully by then you would have found a way to save everyone.
Also just to put things into religious perspective, Christians think that immortality was the original state of humanity and that death is an unnatural thing that came from our sin. Immortality is the way we were meant to be, so there is nothing unnatural about that type of existence, death is the oddity of life.
Apparently you don't really understand how immortality works. Let me demonstrate.
And don't tell me I'd get bored. There's probably enough to do on this planet ALONE to last several lifetimes. Just imagine all there is do in the UNIVERSE. And guess what? Even if I DID somehow run out of things to do, since I have unlimited time, I CAN JUST INVENT NEW THINGS TO DO.
People just don't get immortality.
Easy. You spend decades determining what made you immortal, and duplicate it. Assuming your friends have died by now, you can now spend the next several centuries (or as long as it takes) to invent a time machine so you can go back and make them immortal, too. Now, I know what you're thinking: That's a paradox. If I go back in time and make my friends immortal, I won't have a reason to invent time travel anymore, and I won't do it. BUT. Since I understand how the paradox works, my past self will still invent immortality/time travel even after his future self shows up in a time machine, simply because he will understand that a paradox will ensue if he DOESN'T. Anyway, moving on.lionrwal said:
How the hell do you know that? Do we have an expiration date? For all you know, the human race will never go extinct. Why would you just assume that we will?
Again, how do you know?
Is my immortality only active on the planet Earth? Because otherwise, I think I'd rather just LEAVE. Hell, the main problem with long-term space travel (or one of them) is that everyone will die before we get anywhere. But I'm fucking immortal, and so are all my friends and loved ones. Why should we just stick around for the destruction of the planet?
And don't tell me I'd get bored. There's probably enough to do on this planet ALONE to last several lifetimes. Just imagine all there is do in the UNIVERSE. And guess what? Even if I DID somehow run out of things to do, since I have unlimited time, I CAN JUST INVENT NEW THINGS TO DO.
People just don't get immortality.
Well, if someone is immortal he could gain wisdom to help save humanity from, for example, repeating mistakes, or doing other unwise mistakes.
I'll drink to that!Frozen Donkey Wheel2 said:
You can have your silly mortality,I'll be out in the 'verse,exploring it.From the hottest and largest star,to the frozen wastes of a planet-killer asteroid,I will see it all.
While you are on your death bed,contemplating your life,I'll be on the edge of the known universe,pushing ever forward to the boundaries of our very plane of existence.
Living long enough to see civilization crumble and the earth be engulfed is half the fun. Assuming we survive that, eventually I'll live long enough that everyone's immortal, and I don't have to worry about the whole loved ones thing.
Basically, I just want to see what's going to happen. And explore. The exploration will be great.
Basically, I just want to see what's going to happen. And explore. The exploration will be great.
Because frankly nature's brute force engineering sometimes turns out to have massive design flaws.lionrwal said:
People are afraid of death ... not that this makes any logical sense, mind, but still, they are. I expect it's evolutionary: in order to breed and continue the species you have to make an effort to not die before that can happen, so we have an aversion to death in general programmed into us because of that.
I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying, to a degree. I really don't want to go through all the pain and problems that come with getting old and becoming dead. I don't want to lose my sight, hearing, mobility, or memory for no reason other than I didn't die early enough. From that perspective, you could say that I welcome an early death, but not too early because I haven't experienced as much of the world as I would like to. Not that I'd care when I'm dead, but still.
I'd rather not be immortal. However, I think it would be cool to stop aging after a certain point. Like, once you turn 25, your body just continues to be that age for the next fifty or sixty years, and then you die of natural causes. Going off from that, I think it would be absolutely terrible to continue aging, yet also be immortal. Your body would continue to break down forever, and sooner or later you would be left a vegetable, still technically alive but void of any ability to do anything. That would be just horrifying.
I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying, to a degree. I really don't want to go through all the pain and problems that come with getting old and becoming dead. I don't want to lose my sight, hearing, mobility, or memory for no reason other than I didn't die early enough. From that perspective, you could say that I welcome an early death, but not too early because I haven't experienced as much of the world as I would like to. Not that I'd care when I'm dead, but still.
I'd rather not be immortal. However, I think it would be cool to stop aging after a certain point. Like, once you turn 25, your body just continues to be that age for the next fifty or sixty years, and then you die of natural causes. Going off from that, I think it would be absolutely terrible to continue aging, yet also be immortal. Your body would continue to break down forever, and sooner or later you would be left a vegetable, still technically alive but void of any ability to do anything. That would be just horrifying.
With immortality would come a sort of sociopathic disregard for people and their lives. This would develop over time, sure the first few centuries might be a little gut wrenching but once you get past that humanity will be lesser than you and their deaths will be as meaningful to you as the ant you crushed under foot this morning. For an example see Reaver from fable. This in my opinion solves the problem of emotions. However as for the sun exploding I think by the time this happens you would have amassed enough wealth to fund a mass evacuation of earth to a new solar system (i.e the firefly verse) were you could live till that star explodes, rinse and repeat. until the end of time.