how can you tell me i would be bored?, you dont know my mind state or passions that well. i would not be bored atall, i would be content training everyday for eternity, not even doing the other thigns i have at my disposal, maybe im easily ammused, but who cares i love existance, peace
As you get older and older your body's organs breakdown so that by the time you reach past 80 or 100 you'll usually have so many physical ailments that you would probably wish you were dead anyways. I think that the length of human life is just right. Aside from this, because we have a finite brain capacity, it would be impossible to remember the countless memorable events that you had experienced as you became older or immortal, then you would be either considered stupid or suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's. There's ways around this though, as it is thought that within a decade we'll be able to imbed microchips in certain areas of the brain to compensate for lost function. Conceivably this could work as a way of extending our memory too, if we could then train our brain accordingly to sort it all out. And artificial organs are being developed (pacemakers, brain shunts, artificial arteries and veins), but then there's also skin wrinkling: you'd begin to look grotesque. Anyways, still a lot of obstacles to overcome to even think about it as an enjoyable reality.
if youw as immortal you wouldent decay atall would you, that defeats the whole point of immortality, that means you cannot ever die no matter what happens, so ageing would be irrelevent, only progress, peace.
And your point about accumulating so much memory that you wouldn't be able to recall? Limitations in human brain capacity correspond nicely with our age expectations.
Mmmmm... Certainly an organic, degenerative disease of the brain such as you mention, previously, Alzheimer's is going to bone any possibility of enjoying ones ripe old age so far up one could possibly feel it in the back of ones throat. That being the case, barring such complications which, one has to point out, only affects a given percentage of any given generation - the assumption that memory becomes more problematical with age as a matter of course doesn't necessarily hold true. Myself I possess a visually eidetic memory. Names elude me utterly and dates, unless they're written down, I forget with tedious monotony however, on the whole, I find as I'm getting older my memory is actually improving.... I'm sorry, where were we?
Man wishes for immortality for the same reason an illiterate wishes for books: He doesn’t know what to do with them, he’ll probably use them as props and decorative objects, yet he doesn’t want to expose his inability to read nor does he want to admit that he doesn’t really want to learn to read so he wishes for ….books.
but your still thinking as a puney human, listen MORTAL, as an immortal bieng you wouldent have any of the effects of human struggles, because if you can be harmed you can be killed, you wouldent be able to be hurt, bieng immortal means indestructable, so yo would just be, and you wouldent have a mortal brain, you silly mortal child, peace,
Fraggle- I'm guessing it was me you asking about the optimism. I guess I equate to the realization that you really have forever to sort things out. It's like not having a deadline. I had to do something once of questionable standing to my conscience. I made my choice, still unsure of how I would feel about it personally (after getting the luxury of time to think it over), and decided "Eh, put it on my Karma Card. I'll pay for it next life." (Turns out I got on just fine with my conscience. I don't know how the other person turned out from it, but I'm sure if it was anything major, we'll meet again.)
I came across a cool quote on immortality the other day. Can't remember the exact source but, for what it's worth: "Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." It can't be said too much better.
Yeah! Our reading teacher gives us a new quote every day and we must write about it. We had that one a few weeks ago. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
What a great quote! Maybe that's the thing with me. I'd love to be immortal, and I have no problem figuring out what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon, even if it's just standing on the porch, drinking a cup of coffee and watching it rain. (I did that one day during a warm rain. It was one of the most peaceful moments I've ever experienced. And the rainbow afterwards was breathtaking.)
I often hear younger people saying things like "I'd like to die at about 80" - I wonder if most of these same people will be singing the same tune when they are about 80? Advancements in medical science have led to us generally leading a longer and more healthy life - this is surely one sign that mankind really does want to live longer, and is prepared to go to great lengths to achieve it. I suspect that it is the very essence of life itself that gives us the will to carry on living - hence our desire for immortality.
Many father is 84. He knows his time is going to come and he accepts it. He doesn't have any wish for immortality. We talk often, and I tell him that I think my time may come too. We have a mutual understanding about the matter.
"Science proceeds by funerals". If people lived forever they'd never want to give up on those old, false ideas! How about a compromise though? 1000 years? 10 000 years? Not long enough to be boring, not short enough to be pitiful Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Of course, we're assuming you're in decent health for the entire length of your life here.
Here's a sobering thought: The question posed was about immortality, not eternal youth. How do your (anybody's) answers change if you factor in "endless aging"? ------------------------------------------------------------------- “I had a rational idea this morning but I didn’t like it.”
If I were immortal I would spend eternity trying to find a way to kill myself. Immortality doesn’t presuppose eternal youth. One can imagine an immortal, with no teeth, wrinkled pasty skin, no hair, and no interest.
