Would you want to be immortal?

[carrot red]

If you could live forever, in pretty much the same physical condition you are currently in, with all your mental faculties intact, would you choose to do so? One of the cool things about being immortal would be that you could take risks without worrying about the consequences since in my scenario you would remain in pretty much the same physical state you're in now.

(Proviso: You would have to lock in your decision now - you couldn't choose immortality now and then change your mind in a few million years.)

[Carcer]

Well, I would for all the risks I could take and such, and perhaps after a few thousand years the fools woul see you as god on earth and you'd be able to stop working as well.
However, I'd hate to see each and every person I love die, and then their children, and theirs, and everyone I ever knew, then theirs, and so on.
It would be great to see the never ending advancements of human technology, and I could dedicate my body to human science for a bit for medicines and such, but I'd have to say no.
I'm all for living life to the full, but not for living forever to the full, unless there were others around me that would live forever, too. That I liked/loved.

[Dark Knight]

I'd choose to be immortal. Think of it. As an immortal you could rule the world since not even the mightiest army or the most powerful weapon could stop you. Got hit with tank artiliery? Just stand back up and dust yourself off. The only drawback would be seeing all your loved ones die, but hey, such is the price of eternal youth.

[Kairyu]

No, if I'd stay in my current condition forever. Eventually, I'd run out of questions to ask, answers to look for, memories to make, and I'd become bored with the entire universe. An eternity with no purpose or goals... gah, who'd need Hell?

Maybe if I could evolve mentally... even then, it'd be a hard sell for me.

[JayeM]

Hell, no! While I'm in no rush to die, I am kinda looking forward to seeing what the next step is, if there is one. I think immortality would get really boring.

[Zelda_Warrior]

I wouldn't choose immortality because first off, i'd see everyone i know die, second, i'd probably get bored after a couple of million years. Also, like JayeM said i would never know what happens after you die. However, it would be very cool to be immortal. You could rule the fuckin universe if you wanted to.

[Eckels]

I'd absolutely choose immortality, provided I have control over it. When I want to die, i'd like to be able to die.

[Steezy20]

I'd hate to live forever.
Imagine how boring it would get after you'd seen everything before.
I like an element of risk in my life, it keeps me on my toes.
Just think how boring a game of CS would be were nobody could die / one person couldnt die.

[TheNewLink]

Nah. I'd rather die and go to heaven. Everyone's immortal, and there is no unhappiness!

Okay, that's not the answer you wanted.

If the afterlife were taken out, it would be a tough choice. I could live forever and have infinite time to do anything remotely interesting, see how human technology progresses, and generally go everywhere and do everything worth doing. All the time in the world (literally) to learn, study, contribute, write deep philosophy books, and generally be one of the best things to happen to the world since sliced pizza.

The problem is that while I'm just staying the same, people are being born, living, and dying. Any friends would be gone nearly in the blink of an eye. While they die, I live on with that pain. I'd end up being secluded, avoiding any contact with human life in order to avoid the inevitable sadness of their death. I couldn't die, even if I felt my time was up and I should just cease living. I'd go insane. Everything would die eventually, except me. It would quite nearly be hell on earth.

All in all, I really don't want to be faced with that choice; if I was, I'd probably yield to the temptation, say yes, and eventually end up suffering forever and regretting my choice. Not only that, but if I did say no, I'd grow old and regret that choice instead. There would be no right choice. On that note, I am glad indeed that this question is purely hypothetical.

[Strider1982]

I think being immortal on Earth would be interesting at first, but end up as nothing more than misery. Everyone around me would be aging or dead and it would make me wish I were dying with them.

[Rainman]

I would only choose to be immortal if I could still be killed. That way when the sun finally expands enough to engulf the earth, I won't be around very much to experience the incredible heat.

[Dechipher]

I figure, if I could choose, then yes.
After everyone I know dies, I would probably spend the next 70 years, nonstop, just drumming a lot. Also, I would get lots of social security money.
But I could be a monstrous musician. Man, think of that. I could develop anything, because I'd have the time and patience.

Unless in the future there are no musicians.

[Gerudo]

i think it's really selfish, but hey, like DK said, it's the price one would pay for immortality.

[Archibaldo]

It depends what kind of immortality. If it was I just couldn't die periode then no. But If I was only immune to oldage and disease, then yes. But I would wait to lock myself in to immortality untill I'm 21. It would be pretty boring to be be 16 forever.

[moocow]

No way. I don't think I could handle seeing all the people I love die. I'd have to live forever, missing my family and such.

[ShadowTiger]

Hell, no! While I'm in no rush to die, I am kinda looking forward to seeing what the next step is, if there is one. I think immortality would get really boring.
I follow pretty much the same line of thought. The sooner I can find out what comes next, the better. While I certainly have my little plans, (Most of the consist of gardening and bio-engineering new strains of humans.) I've always wanted to see what would happen when I die. I just hope it comes peacefully.

[SixTen]

How bout immortal like the elves in Lord of the Rings? They physically can live forever, but can still be killed in battle or by some sickness, although they are less susceptible to it. I believe in Tolkein's The Silmarillion, more elves die from grief over loss of a loved one than a sickness or disease.

I would choose this type of immortality. It seems like a better alternative.

[Daarkseid]

No, I pretty much wish I was dead now.

[Axel]

Absolutely. Remember, I'm an atheist, I don't think anything comes after this. So I intend to keep this going as long as I can. Plus, imagine staying 18 forever....

[Vagla]

To anyone who would be unconditionally immortal and thus can't die no matter what, I simply say: have fun when all of humanity is finally dead, the planet is destroyed, you're floating around in space, engulfed in a sun, sucked into a black hole, buried, or whatever the hell other misfortune you might come across. It's the same idea as getting stuck in a wall in a video game, except here there's no reset button. There is any number of things that could go wrong.

I would choose conditional immortality and keep going until I wind up in some situation where living on wouldn't be worth it, such as what I mentioned earlier. Barring any of that, though, I can't see myself wanting to die, period.

[Starkist]

There’s no time for us
There’s no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams yet slips away
From us

Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever....?

There’s no chance for us
It’s all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us

Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?

Who dares to love forever?
When love must die

But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is our today

Who waits forever anyway?

[Belgarath]

Yes. I have allot to do and alot to learn. I figure eternity should be long enough for orgies, study time, and the different projects I keep putting off.

[Great Warrior]

I AM CONNOR MCLOUD OF THE CLAN MCCLOUD!!! I AM THE HIGHLANDER!!!! :p

You couldn't learn everything, do everything, see everything. You would miss tons, your brain can only hold a limited amount of information, in a few million or billion years you would completely forget who you were or any friends or family. You would probably have taken multiple identities, but not at the same time, you would gradually turn into a completely different person. Living forever with the capacities we have now is a recipe for madness.

Having said that, I wouldn't mind living for a few thousand years, possibly a hundred thousand. In the end though, there are three options and none really scare me. You either go to heaven or there is nothing and you won't care, can't care, etc... It will be like before you were born, you will become nothing. Of course you could go to hell but I assume you'd have to live a really bad life to do that.

[Belgarath]

You couldn't learn everything, do everything, see everything. You would miss tons, your brain can only hold a limited amount of information, in a few million or billion years you would completely forget who you were or any friends or family. You would probably have taken multiple identities, but not at the same time, you would gradually turn into a completely different person. Living forever with the capacities we have now is a recipe for madness.


Hence why cybernetic implants sound interesting. Quantum data storage anyone?

[deathofspam]

There’s no time for us
There’s no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams yet slips away
From us

Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever....?

There’s no chance for us
It’s all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us

Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?

Who dares to love forever?
When love must die

But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today
Who wants to live forever
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is our today

Who waits forever anyway?

Oh good, I am not the only one who that was the first thought for

[Great Warrior]

"Hence why cybernetic implants sound interesting. Quantum data storage anyone?"

Quantum data storage if add-ons are allowed would not be the only thing I would have, but I thought it was to remain in the same state as we are right now.

[Verman]

I want to be immortal...

It would kick ass!

I'm trying right now to live forever, and so far so good!

[Rainman]

Really, if you think about none of us know if perhaps we are really immortal. :P You can't disprove that until you die.

[Glitch]

Really, if you think about none of us know if perhaps we are really immortal. :P You can't disprove that until you die.


If anyone cares to find out if they are actually immortal, come visit me and my bat in Ohio.

[DsS Game]

I would never want to be immortal. Sure it's great to live and see what advances may or may not happen in the next 1000 years or so, but you can never experience true love. Once that true love goes, then what are you left with? A lonely immortal human being......

[Belgarath]

"Hence why cybernetic implants sound interesting. Quantum data storage anyone?"

Quantum data storage if add-ons are allowed would not be the only thing I would have, but I thought it was to remain in the same state as we are right now.

That doesn’t mean we can't offer and say "Hey doc open me up". I read the post as "You could never get sick and your regenerative powers are like wolverines from xmen so do not worry about getting shot or cut".

However if you get sucked into a black hole, your going to die because too much damage has been done to the cells for them to function.

[Great Warrior]

Then if we are not already immortal and we can have variables to this, we could buy a pass to immortality to all out loved ones. But are we really ready to spend billions of years with the same woman? If things go wrong in the relationship, we would be miserable for all eternity. Creepy thought.