Would you become immortal, if you had the choice?

Why do you assume that "after a certain amount of time all your memory will go"? There's nothing to indicate that this would be so.

over time your memory fades right. the longer away the memory, the more harder it is to recall. you have less childhood memories than you do say memories of just this past year. use that formula and over a much much much longer time your oldest memories will fade more and more.

Reasonable

That's not always true, iknow. I've known some "old" people -- my mother, for example, who died at age 76 -- who, later in life, have vivid memories of childhood events but have trouble remembering what they had for lunch that day or which movie they saw last night. Memory is a tricky thing. Some things get "imprinted" in our memories from a very early age and come back unexpectedly. I realize this more and more as I get older.

oops almost banged into JL.. LOL
Yes I would like immortality as long as I had all my limbs and health
for eternity, as for memory, I can hardly remember last week let alone centuries beforehand and besides I could always make new memories...
but then the planet would have to still exist as well, I dont think I would like to just float about in space either....yep there are pros and cons to immortality as well.

you still remember MORE of recent events. (say, your grandma will remember more of her last year than one of her childhood years, get the pciture?) take that and expand it over a longer period of time, and the further back the time period the less you will remember from it. very simple math. you can't live forever you'll just be living ovcer and over and over.

immortality, heh a subject of fasination to many people. I will choose immortality, why let a gift go to a waste eh?

But if this really were to happen many people's reactions would be different, if god came and asked you "Do you want to be immortal?" would you honestly reply "no". This question is similar to "Would you take 30 billion dollars if you won it" many people say "no, too much money would mean unhapiness". But really dosent every human want to experince the unexpierenced? isnt there too much curiosity in everyone?

i would jump at thought of taking immortality, like many people i would think "lets worry about later things later, i got infinte time to think of how to not be immortal when im ready to die." we always have a sense of hope that there is always a different route to reaching a goal.

I would say yes to immortality if it means that I don't HAVE to die, or that I could die when I choose to. But I would say a resounding NO, if immortality means that I can't die, that I would never die no matter what happens to the rest of the universe.

No, I wouldn't. I have no interest in living on forever.
When my time is up, I would like to have lived my life
to its fullest extend without any regrets and unresolved
issues. That would be bliss enough.

Exactly!

Personally, I am afraid of death but then I do not want to live forever. I also believe in re-incarnation but the world that will be the home of my next life -- if there is one -- will be a horrible, dead place.

daur wrote....
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.

Maybe the question needs clarification.
Are we being asked if we would like to be immortal as we are or if we would like to be immortal if that immortality meant being better then we are now. Christians believe in an everlasting transformed life.

aurorell -- You're right about Christian belief in an everlasting life that is transformed. I never thought about it in the context of immortality before. In Catholic School, I always thought the idea of standing around with the souls of the saved adoring the triune Godhead sounded boring. In college, a theologian said heaven might be the thing exactly suited to the individual -- playing baseketball for hours, discussing science with Galilleo and Darwin (both will be in heaven), listening to Bach play, debating with Acquinas.

Becoming immortal
I would Love to become immortal and become smarter than I'am right now which is pretty smart. I think that it would be cool to live for thousands and thousands of years. Well if anyone feels the same way leave me a message and I'll get back to you.

Immortality
Or if you become Immortal you could be here on earth for the great battle between Heaven and Hell. My question which side would you pick on I'm Heaven's side forever and ever. I see immortals later I got go.

From the Eastern (esp. zen buddhist) perspective, your True Self IS immortal. Your fear of death is your ego's fear of oblivion. Your ego is an illusion (actually a delusion), and as such so is the basis of your fear of death. You and I are the eternal Reality but our view of that is eclipsed by our perception of ego/self.
Ergo, the question of this thread makes philosophical sense only with reference to the Western (esp. the Abrahamic religious and Descartian epistemological) perspective.

If immortal means that you cannot die of old age, but can die of infections, diseases, by your own hand, the hand of others, or by accident, then I don't see the choice being all that exceptional. My suspicions are that the majority of people die from a disease, illness, accident or homicide. I would suspect very few die from actual old age so would it really be worthwhile to be given the gift of immortality? I would rather be presented with a 'get-out-of-death-free' card, so that if I suffer an untimely death in an accident, murder or by disease that I can 're-instate' myself and continue living another wee while until something else gets me. Of course that, in itself, creates a whole host of other problems ... what if I was a murderer, sentenced to death, and I brought myself back to life after they injected me? Would they have to kill me twice to be sure I don't come back? Who keeps track of the people who have used up a life and are on their second go-round?

Heeven is right. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that we are, in fact, immortal. But the majority of us -- nearly all of us -- commit unwitting suicide via our lifestyles. This slow suicidal journey starts very early in life, abetted by ignorant parents. Most of the things that we do, which eventually lead to death, are irreversible. In fact, nobody needs to die until they are quite ready to. But, then, that again would be suicide.

Actually, a writer once suggested a way in which we all are immortal: that when we die, nature recycles our cosmic dust and it ends up making another person. The idea this writer had -- don't ask for a link, the piece was written about 30 years ago -- was that the atoms that made Shakespeare probably came together about six times in the history of homo sapiens.

I don't accept that, however, because I think coffins do a lot to limit the recycling of cosmic dust.

Yup definitely, if, as you say, I can kill myself if I get bored.

I would use my immortality to become extremely knowledgeable. I would also use it to become extremely rich. I would try out different religions. I would use my extreme wealth to become the puppeteer of mankind. I would create many research centres for science and create new technology. I would solve the worlds solvable problems.