The problem with immortality

[LiiLoSNK]

Doubtful, there's always something you can learn or practice, and always people that need help. There's always something to do.

This sentence alone is immediately countered by the word "eternity". You have no idea if there is always going to be people. It's actually a statistical certainty that "people" won't always exist. Eternity stretches beyond that.

But let's pretend that the way it works is that you live on earth for an infinite amount of time and earth is always habitable and there are always a bunch of people walking around and you are just hanging out among them throughout the ages. Even then, there is an extent to what is scientifically possible. It would take an extremely long time to learn everything, but eventually it would happen. There is a cap and eternity extends beyond that. Forever.

Again this is implying that everything goes your way and you don't eventually get trapped under a fallen building or captured for testing.

[Deleted]

please tell me what you are going to do when you for example fall into the ocean and get dragged down a depth where your physical strength isnt enough to overcome the water pressure, so you can't walk on the bottom to get back to land. or any of a myriad of similar situations.

Assuming I was immortal, eventually you would adapt to the pressure and hey presto Aquaman. In reality that's not likely to EVER happen no matter how long you live because people float.

Other similar situations being what? Getting trapped under a boulder? Avalanche?

[derpkitteh]

With almost 11 000 posts here, you are in a way...social. and with kitteh in your name you are even an animal

it's more enjoyable online, in real life being social is... too involved for my taste anymore. it's an exhausting experience that makes me want to nap afterwards, and napping feels terrible.

[Felnoire]

Doubtful, there's always something you can learn or practice, and always people that need help. There's always something to do.

So what's to do after the last star dies, and the universe's temperature falls to absolute zero?

[Deleted]

This sentence alone is immediately countered by the word "eternity". You have no idea if there is always going to be people. It's actually a statistical certainty that "people" won't always exist. Eternity stretches beyond that.

But let's pretend that the way it works is that you live on earth for an infinite amount of time and earth is always habitable and there are always a bunch of people walking around and you are just hanging out among them throughout the ages. Even then, there is an extent to what is scientifically possible. It would take an extremely long time to learn everything, but eventually it would happen. There is a cap and eternity extends beyond that. Forever.

Again this is implying that everything goes your way and you don't eventually get trapped under a fallen building or captured for testing.

The thing is, once you know everything, you open up whole new potential for thought and study beyond what anyone previously has been able to comprehend. And any physical skills, whether it be carpentry or karate, can continually be refined, rethought and improved upon ad infinitum.

Even if every person on Earth was dead, it's unlikely there would be no other life at all - so there would either be plants to cultivate, or animals to interact with in whatever way, or even micro organisms to encourage through evolution.

[Shadowferal]

Immortality just means eternal boredom. And eventually no more emotion.

[Deleted]

Assuming I was immortal, eventually you would adapt to the pressure and hey presto Aquaman. In reality that's not likely to EVER happen no matter how long you live because people float.

Other similar situations being what? Getting trapped under a boulder? Avalanche?

people dont float in strong water currents or sinking ships. avalanche could indeed easily mean people won't look for you.

or you could decide you want to climb mount everest, get stuck somewhere, your body will freeze eventually but you will still be alive. people die on everest all the time and not all bodies are recovered. even if your body is recoved you have to hope you thaw out before they bury you. or hope they burn you which you would survive but i'd be a agonizing few hours in that oven. any kind of more extreme sport/expedition (polar, desert, jungle, etc) caries a similar risk of simply getting lost/stuck with no easy way of getting rescued.

you could get in a big earthquake or natural disaster, and usually not all bodies are recovered there either and after a while people stop looking.

furthermore i am sure dozens of people are presumed dead each day in accidents where people simply don't bother to look for/recover the bodies for various reasons.

heck you could even simply get stuck under fallen furniture in your house or lock yourself in or something stupid like that and as long as your bills are on automatic payment it could be a looong time before somebody forces the door open. obviously not as long as compared to the above examples but there is so much shit that can just royally fuck you over it's gonna happen eventually.

you may say the chance of these things happening is 1 in million, 1 in a billion, or even smaller, but you will live for much longer then that.

on top of that there is ofcourse always the risk that somebody finds out you are immortal and locks you up for research purposes.

[Thoughtcrime]

The problem with immortality is that eventually, no matter what happens, no matter what you do your existence will be intolerable. It's completely; utterly impossible for things to turn out well for you.

[Deleted]

*snip*

How are you defining immortality? If you could suffer bodily harm and pain, something severe enough should still kill you even if your lifespan was infinite besides. If you can't be killed, are we talking about a spiritual entity or a human body that cannot degrade?

It's interesting to see who holds pessimistic and optimistic views on things like this.

[LiiLoSNK]

The thing is, once you know everything, you open up whole new potential for thought and study beyond what anyone previously has been able to comprehend. And any physical skills, whether it be carpentry or karate, can continually be refined, rethought and improved upon ad infinitum.

Even if every person on Earth was dead, it's unlikely there would be no other life at all - so there would either be plants to cultivate, or animals to interact with in whatever way, or even micro organisms to encourage through evolution.

Yes and that sounds like a great way to bide your time, but you will eventually peak in such karate skills. Probably in less than 100 trillion years even. That's not even 1/10000000000th of an eternity. There's just no way that someone could never get bored, even on a permanently safe earth.

You'd go through stages of resentment and hatred towards the animals and plants eventually. Then stages where you grew back your appreciation for them. That'd happen an infinite amount of times and eventually get boring as well.

Again we are talking about a permanently safe earth here. A supernovae could/would definitely kill every living thing on earth permanently. Or the sun going out. Or a black hole party. All of which will eventually happen and each of which leaving you alone with yourself for eternity. The good thing is that you would go brain dead eventually and be basically free from your choice of immortality. Then it's the water bear's time to shine.

[Shadowferal]

If you can't be hurt or killed then you lose all those things that give life meaning.

[Deleted]

How are you defining immortality? If you could suffer bodily harm and pain, something severe enough should still kill you even if your lifespan was infinite besides. If you can't be killed, are we talking about a spiritual entity or a human body that cannot degrade?

It's interesting to see who holds pessimistic and optimistic views on things like this.

oh i'd take immortality with the option for death anyday. there is still a risk of eternal suffering but it's much much smaller.

any form of true immortality, even if you can't get trapped and feel pain etc? not if my mind stayed the way it is now, and if it changed, it would have to change so drastically i would essentially die.

[Thoughtcrime]

It's interesting to see who holds pessimistic and optimistic views on things like this.

I don't think that really comes into it. No amount of optimism is going to stop the Sun from dying; destroying the entire planet and leaving you floating in circles around it's flickering ember until the inevitable heat death of the universe. I'm sure you can entertain yourself with karate in the darkness though.

[Deleted]

So the problem with immortality lies in the fact that were social animals. You may live forever but the people around you wont. Your family and friends will all die. You could make more friends but again they would all day. Then there's the end of the world. Assuming you would survive the apocalypse there would be no one left.

Immortality is not worth it.

Sounds like a bunch of words coming from someone who hasn't truly understood what it is to finally end one day, or might be mistakenly thinking there's something after death.

Once one truly understands the horror that is not existing, losing people pales in comparison.

[Deleted]

Sounds like a bunch of words coming from someone who hasn't truly understood what it is to finally end one day, or might be mistakenly thinking there's something after death.

Once one truly understands the horror that is not existing, losing people pales in comparison.

you mean the fear of not existing. that's very different from not existing. if you suffer enough, and maybe also if you just live long enough, the fear of non existing will go away.

[Gorsameth]

So the problem with immortality lies in the fact that were social animals. You may live forever but the people around you wont. Your family and friends will all die. You could make more friends but again they would all day. Then there's the end of the world. Assuming you would survive the apocalypse there would be no one left.

Immortality is not worth it.

Is this some great new revelation you have had? Because the loneliness of eternity has been a rather common story narrative for well... forever.

[Thoughtcrime]

Once one truly understands the horror that is not existing, losing people pales in comparison.

Death isn't scary, dying is scary, but not being able to die is hell.

Death is no different to what it was like before you were born and few people worry about that.

[Wildtree]

So the problem with immortality lies in the fact that were social animals. You may live forever but the people around you wont. Your family and friends will all die. You could make more friends but again they would all day. Then there's the end of the world. Assuming you would survive the apocalypse there would be no one left.

Immortality is not worth it.

The MacLeods managed that pretty good.
Just keep your head up..

But, who wants to live forever anyway..

[Gorsameth]

Sounds like a bunch of words coming from someone who hasn't truly understood what it is to finally end one day, or might be mistakenly thinking there's something after death.

Once one truly understands the horror that is not existing, losing people pales in comparison.

Do you fear going to sleep?

Because there is no reason to fear the 'after death' Your not there anymore, there is quite literally no horror for you to experience.
Dying is mentally no different from going to sleep. Except you don't wake up afterwards. You might aswell not exist while you are asleep (as far as your own perception of reality is concerned).

[LiiLoSNK]

Death isn't scary, dying is scary, but not being able to die is hell.

Death is no different to what it was like before you were born and few people worry about that.

This. The only people allowed to be truly afraid of not existing are people that currently have other lives depending on them.

If you have no responsibilities and are afraid of not existing, you are extremely delusional of your own self worth. You can't miss anything when you're dead and you know that death will happen eventually. If it happens tomorrow, you aren't going to regret not climbing Everest because your brain will have stopped functioning. GG you had a good run.