immortality

[salaam]

Is it good to be immortal? I'm talking about the kind of immortality which you can't get rid off even if you tried shooting yourself/slicing yourself in half or whatever comes to mind. What if you could live billions of years even after all humanity would be extinct from Earth?

[Titus Ultor]

I could keep myself entertained for a few billion years.

[Reikson]

havent we had this discussion many, many times

[Lejar]

I could keep myself entertained for a few billion years.

Me too... if you couldn't die no matter what you could... well... do something exciting like see how it is to be eaten by a shark and live!

Or grow a crazy beard and run around the world scaring little kids by jumping out of their closets at them and not worrying about being shot and killed by their parents. :p

[Xinnro]

Immortality is fun and all until the world ends and you are the last human.

Or earth is destroyed and you are left floating out into space in nothingness for eternity.


Personally...I'd rather have invincibility

[Arkh]

Hijack a space shuttle and go spacedive into the sun.

[Lejar]

Hijack a space shuttle and go spacedive into the sun.

I like the word spacedive. I think it should be written in dictionaries and used as a real word by nasa.

[Badem]

I dunno there is a ton of stuff you could do if you were truly immortal and could never be killed.

Myself I would become a ruthless hitman and be known for never failing to take out my target. Imagine being sent after columbian drug dealers etc and your reputation precedes you, people would just give up the will to die

Or maybe use your immortality to be a human guinea pig for drugs trials knowing you could never die but tehy could record all adverse affects on you.

the downside? watch highlander and see, watching all your loved ones grow old and die. but by golly you would be one rich bugger lol all those life insurances, then oyu have car crashes and be the only survivor ahhh

[Lejar]

Or maybe use your immortality to be a human guinea pig for drugs trials knowing you could never die but tehy could record all adverse affects on you.

Ya except you have to watch out on your wording. You could be an immortal person with severe brain damage... that would be fun wearing a helmet and rolling around in wheelchair for all of eternity.

[Arkh]

I like the word spacedive. I think it should be written in dictionaries and used as a real word by nasa.

Yeah spacedive = skydive².
We'd need ceramic surf and huge space suits and then : jump from the ISS and enjoy your 30mn skydive to earth.

[salaam]

I could keep myself entertained for a few billion years.

What if you would be floating in space? Lets say you were an astronaut and your space shuttle was destroyed somewhere in the galaxy leaving yourself floating in space and noone was coming to pick you up :p You couldn't keep yourself entertained anymore because there would be nothing to think about but your memories and even those would fade away with time.
If your mind can't learn new things you can't really acknowledge anything. Eventually your brains would fill up with nothingness while floating in vacuum space and your brain activity would stop because there is no stimulus to keep it going. You wouldn't understand anything, millions of years would feel like seconds to you.

[Crysill]

What if you would be floating in space? Lets say you were an astronaut and your space shuttle was destroyed somewhere in the galaxy leaving yourself floating in space and noone was coming to pick you up :p You couldn't keep yourself entertained anymore because there would be nothing to think about but your memories and even those would fade away with time.
If your mind can't learn new things you can't really acknowledge anything. Eventually your brains would fill up with nothingness while floating in vacuum space and your brain activity would stop because there is no stimulus to keep it going. You wouldn't understand anything, millions of years would feel like seconds to you.I would say that the patterns of stars would be enough to keep a human mind from going completely blank. I would always consider it better to live in eternal boredom than to have my consciousness forever end. There are plenty of people such as myself who could keep themselves occupied for an infinite amount of time simply contemplating the things around them, even if they're the same for millions of years at a time. Not to mention sleep, in which the brain is free to think it is wherever it chooses.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be completely mind-numbing, for it would be nearly unbearably so, but it would most certainly be a step above lack of thought entirely.

[Rummak]

I'm not saying it wouldn't be completely mind-numbing, for it would be nearly unbearably so, but it would most certainly be a step above lack of thought entirely.

How do you know? Have you tried either?

[Crysill]

How do you know? Have you tried either?Of course not, I simply know for the same reason we "know" that if we shot a gun in an endless vacuum, the bullet would travel straight at a constant speed forever.

Nobody has ever shot a gun in such an environment. However, we do know how gravity, mechanics, and motion behaves, and we have no reason to think it would act differently if you stretched the scale out indefinitely.

The same would apply to the human brain; there is no reason to believe conscious thought would simply cease to function just because there's less to "think" about, regardless of how much less that becomes.



EDIT: I may have misunderstood, reading it again makes me think you were asking how I know the eternal boredom would be better than the lack of thought, not having experienced either. The statement you quoted, in context, meant that I knew thought itself would not cease to function in a vacuum, hence it being a "step above" lack of thought. It could have easily been misunderstood to be a statement of ranking, though.

If that was what you meant, then I don't know which would be "better" per se, but I do know that I don't subscribe to an "ignorance is bliss" philosophy. I would rather know horrible truths that pain me to think about than think I live in a great world. Obviously, being ignorant means that I would be ignorant of my own ignorance, just as in the immortality example: If I didn't have any capability of thought, I wouldn't know this, for it would require me to think.

Therefore, it's not a matter of choosing which one is a better experience, because neither are conceivable experiences. It's simply that I like to think. If given the choice, I would always choose to think rather than not, regardless of what, good or bad, comes along with the ability to think.

[sulph]

shit, id fly through a blackhole.

[Pcheez]

Yup would take immortality.

But immortality without invincibility wouldnt be great, imagine you get hacked to pieces and your head put in a box.

What good is immortality then ?

[salaam]

Yup would take immortality.

But immortality without invincibility wouldnt be great, imagine you get hacked to pieces and your head put in a box.

What good is immortality then ?

Well then you could start working on your zen and finally achieve nirvana when your ego ceases being and you're left with only empty shell.

I think you can't make your consciousness immortal because you can't stop it in a certain state or parameter of actions. It has to live and adjust oneself forever.

[Viluin]

I would do good deeds and make people happy for billions of years! :) And if all other humans are dead, I'll set out into space and find other lifeforms to help out. :D

[Leathe]

Well, after a few hundred years I'd probably get bored of all the fun stuff I've been doing and start studying ass off. I'd study everything from biology, philosophy, neuro-psychology to atomic and particle physics. Try to gain the highest possible degree in almost every subject possible.

[Viranth]

If by chance someone granted me with immortality, and it was completely unknown to anyone else. And the world would be the same (meaning no other "supernatural" things) I would become the greatest tour guide in the world.

Imagine that if you actually lived at the times you're talking about to the tourists! No idea about the pay, but you'd be the best tour guide in the history!

[Nehemia]

Is it good to be immortal?

Yes it is.

[Vanno]

There are definitely some perks to being immoral; fun for instance is far easier to be had.

[Foxodi]

Is it good to be immortal? I'm talking about the kind of immortality which you can't get rid off even if you tried shooting yourself/slicing yourself in half or whatever comes to mind. What if you could live billions of years even after all humanity would be extinct from Earth?

So, how good was Code Geass then? Lol.. no seriously episode 15 was my favourite episode this season... I love Charles so friken much.

Anyway, this was brought up in narutofan in response to the episode too. Mine and everyone's elses responses was overwhelming no - it would be hell.

[Rummak]

Of course not, I simply know for the same reason we "know" that if we shot a gun in an endless vacuum, the bullet would travel straight at a constant speed forever.

Nobody has ever shot a gun in such an environment. However, we do know how gravity, mechanics, and motion behaves, and we have no reason to think it would act differently if you stretched the scale out indefinitely.

The same would apply to the human brain; there is no reason to believe conscious thought would simply cease to function just because there's less to "think" about, regardless of how much less that becomes.



EDIT: I may have misunderstood, reading it again makes me think you were asking how I know the eternal boredom would be better than the lack of thought, not having experienced either. The statement you quoted, in context, meant that I knew thought itself would not cease to function in a vacuum, hence it being a "step above" lack of thought. It could have easily been misunderstood to be a statement of ranking, though.

If that was what you meant, then I don't know which would be "better" per se, but I do know that I don't subscribe to an "ignorance is bliss" philosophy. I would rather know horrible truths that pain me to think about than think I live in a great world. Obviously, being ignorant means that I would be ignorant of my own ignorance, just as in the immortality example: If I didn't have any capability of thought, I wouldn't know this, for it would require me to think.

Therefore, it's not a matter of choosing which one is a better experience, because neither are conceivable experiences. It's simply that I like to think. If given the choice, I would always choose to think rather than not, regardless of what, good or bad, comes along with the ability to think.

Yeah I thought you were ranking the experiences. The human mind is such a maze and the brain itself so little understood to this day that I don't presume to know what such machinations would accomplish in a totally unimaginable situation.

And by the way, while thinking is what people of this world need to do more, complete lack of thought can be relaxing (think meditation). Of course it never is complete.

[Largion]

I dont loke the thought! It's the Devils work.

[GRCPan]

immortality without being able to choose when to die? no thx.
If i can choose when to die though sure.

[Largion]

immortality without being able to choose when to die? no thx.
If i can choose when to die though sure.

Cant stop cutting yourself? ;)

[terafis]

Yeah immortality would be awesome, and you only die if you're head gets chopped off, and there's a few other immortals out there and you all need to cut each others heads off and be the last one standing. And each time you chop off another immortals head you get their 'lifeforce', making you stronger, and there's lightning effects like a storm when an immortal loses a head.

And sean connery and a katana, a scottish accent, a haggiss and kilts are mandatory

But you're allergic to cheese, muffins and red cordial, and have a speech impediment

[Geralt]

Sux kuz you would feel pain and as all we know pain pwns all . By the way i imagine that bieng alive in the space vacum after earths explosion would not be fun

[Whindanser]

I'd bang every woman I could.

It would probably take me about 120 years to catch up to Wilt Chamberlain.

[Tiarilir]

I'd bang every woman I could.

It would probably take me about 120 years to catch up to Wilt Chamberlain.

I'd gather as many STD's I could!

[Spart]

Sux kuz you would feel pain and as all we know pain pwns all . By the way i imagine that bieng alive in the space vacum after earths explosion would not be fun

Not to be a thrill kill or anything.. but the earth isn't going to explode. That's the sun, and if I've been listening in Physics enough, it isn't going to be the kind of explosion you're looking for.

Well, after a few hundred years I'd probably get bored of all the fun stuff I've been doing and start studying ass off. I'd study everything from biology, philosophy, neuro-psychology to atomic and particle physics. Try to gain the highest possible degree in almost every subject possible.

This would be what I would do. Try to gain as much knowledge as possible. Although, subjects are continually changing, so you would probably have to focus on one and just learn the basics about the others.

[wowsa0]

Is it good to be immortal? I'm talking about the kind of immortality which you can't get rid off even if you tried shooting yourself/slicing yourself in half or whatever comes to mind. What if you could live billions of years even after all humanity would be extinct from Earth?

I think anything that happened to me would be better than the blank nothingness that is the afterlife. Personally I'd rather be alone than cease to exist.

[Tiarilir]

I think anything that happened to me would be better than the blank nothingness that is the afterlife. Personally I'd rather be alone than cease to exist.

Yeah. But that's what we're all going to do. We'll be gone!

[Geralt]

Earth will explode when ppl will play the nuke war.. or an asteroid hits Kablamoooo!

[Kaorn]

If you were Immortal you wouldn't have to eat to survive so you could play darkfall all day long.

You could also live to see the day Darkfall is released.

[MattMystrieo]

Would you still age?

[Axelator]

If it was offered i'd take it.

[Largion]

I would pick fights whit large amounts of people.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BxZenU-R84U

[Goty]

That would suck. Period.

Sure, after awhile, the understanding of your inability to die would eventually take the fun out of activities such as skydiving sans chute, lava surfing, and Mariana Trench Diving. When time goes on long enough, even the most astounding activities would become much more mundane to someone who can do them without risk.

Being immortal probably won't grant you immunity to crotch rot from the hundreds of STD's - and their variant strains - that one would amass from mass coital adventures. Say good bye to Li'l Jimmy - he can't come out to play anymore. He's just not there. Unless you count a gigantic, pus dripping, sore riddled wart as a penis.

Being a crazy hitman would be great for a few years - sure, and what happens when you're sentenced to an unbelievably long prison sentence? Great. Spend a few centuries in prison - until they start to wonder why you're not aging. Next thing you know, you're stuck for another set of centuries in some government lab facility takin' probes up the ass like Elton John at Gay Pride.

Instead, you'll probably want to lay relatively low, keeping yourself out of the spotlight. Perhaps you'll control your own destiny, and rise to the spotlight with global achievements - then slowly wither back to the shadow for a good while until the world forgets you exist, only to return again. They'll ask, "Hey, this guy looks exactly like this historical figure," sure; but who cares? They won't assume you're fucking immortal.

So that's how I'd play my cards. I'd live not unlike I do now, only without need for sleep or anything like that to keep me alive. I'd study all fields, since I'd have the time to master anything. I'd create art unlike man has ever seen. I'd do all those crazy activities mentioned above, sure; but in the end - all the options will lead inevitably to the demise of my sanity.

This madness, topped with my utmost knowledge of just about every field known to man and a finely cultivated charisma, would make me the most dangerous man alive. I'd then take over the world - and crush it. I'd bring about an apocalyptic nightmare of fire and metal, and sleep through the lullabies of crying children. The screams of mothers and wives as their men are stripped of their flesh will most likely bring a cacophanous laughter from deep within my undying being, and the world will fall, with I as the hand that pulled the trigger. The hand that pushed the button. The hand that pimp slapped the earth.

You know, I take it back. It would be awesome to be immortal.

[salaam]

Good reply indeed but that would only cover few thousand of years... or well how ever long humanity, as we know it, will last.

[Agge]

Wait... soo you can be cut and half but yet you would live right?

Basicly you could be split in to the very atoms you are made of and be spread across the universe yet you would live...

Define live for me please here.

[Goty]

Good reply indeed but that would only cover few thousand of years.

Fine.

I'll amass a collection of genetic material of all the creatures I could muster. I would then explore the universe in search of a planet that might - might - hold human life. If I find this, I'd then begin the lengthy process of populating this planet. I would be God to these new humans.

This would entertain my fancy for many thousands of years to come - until once again, I devour the world to appease the voices in my head.

[Nehemia]

I'd take immortality, if I could end it the second I want.

[Crysill]

Wait... soo you can be cut and half but yet you would live right?

Basicly you could be split in to the very atoms you are made of and be spread across the universe yet you would live...

Define live for me please here.Since it's technically impossible for a human to be immortal while retaining its bodily functions, you have to stretch your imagination in one of two ways. They're both fairly simple:

Either

A. Immortality implies invincibility. You do not age, your blood will have an appropriate amount of nutrients without the need to breathe, eat, or otherwise consume said nutrients, and you are impervious to all forms of physical sickness and you either cannot be harmed or the parts that are harmed instantly regenerate at optimal health.

Or

B. Immortality implies that you have some sort of "soul" that encompasses you, which will always be connected to every part of your physical body, which otherwise will age, require sustenance, and eventually wither as you would expect it to. Eventually you'll decay into a sort of self-aware corpse. Magical ability to move every part of you where it would be otherwise impossible is optional.

Or you could mix and match aspects of both examples. Everyone's view of what their imaginary immortality would be seems to differ at least slightly. Mine would be almost entirely of the former.

[Everto]

As long as my body doesn't decay, I don't see any problem with immortality.

But hell, I guess that's the only downfall of immortality.

...but IF my body didn't decay... oh the fun...

[Titus Ultor]

What's so boring about space? I'm not even the type to go sky-diving or shit like that, I just think I could keep myself thinking for billions of years, particularly with billions of years of wisdom to keep me company.

And I honestly think someone with a few thousand years of life would see the end of the world coming and hop to Mars.

[EAZYmfE]

What's so boring about space? I'm not even the type to go sky-diving or shit like that, I just think I could keep myself thinking for billions of years, particularly with billions of years of wisdom to keep me company.

And I honestly think someone with a few thousand years of life would see the end of the world coming and hop to Mars.

Skydiving is pretty boring, but anyway you can always kill yourself. If you don't like eternal life.

[spike47]

I could keep myself entertained for a few billion years.

LOLOLZ, that's funny if you know I'm thinking........:idea:

[Skischoow]

If i was immortal i woulf jump off the worlds highest point and hit the ground !!:bang:

then i would go to a moving airplan and grab a wing when no ones looking and fly off with them and try to stand up on it while its in the air and then i would jump off in the water and go swiming in the ocean and go to the deepest place!

[Spart]

Wait actually, why would the universe end? I'm sure in a few hundred years we will have the ability to move around the universe at very slow speeds. While people with a normal lifespan wouldn't like it, immortaility would make the trip fine. A few thousand years, and you might find another civilization. Wouldn't that be great?

In fact, if they had never encountered humans before, and then found out you were un able to be killed, you could probably become their god.

[Forgin]

I would become king of the world, and after that space.

[Ezion]

I wouldn't mind living for an extended period of time, but at some point you would be ready to die, and I'd much rather take a shorter lifespan and the ability to die than an infinite lifespan, which would be hell once your mind degrades into insanity. Even if your mind didn't degrade, it would still get extremely boring after a while, enough that you'd want to kill yourself.

[tarsus]

It would be funny if you got paralyzed after getting eternal life. Well not funny for you, but for everyone else.

[Khumash-Gor]

i think you have to be immortal in order to play df... its in the tos

other than that it would be cool even after earth died you could still experience the rest of the universe.

id do it

[Kuri]

1. I would strap myself to a nuclear weapon.

2. Jump out of an airplane right befor we enter space.

3. Play darkfall.

4. Set myself on fire forever.

I'll think of more later.

Edit: thought of more,

5. Kill a whale from the inside out.

6. Follow suicide jumps to thier death, just to get up and walk away.

7. Run around a war zone fighting people with guns with a spoon.

Edit: MORE!

8. Test every know drug.

[tarsus]

It really all depends on whether or not you feel pain and can regenerate. Also, what your body required to stay healthy. I remember in Lestat, Lestat was underground for a number of years in an extremely weak state and barely had the strength to crawl out of his hole to feed.

[Bamboopanda]

Since it's technically impossible for a human to be immortal while retaining its bodily functions, you have to stretch your imagination in one of two ways. They're both fairly simple:


I always imagined something more like Eves system you copy your original mind/experience's and upload that into a new better body/machine, except that instead of one there are thousands of you all linked mentally (think borg) and you are not a single entity but essentially an team. That way you could die a thousand different deaths and not care, each individual is expendable and infinitely replaceable and all experiences are shared eventually (time and upload lag would stand in the way of most SciFi instant mental connection..

I figure the day we can jack into our video games we are less than a century away from the first 'immortal' consciousness. Next step would be to start launching these copied brains into space and begin exploring far beyond the Sol system. Never made sense to me why we would bother dragging along a useless oversized and underpowered body that is just eager to become a corpse at the first sign of trouble. True immortality would be impossible, everything dies, but if you do it right, you could live, grow, and experience life far longer than our sun has been around.

I don't really see what we consider human pushing out of the bounds of our system, not unless we discover something really fundamentally different in the way the universe works. Near instant(few seconds to few years) travel would seems to be impossible, tho a cool mental masturbation thought.

[Tomaj]

heres one geting sentinced to life in prison with out a chance of relase. ya like thats gonna be good

[Kuri]

heres one geting sentinced to life in prison with out a chance of relase. ya like thats gonna be good


Who? Me? Nahh. I'm just a lonely physcopath.

[Atnas]

No, I don't think so. Imagine... a whole life of working just to keep you from starving and shit. I think people would start to wonder too!

[Tiarilir]

No, I don't think so. Imagine... a whole life of working just to keep you from starving and shit. I think people would start to wonder too!

Or you could just steal stuffz.

[Atnas]

Yeah uh, know. There must be better things you can do with your immortality! Maybe used as a living practice dummy? On the other hand, these things are always wishy washy on your immortality. Do you have to eat? What happens if you don't eat and your body becomes so weak that you can do nothing but lie still in endless, constant agony? Is it possible to tap yourself of all your blood?

[pyrow]

I could keep myself entertained for a few billion years.

Yeah like if I was a vampire or something, or like wolverine where he regens really fast.. I wouldnt mind it. But like say if you fall off a cliff and break every bone in your body, I dont want to be sitting there for the rest of my eternity .. lol.

Really depends on what else you can do while being immortal. I think i'd like it though.

[Beorg]

I would enjoy watching man-kind's journey, but after humans are gone and the planet is stripped of her life, it would be an eternal prison--never to escape, never to end. Worse than death, a suffering no man could endure. A horrible fate for any person. We humans long for what we cannot grasp, but this is something no man should ever hold.

[Tiarilir]

I would enjoy watching man-kind's journey, but after humans are gone and the planet is stripped of her life, it would be an eternal prison--never to escape, never to end. Worse than death, a suffering no man could endure. A horrible fate for any person. We humans long for what we cannot grasp, but this is something no man should ever hold.

Or you could just hibernate until a new civilization rises.

[Barbarossa]

Is it good to be immortal? I'm talking about the kind of immortality which you can't get rid off even if you tried shooting yourself/slicing yourself in half or whatever comes to mind. What if you could live billions of years even after all humanity would be extinct from Earth?

Is it good to be retarded enough to think that immortality is even possible much less make a thread about it?

/close

[Forgin]

I would like Immortality, but with the option to die when I choose to do so.
Watching mankind and doing all kinds of funny stuff is great but after a while it gets boring and you just want your eternal rest.

[BladyKillher]

I would live like I do it now, day by day. Eat when I'm hungry(if food is needed) Founding out new things, enjoy the scenery, travel, create things..etc.
I don't think I would ever get bored since I always find something to do, even in blank space after universe is gone I'll still have what I've seen/learn so far and will expand/theorize in my head which will possibly lead to creating my own universe inside my brain and I might become my own god.

This would be in ideal scenario, but who knows, things can turn "bad" after few billion years and get back to "good" after few bajilion eons..
At least there would be always something to do.

[Teutates]

Hijack a space shuttle and go spacedive into the sun.

And then you'll be stuck in the sun for a few billion years. How fun.

[Helgeran]

I would enjoy watching man-kind's journey, but after humans are gone and the planet is stripped of her life, it would be an eternal prison--never to escape, never to end. Worse than death, a suffering no man could endure. A horrible fate for any person. We humans long for what we cannot grasp, but this is something no man should ever hold.
I would take the risk. Seriously, I die a little inside every time I realise I'm gonna die within this century and that I'll miss millions or billions of years of intersting shit. If I could survive till the end of mankind I'd have stocked up on some really advanced shit so I could either make immortal buddies (we'd be a pantheon) to keep me company or simply create robots to keep me company till their energy too runs out if the universe does indeed cool off and the matter is dispersed.

If everything else fails I'll just get a cybernetic implant making sure it bombards my brain with satisfaction and happiness so I could float around forever in bliss. Isn't that what half the worlds population is striving for anyway?