Do you want to be immortal?

I don't. I can't imagine the insanity that would set in if you witnessed human kind's idiocy for hundreds if not thousands of years?

Do you? If so, why?

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Honestly, I do - I want to witness what is to come. Reminds me of the Futurama episode where the professor has a forward only time machine and they sit back with beers and watched the end of the universe. I would want to see it all.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Ever seen the man from earth?.




No I wouldn't want to be immortal but I wouldn't mind living 10k years.

a reply to: Blinkydoo

LOL. You've got balls of steel!

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Good or bad, I want to see it all and watch the universe die, see if it is reborn and if not, turn out the lights, knowing it's finally over.

a reply to: boymonkey74

No. I will check it out.

I think being immortal and living way past when all life on earth was gone would actually be a curse.

We are, but we don't want to stay here. Not here. Not fixed on any "reality" dimension either. Able to progress to better places all the time. But don't ever want to go somewhere, even if I chose the assignment (and no where if I didn't), without memories of who I am and what to do, and the way home not fear based and traumatic.

a reply to: rickymouse

Word.

I would. Witnessing what humanity has up it's sleeve would be interesting. And if I grew bored I could get myself killed pretty easily. After all, immortal isn't locked in like invincible. There are still ways out.

If you believe in a spirit, then it seems like we've already been living forever. Humans have been around ever since our energy decided to take form as a bag of flesh/dust.

Energy can be neither created nor be destroyed, but it can change form.

Think about it.

a reply to: eisegesis

I was thinking that too but in answering his question, I was thinking immortal as in a constant unbroken awareness. We may all be energy but no one I know can recall the last 100,000 years.

I know, another nut job interfering........ You are already immortal !!!!! Wait until the day when something happens to you and you finally realize that you are immortal, it's beyond cool. Keep it Gucci, baby..Nuttin' but LOVE.a reply to: Wide-Eyes

I think It could become a curse unless you lose the ability to think
To watch your nearest and dearest perish the survivor guilt will make you unhappy. You will not want to get too close to anyone. Your ability to share experiences will dissipate as you attain the perspective of decades and centuries .

You will become dissociated and removed from the excitement of the new born around you. and demotivated.
Few will understand where you are coming from in your outdated and arcane views and interests.

It will be hard to connect - even for historians - you wont be much help unless you had access to a superior over view of events. But even if you maintained such access chances are your actual interest and curiosity will fade with its cyclical nature and in boredom your days become repetitive.

Depending of how fearful of death you are you may take risks in your first century or two - to counter the ennui with excitement of dangerous things-sports ect - with a need to keep going until the odds overcome you or maybe you cease to care and trudge forward under command of your appetite for food.

Neither caring whether you lived or died.

originally posted by: Blinkydoo
a reply to: eisegesis

I was thinking that too but in answering his question, I was thinking immortal as in a constant unbroken awareness. We may all be energy but no one I know can recall the last 100,000 years.

Well, you know the deal about people "claiming" to have had past lives. I only bring it up to support that "awareness" may have always existed in the form of our energy cycling through bags of flesh like a soul shedding its skin.

There may e a brief moment between conscious awareness while you change suits.

As for me?

I choose death. I would rather believe in my spirit, like I believe all animals have, will find a new purpose after my old skin suit develops too many wrinkles. Even in bacteria, the spirit may be simple and fleeting, but exists to imbue function and form.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Immortal? Absolutely not. Life is already starting to get a bit boring from time to time. I can imagine that when my body wears out I won't be too upset to see it happen.

What I would like, however, is to be impervious to disease/infection. Give me more quality out of the quantity I already have.

I wouldn't mind being immortal as long as I had a healthy body and the option of turning off the lights if I chose to do so.
Death is kind of like falling asleep in the middle of a good movie. I want to see how it ends.

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
I don't. I can't imagine the insanity that would set in if you witnessed human kind's idiocy for hundreds if not thousands of years?

Do you? If so, why?

I think this is a good question.

I'm not sure what you are talking about individual immortality or group immortality.

In a sense the 'idiocy' you see is a manifestation of collective, well maybe not immortality, existence over time.

But personally, at my age, the idea of immortality is distressing. I have to live with my errors and the consequences thereof and it's a heavy burden now to live with at times. Imagine how heavy the burden would be after hundreds of years. No I think the existence with periodic new starts (with old baggage along for the ride) allows us to avoid a large dose of cynicism and close mindedness. Think how rigid some, even young folk's, thinking gets over time unless they consciencly work hard at staying open minded.

I think the idea of individual/personal immortality is a trap.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Of course I would like to be immortal.

Imagine evolving forever!

Yeah but I would want the ability to stand outside the timeline to observe and/or participate in history. Once outside you could reenter the timeline anywhere. Teleport infinite light years with a thought. Be made of indestructible energy so I could bathe in a star, explore a black hole or wander the universes. Be able to absorb knowledge, skills and abilities from others as well as shape shift to fit in with the target population.

What would it be like to experience being a dinosaur, be at Pompeii, talk to Socrates, watch combat in the Colosseum, live in ancient Athens, spend time reading in the library of Alexandria, watch Leonardo Da Vinci, be on an 18th century warship or spend time on a Mediterranean trading ship in the ancient world.

What would it be like to be at the 1914 Christmas truce, be at the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, observe the Trinity test on July 16, 1945 or be on the Missouri on September 2, 1945 to watch the Japanese surrender.

I guess with this type of immortality you could just step back in time to participate in history as it unfolded. Do it again and again at different places with different faces.

Experience life and problems as rich, poor, servant and slave, both male and female to get the full nuance of history from each perspective. I think it might be a hoot to be male and a knight in armor riding into battle.

Watch the birth and death of the our solar system, our galaxy and this universe.