Would you choose to live forever?

I was reading that our first choice for immortality may be our brain put in a jar. Then hooked up with a virtual reality program. This is a long way off future wise. The program would be a reality much like our own.

It raises some serious questions, would we get bored after a few hundred years? What if while we were stuck in a jar and science came up with an end to death? It would suck being in a jar when the rest of the world had a much better choice.

This is just something to ponder.

Put simply, Yes, I would want to live forever, but that would require 2 things... 1) I'm in this body, and 2) I can decide to return to the universal collective (end my life) at any time I choose. I would not want to be immortal, basically... just be able to live indefinitly given that I don't get killed. I would LOVE to see how life is in 500 years and hopefully have a little bit of the memory of this time to compare to. I love to observe things happening. Loved ones? If I can't handle it, I want the option of ending it.

Brain in a jar? Nope... not for me. VR won't do at all. I want the real thing. Besides, a lot of the time your mind goes before your body... although there have been some super-sharp people at old ages.

Nope i think Immortality would be a great thing, but not like other people see it. The day i become immortal is the day i dissapear. Nobody would ever see me again, i would simply travel, walk, run, whatever i'm Immortal.

With the evolving culture there would be plenty of things for me to do on and continuous basis.

However, i do agree that i would need to be able to choose when to actually die, as living FOREVER FOREVER....is a really long time.

But in all honestly....Ten Thousand years....sounds just about right.

Not on this planet!!!


insert second line here...

I would go for it. I would love to see the world through to the end. See if it were possible to change instead of just do cyclic hystory. Barring that, over a long enough time frame one could come to answers on leaving earth to see the nebulae up close and personal.

Hands down, yes.

reply to post by JesterMan


But think about it, immortality would provide a shield against ailments, pain or damage to the body. Really what more could you ask for. As for as getting old while being alive for that long, that would truly suck.

Can't imagine being an old man at age 3000, i mean....that would be ridiculously old, i'd have probably digressed into baby form by then.

It's not so cut and dry when you look at it objectively, not a very easy decision to make. Unless your in power.....

How many of you would still choose immortality if you could not end your own life, and you were the only immortal?

IMO, it would suck, anyone you fell in love with would die, no one could understand your plight, and you couldn't kill yourself.

It seems that people just want to remain in control.

I'm with the other above posters, I would like to live as long as I want without having to worry about dying, but I would still like to have the option of checking out when I'm ready.

Live forever? Nah. Live till I'm good and ready to go, sounds great.

It's intriguing, and I give a resounding "YES!", but not if it requires for my brain to be placed in a jar and hooked up to a computer. What happens when the programmers get bored and stop evolving reality in the simulation? You're stuck with nothing changing.

Now if they could evolve the reality in the simulation without the need for programmers ... basically through the use of Advanced AI, then I might consider it. But still, FOREVER is a loooooong time. I think a few hundred years is good enough for me in a simulation. Now if they could figure out a way to keep your body and mind together and keep you alive indefinetly, then I would be all for living forever. Less of a chance of a bored programmer terminating the program and leaving me hanging in virtual limbo

Originally posted by Bob Sholtz
How many of you would still choose immortality if you could not end your own life, and you were the only immortal?

IMO, it would suck, anyone you fell in love with would die, no one could understand your plight, and you couldn't kill yourself.

It seems that people just want to remain in control.

After a few thousand years of study, you could make people to keep you company. They might not be what we're all used to now, but it would still be some conversation.

With time comes knowledge and presumably understanding. You wouldn't have the same needs 100 years from now as you do now. Sports would have lost interest. Money would be pointless etc. etc.

No.

Very simple. No.

Why?

Because I would go insane.

Originally posted by Revolution-2012
No.

Very simple. No.

Why?

Because I would go insane.

I thought you already were

j/k

If my family was able to live forever as well, I'd consider it. But, in short, no. Wasn't that Dorian Grey's biggest dilemma?

I would chose to live forever only with one condition, that i get to chose when i die.

Definitely 100% yes.

And an extra line for luck

Originally posted by Earthscum
Put simply, Yes, I would want to live forever, but that would require 2 things... 1) I'm in this body, and 2) I can decide to return to the universal collective (end my life) at any time I choose. I would not want to be immortal, basically... just be able to live indefinitly given that I don't get killed. I would LOVE to see how life is in 500 years and hopefully have a little bit of the memory of this time to compare to. I love to observe things happening. Loved ones? If I can't handle it, I want the option of ending it.

Brain in a jar? Nope... not for me. VR won't do at all. I want the real thing. Besides, a lot of the time your mind goes before your body... although there have been some super-sharp people at old ages.

Im right there with you. No jar, no virtual reality. I would want the real thing too. I would not do it though if I was stuck living without the chooise of joining the collective conciesness (or what have you).

Besides, i have no clue just how long peole will be on earth. For all I know we could wipe ourselves out sooner than I expect and id be the only person alive. That would get lonely fast.

So my answer is yes, with stipulations....

Watch Futurama much?



I would not want to be immortal if it meant that I would never die, ever, no matter how much physical punishment I took. I think that would be hell. I would maybe do it if I just stopped aging, at a reletively young point with some resiliance to disease and injury.

I would not want there to be any strange quirks to keeping the body either---like... in a Supernatural episode I was watching, there was the immortal doctor who had to keep himself alive by stealing other people's body parts to replace his own.