Would you become immortal, if you had the choice?

I FEAR that I am inmortal. Been around since the Ice Age.

The bad thing about it is that you lose the concept of urgency. For example, you fall in a well, brake your leg and decide that yelling for help is not worth it. You better wait a few weeks, languishing, until the leg is healed and then, only then, you ask for help.

Hell no! Life is enough of a sticky patch as it is. Why prolong this agony for eternity? That's what hell is for.

Gee! I sound so enthusiatic. hehe Nothing better than one day after another...

Being immortal would mean one's life had no narrative arc. Kind of like a serial story that keeps on going. It would be unsatisfying in terms of plot...

No.

Nice, Dauer. Nice.
I would, at most, prolong my life for a few decades longer than the average person's. This would allow me to gain a unique perspective on life, and would perhaps allow me to pass on any wisdom I might accrue to regular people. Anything longer than that, though, would be unbearable. The essential ingredient in our lives is change, and an immortal can't change. Without the eventual "release" of death, we would never strive for anything greater than ourselves, and would eventually want to die. So, I'd put my aging on hold for maybe 50 years, then re-start it and live out the rest of my life naturally.

Wisdom, baby. It's all about the wisdom. :wink:

Yes.

Of course, another issue here is physical decline. Living to, say, 150 means what? As a 150-year-old? Doesn't sound too appealing. As a 30-year-old with the mind of someone 120 years older? You'd bore your friends to death, I'm sure...

D'Artagnan: I disagree. I don't think age automatically equals boring; I mean, just look at Frank! :wink: <--Compliment, Frank.
I think that all these "crimes of passion" (by which I don't mean just murder) would be eliminated by our just growing up a little. So, in essence, I'm the opposite of Peter Pan.
As far as physicality is concerned, as I said, I'd stop aging around 25-30, then resume again after about 50 years. Hence, I would be an 80-year-old in a 30-year-old's body, but(hopefully) I'd have retained some measure of youthful vitality.

I'd love to live for a few centuries, but I would hate being immortal. Immortality would suck. That's all there is to it. Trapped in an unchanging body.

I used to watch Highlander and Duncan had so many women, but they all died eventually. Even that French chick with the blonde hair died. And his Watcher died. And that immortal friend of his who was a priest. Everybody kept on dying, but he couldn't die because he had to be the last one, the last immortal.

Dauer

I liked Laeknir's answer. It's totally Borges (perhaps even a rip-off).

I can't really understand why anyone would pass the opportunity up.

You could still kill yourself any time you wanted.... if it got THAT boring....

Definition
Immortal
adjective; living or lasting forever.


Adrian, I don't think you could kill yourself. That would defeat its meaning...

I am relatively immortal (materially speaking)...my constituent atoms will survive long enough(excluding the possible complete conversion to energy). As for my consciousness and memories, I am not sufficiently evolved to know their fate or evolution a priori.

From the initial post;



Sounds to me like I could kill myself.....

Not necessarily fatal harm, right?
I see your point though. It would be nice to choose our own fate. But I still think that it wouldn't imply as being immortal...

Either way I'd still jump at the chance. If I got too bored I'd just shoot myself into deep space or go and live in the ocean for a few thousand years. It'd be great.

Taking that in consideration... I think I would too.
But as in living forever... hmm... I'm pretty sure I'd pass. But you never know! I'd be interesting to know what Earth will be like in, let's say, a million years or so. I wonder what species would be living and what some would have evolved into. Maybe go through an Ice age or two...

Not a bad ending
Everything dies.

People die. Your dog will die. Your parents and sisters and friends will all die.

Every plant will, eventually, die. Even buildings die, in a sense, when they fall into dissrepair or crumble.

It isn't a question about whether there is an afterlife or not, that doesn't matter to us here who are living.

The sad thing about death is that it has such a stygma placed on it. It may or may not be the last step in our conscious existance, but it is a step that all things have to take. Its not that we WANT to die. If ever in a place where I had to fight to live, I would claw and bite and do everything I could to live. But if I WERE to die, then that would be just what happens, and I firmly believe that I won't know the difference.

I believe its more the effect you have on those that live. The way you die, and the way your remembered. If your remembered as a man that kicks your dog, well... then thats your legacy.

Wanting to be immortal... to live past your natural/destined/fated time... is only mankinds giving into the fear of change. This is the same reason that religion is so widespread through mans history. All religions give man one thing... eternal/new life, continuously for ever.

That is mans ultimate vanity.

Rabbit: Very nice post. You voiced my thoughts on the subject almost before I could. Death is not that scary, but the prospect of immortality is very tempting for some, and, for me, a few decades of extra time would be a bonus, at least perspective-wise.