Would you want to live forever?

Just out of curiousity....

For me, I definately do not want to live forever. The most gratifying aspect in everything I do is knowing that there will be an end to it..... a completion.... or the closing of a chapter, if you will. To know there's an end would give me motivation to do my best....to try my hardest... to put in my all. At the end, you can assess whether or not your project was a success/failure, whether your family trip was fun/horrible or whether your job fruitful/waste-of-time.

It's the same with my life. I find comfort in knowing that there will be an end to it. It makes each day all the more special. When I look into my daughter's eyes each morning, I do so with the greatest of love, because I know that someday, I would not be able to look into them anymore.

To know there's an end makes each day precious, the world more beautiful and the love for my family and friends more intense.

That's just my take. I'm interested in hearing your views!


Thanks!

WP

I said yes, simply because I love life and don't want it to end. I think of the potential for unending progress, unending achievment and wonder at what would be possible. (BTW, I read a lot of science fiction )

Of course, it depends on what type of immortality you are talking about. If it is an eternity at age 80 then no, of course not. Quality of life is more important than quantity.......but an eternity at age 35, not so bad....

dragoman

do you rember the film ZARDOZ with Sean Connery.

forever is a long time.

regards.

dragoman said:

.......but an eternity at age 35, not so bad....

Click to expand...

Let's make the assumption that you can live forever at any age you choose.


WP

35 and with lots of money, I think I could handle it. he he he!

AlexGT

I said yes, however I would want to be able to end my life. Immortality without the option of death would become a pretty horrible thing eventually IMO. I would also want to be able to make the people I love immortal, otherwise it would become pretty lonely and depressing after a while.

So I wouldn't want to actually live forever, but the current human lifespan seems far too short to me. How about a few hundred years more, to get a better perspective on things?

at what price? when you're young poor and stupid, or old, wise and a little better off financially, but cant do the things when you were young?

i voted no for one reason,
it would be too hard to see everyone close to me die, imagine losing all your friends and watching them die and then they watching you stay at the same age
i could imagine you would be a loner after a while and not want to make anymore friends because you will know that you will see them die
i'd rather choose quality of life than quantity of life

Nope. I wouldn't mind slowing the aging process down so I could live... oh, say a few hundred years, though. Forever is really a long time, but I would love to be able to see what life is like in a few hundred years from now.

I said no, cause eventually too much will go by, I'd rather live as long as I want though .

It will be exactly like it is now.

Read newspapers/etc from 100 years ago. Back then they were complaining about children out of control and the current horrible state of sue-happy people.

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

carrot said:

Nope. I wouldn't mind slowing the aging process down so I could live... oh, say a few hundred years, though. Forever is really a long time, but I would love to be able to see what life is like in a few hundred years from now.

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Good question WP!

Just about a week ago I asked my gf this same question and she said no because it would hurt her too much to watch her friends die and as a result make her a loner for eternity (kinda sucks i suppose, lol).

I on the other hand, am a little indifferent about this. Ever since I was a kid, i remember when someone like a relative would die and I would cry myself to sleep because of the thought that one day I will eventually die. It is still the same feeling (sense of impending death) today minus the crying, lol. I do sometimes wish I could live forever at an age (for looks and health) where I could enjoy life and take everything in that it has to offer without worrying about time taking me away. I guess I would say yes if I could take someone with me like my gf/wife so I wouldnt be a loner through time.

Does anyone know how to slow down time because I feel as if time is flying by right now. Perhaps multiple vacations throughout the year :lolsign: .

Eternal life is overrated.

turbodog said:

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

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That's an interesting quote turbodog. I have been pondering a concept such as this a few months ago, but from a scientific standpoint. Perhaps another thread....


WP

turbodog said:

It will be exactly like it is now.

Read newspapers/etc from 100 years ago. Back then they were complaining about children out of control and the current horrible state of sue-happy people.

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Click to expand...

I am more interested in the technology aspect than the social aspect. Although I wouldn't mind seeing history repeat itself.

There can only be One.

yes Sean Connery was in that film as well as my film in post 3 -ZARDOZ.

regards.

Whether the OP meant the whole society or just me -- I don't want to live forever.

One thing no one has mentioned is that very nearly everything about us (and our cultures) is based on the fact that we DO NOT live forever. That one truth permeates every one of our thought processes. It makes it really hard to think outside of the 'mortality' box.

Probably very little of what we hold dear today would matter if we were knew we weren't going to die.

Why would children be of any importance?
What would anyone need a religion for?

These are just two things that snap into my mind. What else would change? Our collective world-view is the result of eons and eons of mortality. In many ways, it's all we have. If that were taken away nothing else about our lives would remain the same. It would be like some old Twilight Zone episode where someone finds that while they may have gotten what they wished for -- everything else was changed so much by the process that what the person wished for in the first place no longer holds any value or meaning.

I guess the original question could be paraphrased with this:

Supposed there is one magic pill that prevents you from dying or aging. This magic pill prevents death or harm of any kind to come to you. You cannot end your own life. You can choose the natural age that you want to stay at.


Suppose you won the lottery and was given the one-and-only choice to take the pill or forfeit it forever. Would you take the pill?


WP

I voted yes.

Besides the fact that eventually the human race will kill itself off,
and I would be here all alone, I dont see why you would want to die.

I would very much like to watch the human race eveolve, or DEvolve for hundreds of years, and see what all happens.

One of the things that bothers me about dieing, is I wont know what goes on after my life ends.

~John