Would You Opt for Immortality Despite the Universe's Limits?

[Evo]

Evo...there are some technical difficulties to be overcome, but if you take them too seriously, no one would answer "yes".

That's my point. Darn optimists!

We're talking about life as it is now, not Utopia.

 

[pace]

But living forever, you've entered an utopia ;)




You're feeling pain when you're body is degenerated somehow or another. Since you'll live forever, I take it that you don't degenerate.
And imagine all the things you could do after a while with your wisdom which you could create and explore. Unlimited things! ))

 

[Smurf]

In a heartbeat, I can't immagine ever getting bored of watching history being created right in front of you, of watching empires rise and fall... so many possibilities.
"The only thing holding me back is time"



I like to compare the 'Living forever would be boring" argument with the "Suicide is for cowards" argument. Both largely based on obscure myths of no apparent origin. Neither make any sense to me.

 

[pace]

I'm sooooooooooo going to rock them in Go when I'm 1346548176548237567845 years old!

 

[Smurf]

lmao. I could do the 'Highlander' thing and keep creating new identities. awsome!

 

[jimmy p]

I would live forever... if I didnt age.

 

[matthyaouw]

I forget how long the sun has 'til it goes red giant, but I'd bet a whole lotta money things would go downhill reasonably fast from there on. my answer therefore is no.

However on the positive side- when the big crunch does/doesnt happen, you could be the only person ever to say "Ha! I knew it!"

 

[Smurf]

i think its something like 6000 million years, if I havn't figured out a way to get out of the solar system by then.. then I deserve whatever is happenin.

 

[Moses]

There's a philosophy called deathism that has this definition
"The set of beliefs and attitudes which glorifies or accepts death and rejects or despises immortality"
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg/d/De-Dh.html
I think that I consider myself a not deathist

Mmmmm...
Well, being not a deathist as well [as you pace, without "intimidating" you ] . However, still say : Do you want to live WITHOUT HONOR, SELF-RESPECT, HAPPINESS...this kind of life wil made me less than a "virus" thus "rest in peace" or "rest in honor is cool"
A peot from my family 1496 years ago says:

Do not let me drink the life-syrup cup in dishonor,
But let me with honor the bitter cup.

BTW: He was an extremely great soldier, and he was slave at the beginning of his life...

 

[Smurf]

Does that accually mean anything?

 

[Alkatran]

Yes

If I get bored I can give myself amnesia (I have forever to figure out how...)

Wait, are we immune to mental defects? Physical defects? ...

 

[Smurf]

even if we are i think we'd be able to find a way around it after the first few millenia

 

[puf_the_majic_dragon]

i plan to live forever, of course. but barring that i'd settle for a few thousand years. even 500 would be pretty nice.
- from the game Alpha Centauri (wonderful game :) )

if i did live forever, i expect it would get pretty boring.. i'd prolly have to create a planet full of people who didn't listen to me...

yes i do think living forever would get boring... sure you can watch empires and dynasties rise and fall, but in the end they're all the same.. "it's just another empire, who gives a #$%^&?" not to mention the pain of watching those you love die. fall in love, live one normal lifetime with them and watch them go... after once or twice of that i'd have to become a hermit.

but one thing that would never get boring... the sunrise. i would never get tired of watching a beautiful mountain sunrise or sunset. i'd just wish i had someone living forever with me to enjoy it with.

 

[franznietzsche]

I'd live forever only if i got god powers to go along with it. That would cure boredom quickly enough. After all Life is God's COmedy Central.

Barring that, i guess i'd settle for living forever if i get to spend it on an islamd surrounded by a polynesian race of gorgeous women, with no other men to turn to when they get posessed by "urges."


Otherwise living forever would really just suck, for all of the aforementioned reasons.

 

[pace]

I never ever get bored. I don't understand the bored principle anymore. I've got soo much things I want to do, and should do. I NEED to live forever!

 

[franznietzsche]

I never ever get bored. I don't understand the bored principle anymore. I've got soo much things I want to do, and should do. I NEED to live forever!

Existence would get boring after a while. Too manystupid mortals making the same mistakes over and over again. Buts it not their fault, that's just how they were raised...

 

[Smurf]

I don't get it, everyone seems to think that life won't change and that 'history will repeat its self' over and over and over again without change. I'm facinated by the future, I will never seize being facinated by the new discoveries of our race. There's so much I don't know, I don't think I'll ever know everything, I don't think I'll ever get bored.
If you get bored of living forever its not because life gets boring, its because you get boring.

 

[Moses]

The "rate pf receiving ,comprehencing, memrizing infotmation" is far far less the the "rate of increasing of informations in the existence" thus who want to live forever ,I gurantee you forever that you will never get bored because of "repeativity"

Put you may live a "hech as hell" life.. and...ohhh ..you know the rest..

Personally, i believe in the after life that will be forever, but not in this "universe" i will live for ever..

 

[i_wish_i_was_smart]

i would like to live forever, you could learn everything there is to learn, you could experience everything, see history being made, by the time you get bored on earth, or Earth's time is up, chances are there are colonies on other planets moons, if not you'll float until you hit a planet, then well if its an uninhabitable wasteland i gues your screwed till something pases along or its colonized

 

[mathlete]

As long as I can pick a few people (family, some friends) to come with - sure! There is so much just on Earth we'll never get to do or see since we have so little time.. imagine having all the time you want to learn a new subject or see an exotic land! Curse death!

 

[Padford]

I'd like to remodelle my answer to "hell, yes"
this is because in the last week, i hav relaised how fun life is - and if i lived forever, i would be able to experience everything about this world, i would be able to master every musical instrument - learn every subject; learn about the planet and the 'great scheme of things' i'd be able to mee new and interesting people. but most of all, i'd be able to cash in big time on life time guarantees.

 

[Galileo]

But what if you would live forever and war breaks out. You get a bomb on your head and your body is scattered around the place.
There you are, eternally conscious but without any potency.

But seriously. I'd like to add a few hundred years to my life. I know I won't live long enough to know everything I want to know. Eternity is a bit long though.

Besides, to have no power of choice over your own life/existence places a big limitation on your freedom. After a few 1000 years, the human race will be gone. I'd get extremely lonely. No one around to talk to, no friends, no sex .

Oh yeah. Death for me baby.

 

[Smurf]

Heh, I think that life will never get boring, I want to learn everything, there's so much I want to know. But at the same time, eventually I'll want to know what death is and maybe want to experience it.
I still think that if we ever get off this planet then life will become eternally more interesting, and if we find other intelligent life out there - even more so!

so many possibilities. history is not so repetative that I wouldn't want to be a part of it.

 

[tribdog]

With the Universe flying apart faster and faster, and our sun having a finite lifetime it would get pretty horrible after a few billion years. floating through empty space no stars in view.

 

[Smurf]

Thats not the part you should be worried about, its afterwards when the universe implodes on itself that you should be worried about.

 

[tribdog]

I wish it would implode, then it might have a future. There's no future in constant expansion

 

[NeutronStar]

I can't believe how many people are voting yes! I can only imagine that they have absolutely no comprehension of what "forever" means!

I wouldn't mind living for about 1000 years if I could do it in good health and on a planet where people can get along with each other and not try to push their way of life onto others.

Even a thousand years would be one hell of a long time, but I think I could get into that. I'd also like to share it with someone special who basically appreciates similar things that I do. It's not a lot of fun living life with no one to share it with. If I had to do it without a compatible partner I think I'd even pass on living for a full millennium.

 

[revelator]

I'm surprised so many people voted yes. Good God. I'm sure the first 20 billion years may be interesting, but what about the eternity that follows? I vote with a firm NO.

Heh, sorry NeutronStar I made almost an exact replica of your post. I did it on the quick post box on page 1. Haha.

 

[CharlesP]

The yes proposition is impossible. The universe was not made for life. Life is possible only in a very small volume and only for a very short time. You just happen to be very lucky.