Immortality

I would become immortal if I were allowed to choose when to die. Eventually, when the world changed enough, it would be an alien world filled with alien people. Their lifetimes would seem brief and insignificant to you, making it impossible to form relationships. You would be alone in a world of strangers.

In addition, once the sun expanded to encompass earth, it would take years to even get out of the sun, assuming you find a way to propel yourself. Assuming you can feel pain, that's a living hell. Even if you escape to the cold empty vacuum of space, it would be a void, with no life or communication, eventually driven insane by the crushing emptiness. Not to mention perpetual starvation.

Without death, what is life? There would be no risk in anything ever, and a life without without risk defeats the purpose of living.

 

I think it was implied you would be like the Elves of Lord of the Rings - never dying naturally, never getting sick, stronger than others, but able to die of grief and injury.

 

I think immortality robs life of its beauty. The fact that death could happen at any time helps you to live in the moment and make your life the best it can be. The fact that you've got a time limit is motivation. Usually, when I'm given an assignment without a deadline, I just don't do it, because there's no specific time that I have to have it finished by. However, if I am given a deadline or I give myself a deadline, my conscience will annoy me until it is complete. We are given a short amount of time for a reason. Whoever gave it to us, whether you believe it's God or science or whatever, wanted to see what we would do with it. Immortality takes that away. Sure, you've got time to do things, but it's too much of it. You can't appreciate life if death is not an option or possibility. It's like the whole "there can't be good without the bad" or "no light without darkness" deal differently phrased. When books or movies promote immortality like it's some huge, desirable thing, they never mention what is lost. They act like you can't be satisfied with what life you're given. Ironically, to become immortal is to lose life. Without meaning, life doesn't have much left.

 

I'm sure immortality has its pros and its cons.But,in my opinion watching everything else die around you and not die is horrible.The people you love and care about,never getting to see them again in the afterlife.
Even the people you knew for along time, it would seem like a horrible fate.
To live on and on.To be consistant all the time.I also imagine is would be rather tiresome and boring after awhile since it's always the same old same old.
The only pro I see in immortality would be seeing the future and life evolving over time in a way only someone that lives forever could see.Also,you could see all the new generations succeed and fail.

 

You people are depressing. For someone like me, who has trouble forming attachments anyways, being immortal and having chance after chance to get it right, and having the opportunity to learn the sum total of all human knowledge... it'd be just a dream come true.

 

Although human knowledge of the world around us is constantly expanding, I can see your point here. You would need to be, in a sense, immortal to reach the aforementioned goal anyhow.

 

Funnily enough, I was talking about this with my friend on the way home from school today.

We joked that you could dive off the Empire State Building and not have to worry about it.
Of course, you'd still feel the incredible pain of hitting the floor, but you would just dust yourself off and carry on with your life :3

 

Not exactly. That fall would quite probably either crush or break your bones, leading you to live a slightly crippled life until fixed.

 

You know, it seems a lot of people in this thread are confusing immortality with invincibility.

Immortality: You live forever, and are immune to disease and frailty (in most legends). You stay pretty much the same age, in the same state of health, for eternity.

Invincibility: You cannot be harmed by anything. You could be struck repeatedly with a planet and not feel it at all. You cannot be hacked into a million pieces. You could walk away from a fall off a building unscathed.

Just wanted to clear that up. They are two different things.

 

Would mental health count? The concepts of immortality could have psychological effects on those not suited to it, I believe.

 

Mental health as it relates to biology. For instance, immortals wouldn't get Alzheimer's, or dementia, but they could still go insane from boredom if they don't do life right. :D

 

Which they won't do right. When you have an infinite amount of time to do things, eventually basic human error is going to step in and **** something up badly. :D

 

Yea, like too long a rope on a bungee cord, or a bad parachute when skydiving, or the sun going nova, or something :D

 

Immortality is cool and all but I wouldn't really want to be immortal. Unless - if it were possible - it was for a very good reason. I'd much rather stay mortal and live my life out than be stuck at the same age for an eternity. Sure being immortal has its advantages and it sounds fun and all but then you wouldn't have the pleasure of growing old with someone you loved/ your family members.

I like to keep the whole immortality thing in my imagination and in stories where it belongs.

 

Immortality, I don't know. I wouldn't live forever, but I would like to live longer. If I lived forever, everything would get tiring after a while.

 

No, it wouldn't.If your an adult you work forever, pay bills forever, etc. As a kid ..no, just no.While it would be fun to see the world change, you'd still need to deal with the downsides of age ...so nah, I wouldn't like it.

 

I'd only choose immortality if I could choose others to be immortal with me. I'd probably go insane if I was all alone in that state...​

 

Yes, but only if I started not-aging at 18 and had someone to take with me.

 

It looks ok at first, but then you get sick of it and want to die. Remember, even things that last forever has its limits.

 

Either way you'd go insane. Either of boredom and loneliness, or the fact that you've to live forever with the same people your entire life.



The concept of immortality is always "fun" and an amusing thing to consider, and just like all other concepts in the world, it's got it's pros and cons. Considering immortality is something consequential, so it's crucial to consider both sides before taking a decision too abruptly.

The basic pro of immortality is the fact that you get to live forever, and that is stating the obvious. The "fun" that comes with it is that suddenly you have all the time in your hands--to do everything you ever wanted, go visit the ends of the world and see things that you probably would not have seen in one lifetime, and also to learn and absorb knowledge as you go. You literally get to live through history and see it happen with your own eyes. Not to mention that you also get to look beautiful and stay young forever [if, of course, the choice was made early in life]. Also, taking someone with you, to be immortal next to you so you both may share the happiness and amusement together seems like a bright idea too. What's not to love when time and age is no longer a matter and you are with the one person that you cannot imagine a life without? Looking at that side only, immorality would look like heaven laid on a silver platter.

The con of immortality is that time is forever. Though the possibilities of what you can do when immortal can seem limitless, but truthfully, there is only so much you can do when you are immortal. Sooner or later, you would have already seen the world, the people, the repetition of history as the same thing occurs over and over with slight differences, and eventually all that will something you would want to get away from. Boredom of a life that is forever will hit sooner or later. Compare the boredom you feel now during summer vacation to the boredom you would feel when time is forever. The boredom of summer or any vacations, or free time is always quenched by the fact that you will eventually go back to doing whatever it is that you did before the "I've got nothing to do" times and the "I'm bored out of my mind" times came...but what will you do when the boredom hits and there is absolutely nothing left for you to do--when you already have done everything there is to do? Exploring the world and doing things you always wanted to do will last only for so long.

If one had chosen immortality for themselves only and not with another partner [friend, lover, husband, wife, brother, sister, whoever that may be], then the loneliness would make the person insane soon enough. If the person chose to find a mortal partner every so decade, then he will have to deal with the death of his/her loved ones over and over--already dealing with the fact that the rest of the world and it's people are also dying next to them. Now, if one did take a partner with him/her, to be immortal with him/her, then the person will STILL go insane over time. It will of course start out as fun and awesome, but eventually the company will start to grow on them, and both will start to pick at each other, driving each other insane, and the party of two will soon detatch. In that scenario, loneliness hits again. Companion or no companion, one would have to deal with loneliness whether it is an option or not.

As for knowledge, yes, it IS endless...but it's hardly the reason, or more like the ONLY reason why anyone would want to stay immortal.

With all that being said, as for me, I'd have to agree with VI schemer. I'd only choose to be immortal if I was able to choose when I would die. One lifetime is obviously not enough to learn, see, do and get everything you wanted out of life, so a little extra time in my hands does look good. Likewise, when all the pros have ended and I start to feel the cons of immortality, I'd have the option of ending that style of life and live the rest of it with gratitude and happiness. Nevertheless, I'm also content with my normal life-span. I'd take my chances and do what I can before I go six feet under. There's a beauty in living only for just a little less than a century, or over a century if you are lucky enough.

Finally, the concept of immortality being real...that concept is actually in the process of being further developed. I'm sure many has already heard this in their biology class, if not, you've already heard of it, but not realized it's potential. The enzymes used for beauty products, such as skin "rejuvenation" is a powerful enzyme that can actually slow the process of cell aging. Obviously we age due our cells dying and our DNA remaking the cells over and over again from the copy [times whatever the number of copy it is] of the original series of sequences that made us when we were born. After making so many copies of a copied sequence that made us a living organism, the copies become faulty and faded--erasing initial and significant parts of the sequence...and so we grow old. So, the enzyme used for beauty products, I forget the name of it, slows the process of cell aging, and the idea is what if the enzyme itself can be used to slow the process of general aging. Unfortunately, that too is not possible since the enzyme only is able to slow the process of general aging if it is present in EVERY SINGLE CELL in your body, and that is not possible...well, at least not in this century. Give it couple millennia, and maybe, just maybe someone might find a way to use the enzyme for it's full potential.

Gosh, I hope the last paragraph made sense...