Would you want to become immortal

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

...if we imagine the technology to make it possible was within reach.

For me definitely. I enjoy living. There is so many good things to do. There are somethings which I guess would be enjoyable to do even if I do them over and over again. Things including playing sports, building stuff machines from lego, smelling of a grilled steak, listening to music and cuddling with a good-looking girl...

I don't think it would be boring. On the other hand it would be very exciting to know you have thousands of years to do any thing you want. Suddenly its not too bad to waste your time on a remote topic.

[Gillianren]

I am in constant pain. My mental state is unstable. I don't want to live forever like this. Maybe if I were like a normal person, but not like this.

[phaishazamkhan]

Are we talking about immortality of the kind granted to the Cumaean Sybil? If so, I don't want to spend eternity as an elderly person.
Definitely would not want to be immortal like the Highlander series of movies and the television program because then I really wouldn't be immortal since someone would be out for my head and being an atheist I'd feel stupid hanging out in religious sites.
Does your definition of immortality imply that the immortal can choose to commit suicide at any time and stay dead? Would the immortal be perfectly immortal where they could be vaporized at ground zero yet mysteriously come back like Doc Manhattan?
Perhaps you mean choosing one's favorite age when one was at their physical peak and spending the rest of eternity at that age? Mmmmmmmmaybe. I think it'd be much better to have an extended lifespan because even if there was a way to travel to the second planet of Tau Ceti for a weekend holiday I believe one would eventually become jaded and full of ennui after the passage of millennia along with acquiring a different perception of one's fellow man since they're like mayflies to your African gray parrot.
I'd like to live for five hundred years with immortal regeneration and the option to get an extra century if I make a really good case.

[KaiYeves]

I don't know, if I lived for thousands of years, I could travel to nearby stars at the speed of Voyager and still be okay. But if all of my friends died out, that would be hard.

[PetersCreek]

I can sympathize and commiserate with Gillian on the pain issues, if only in degree. But still I'm torn on the immortality question. Would I want to be truly immortal...oh heck no...not on your everlasting life. But I don't think I'd mind being able to live for as long as I liked, until I decided the time and means of my passing.

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

Does your definition of immortality imply that the immortal can choose to commit suicide at any time and stay dead?

Yes. I mean not being bound by the "disease" of aging.

Perhaps you mean choosing one's favorite age when one was at their physical peak and spending the rest of eternity at that age?

Precisely.

[KaiYeves]

So I could de-age myself back to eight years old and stay there for thousands of years? Cool, as long as I could keep my present mental capablities.

[Serenitude]

No, I wouldn't. I love life, and hold it very sacred. But I think one would encounter something akin to the vampires in Ann Rice novels, where they eventually die of boredom, and of an increasing ability to understand the culture they exist in. Passing is the ultimate peace, and I do not fear it. I will become star-stuff once again, even if offered a choice

[RalofTyr]

This really isn't immortality, but rather an extension of life much like heart transplant surgery. One hundred years ago, if your heart was in trouble, you're dead. Now, something can be done, if you have the money. That brings me to the next question, wealth. How much would you pay to be eternally young?

Eternal youth, will only belong to the wealthy elite.

Suppose there was some sort of communist revolution in which the poor, non-eternal youth rose up and took control of society and made the eternal youths their slaves. Would you want to be a slave for the rest of your immortality?

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

I will become star-stuff once again, even if offered a choice

So are you saying having your atoms turn into star stuff better is than having it become a complex organism such as you?

Would you want to be a slave for the rest of your immortality?

You could take your life anytime you wish. It does not mean you are unable to die.

[RalofTyr]

You could take your life anytime you wish. It does not mean you are unable to die.

What if we don't want to die. What if we desire wine, good food and company instead of death?

What if we couldn't die? What if medicine advanced so much that they can revive a dead person?

[Serenitude]

So are you saying having your atoms turn into star stuff better is than having it become a complex organism such as you?

It's a long-term view. I made no judgement call as to saying I thought it was better or worse than anything else. Anyway, in the short term, wether I integrate with worms or flies, in the long term, we're all baby star food. I just find the thought a nice one.

[Chuck]

I picked yes when I thought it said Immoral. Can I change my answer?

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

try shouting obscenities at a mod... before killing a puppy.

[Serenitude]

I can't change a poll answer. They're unchangeable, AFAIK.

[phaishazamkhan]

What if we don't want to die. What if we desire wine, good food and company instead of death?

How do you know what death is like until you die? Maybe death is the BEST THING EVAR and that's why we're not overrun by the undead because they're particularly happy in their respective afterlives. See next item.

What if we couldn't die? What if medicine advanced so much that they can revive a dead person?

Man, that would be frustrating. Life's ultimate goal is death. Whether it's transcendence, oblivion or recycling aspects of oneself death is a necessary part of life. Death, like life, is a choice.
Now getting back to my original point. You die, technology that's indistinguishable from science brings you back from the dead, is death really better than life or the other way around? Make your choice there.

Just sticks in my craw the way it was phrased "couldn't die".

[tonyman1989]

I would want to live forever.

[Chuck]

I'll take the immortality. If things got too bad I could always go insane and set up a private little world in my own mind.

[Zachary]

hmm, infinity is big..really big. I guess I could give it a shot though, and pop my clogs if it really didn't appeal to me.

I think one of the hardest things would be adjusting to the cultural changes. Imagine if you grew up in the renaissance and having to eventually get to grips with 21st century culture and values, yet alone the 210000th century

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

Been there, done that. Living a world in your mind and not being bound by reality is probably the most pleasurable thing.

[Dragon Star]

I'd never have the guts to kill myself, however if I found out tomorrow I have stage 4 cancer or something I'd just let it go and finish with a bang. But as young as I am, obviously my POV is obscure from most here. I'd just like too many things to be different to enjoy it.

[Moose]

The devil's in the details. I have a pretty good idea where Gillian's coming from, having issues of my own.

All things being equal, if it means I choose when I'm ready to "sheathe the sword", then yes, I'd likely undergo such a procedure.

[Van Rijn]

I picked:

Yes. But only if I'm phyically/mentally sound

I hate aging. There are too many things I haven't seen or done yet, and too many things I expect to be possible after my body has finally broken down, so yes, I very much would like to live longer. On the other hand, I know what extreme chronic pain is like, and I wouldn't be interested in living longer if it meant I had to go through that.

[KaiYeves]

What if we couldn't die? What if medicine advanced so much that they can revive a dead person?

Leave a note saying that you wish to stay dead.

[mike alexander]

With my luck, if I chose immortality the next year science would prove heaven exists.

But I think the idea of immorality, as previously suggested, has merit.

[Michael Noonan]

What if we don't want to die. What if we desire wine, good food and company instead of death?

What if we couldn't die? What if medicine advanced so much that they can revive a dead person?

Well I wouldn't mind giving it a try before I criticized the idea. There is a point if you are immortal then you could outlive any captor. If that wasn't enough think how long you could have to plan the perfect escape.

[Maksutov]

[edit]Eternal youth, will only belong to the wealthy elite....

Pardon me for asking, but what is it with the apparent fixation on (so-called) economic/social class differences? It's hard to read your posts without noticing this theme running through them.

Just curious.

[Maksutov]

Would you want to become immortal?

It depends.

As others have mentioned it depends on the circumstances of one's immortality.

I would not want to wind up as one of Swift's Struldbrugs.

On the other hand, it would be fun to dance on the graves of all of those who wronged you. Or, better, to stay young while they withered.

But then again, immortality is a pipe dream. Whether the Universe expands to where it's at 0 Kelvin or reverses into another big bang, either way one has only so much time.

[Serenitude]

Or, as the old SNL skit suggests, Satan will give eternal life, only to have you sentenced to life in prison

[3dknight]

I heard people are freezing themselfs and in a hundred years or so they are unfreezing them when they have the technology to do so with everything in their body running properly. This is an option if you just wanna see what the future holds.