Today I Learned...

[JD001]

Today I learned that science fiction films capture a future world that has wondrous technologies, people live forever, cures for all sorts but baldness...

[soundman98]

i've never understood the fixation on living forever.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by soundman98

i've never understood the fixation on living forever.

I find this to be an extremely interesting philosophical topic with many facets. Why would you not want to live forever?

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Spuds

I find this to be an extremely interesting philosophical topic with many facets. Why would you not want to live forever?

I think it would suck the joy out of living. Immortality implies lack of risk therefore everything would be taken for granted. At my middle age, I already suffer from been-there-done-that syndrome.


Except for driving the Lotus. I'm still looking forward to that someday.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I think it would suck the joy out of living. Immortality implies lack of risk therefore everything would be taken for granted. At my middle age, I already suffer from been-there-done-that syndrome.


Except for driving the Lotus. I'm still looking forward to that someday.

On the other hand, the possibility of living forever might make the same risks seem greater. If you have 1000+ years left vs 50 years left, might you think twice about taking certain risks? Alternatively, maybe look at it the other way and try starting over at 50 or 60 and to do something different?

By living forever, I am imagining stopping/slowing aging at a time you can choose.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

On the other hand, the possibility of living forever might make the same risks seem greater. If you have 1000+ years left vs 50 years left, might you think twice about taking certain risks? Alternatively, maybe look at it the other way and try starting over at 50 or 60 and to do something different?

By living forever, I am imagining stopping/slowing aging at a time you can choose.

Immortality implies you can not die. No matter what. What possible "risks" could there be much less have "greater" ones?
Starting over at 50 or 60 means nothing if there is no end.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Immortality implies you can not die. No matter what. What possible "risks" could there be much less have "greater" ones?
Starting over at 50 or 60 means nothing if there is no end.

Immortality does not equal invulnerability. My intent was to imagine a world where you could stop the aging process.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Spuds

I find this to be an extremely interesting philosophical topic with many facets. Why would you not want to live forever?

Ever talk/live with someone who lived during the great depression? To have to repeat that then, and in 2009, and likely again... My dad's got stories from his grandma. One night she didn't understand how to take the cellophane wrapper off some leftovers, microwaved the entire thing, and forced them to eat it anyways because great depression life, you don't ever throw things away. Another relative was a compulsive hoarder(at least that's what's it's classified a now) due to similar great depression life experience. I believe it was 6 large dumpsters to clean out that house when they passed...

Life is precious because all life is finite. But death and new life also serves as a reset. Without that reset, the urgency of passing along knowledge is also non-existent, so history and life experience become less important because a large populous has already lived it, and doesn't feel like talking or passing along I do about it.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Immortality does not equal invulnerability. My intent was to imagine a world where you could stop the aging process.

Yes, yes it does. The very definition of immortal is to never die.
Stopping aging but still being vulnerable to other hazards is a totally different topic with other benefits and drawbacks.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Immortality does not equal invulnerability. My intent was to imagine a world where you could stop the aging process.

While I took immortality the same way as Tcoat, I see your interpretation. In that context, I can't bring myself to hope for more than my fair share. There are already too many of us. Let the kids have a turn.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by soundman98

Ever talk/live with someone who lived during the great depression? To have to repeat that then, and in 2009, and likely again... My dad's got stories from his grandma. One night she didn't understand how to take the cellophane wrapper off some leftovers, microwaved the entire thing, and forced them to eat it anyways because great depression life, you don't ever throw things away. Another relative was a compulsive hoarder(at least that's what's it's classified a now) due to similar great depression life experience. I believe it was 6 large dumpsters to clean out that house when they passed...

Life is precious because all life is finite. But death and new life also serves as a reset. Without that reset, the urgency of passing along knowledge is also non-existent, so history and life experience become less important because a large populous has already lived it, and doesn't feel like talking or passing along I do about it.

So it sounds like there are a few different ideas here. I'm going to try to summarize each in a sentence then discuss.

1. You don't want to live forever because you will inevitably experience some great tragedy and suffering. One thing to point out here is that people born in 1930s like my grandfather were also around for things like the moon landings and the eradication of polio. On a personal level, a lot of living has been good. Graduations, weddings, promotions, parties, etc. I personally feel that life has more upside than downside but maybe you feel differently?

2. If the length of life was infinite, it wouldn't have any value. By this do you mean (a)"If I didn't have a time limit I wouldn't bother doing anything today because I could just do it tomorrow or some other day", or (b) "Who cares about Bob getting killed, I'm sure I can find someone else like him eventually"? Or something completely different?

3. You don't want to live forever because you will feel less inclined to pass along your experience because more people will have a similar level of experience relative to your own? I don't really understand this one. Are you saying that you feel the 30 years between you and the younger generation would feel less significant to you? Or is it more concerning that you/they would have more difficulty succeeding the generation before if the elder never had to cede their experience?

[Sapphireho]

I like pizza.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by soundman98

Ever talk/live with someone who lived during the great depression? To have to repeat that then, and in 2009, and likely again... My dad's got stories from his grandma. One night she didn't understand how to take the cellophane wrapper off some leftovers, microwaved the entire thing, and forced them to eat it anyways because great depression life, you don't ever throw things away. Another relative was a compulsive hoarder(at least that's what's it's classified a now) due to similar great depression life experience. I believe it was 6 large dumpsters to clean out that house when they passed...

Life is precious because all life is finite. But death and new life also serves as a reset. Without that reset, the urgency of passing along knowledge is also non-existent, so history and life experience become less important because a large populous has already lived it, and doesn't feel like talking or passing along I do about it.

My grandparents home was crazy when we finally had them move to a care facility years ago. Like the inside of the house was neat and all but the garage just had tons of stuff they never wanted to throw away. My grandfather lived through the Great Depression and while he wasn't an insane hoarder it was clear he picked up that habit of never letting anything go to waste. It rubbed off on my parents too because for the longest time they hated getting rid of dumb stuff, like boxes for computers or the tv. It would just sit in the closet or garage waiting to be used again (aka never).

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by soundman98

Life is precious because all life is finite. But death and new life also serves as a reset. Without that reset, the urgency of passing along knowledge is also non-existent, so history and life experience become less important because a large populous has already lived it, and doesn't feel like talking or passing along I do about it.

This is an interesting take. I think the most important knowledge is passed on mostly from parent to child. While the great depression was indeed great and depressing, all over the world, people live in even greater scarcity their entire lives. ...and that life is no less cherished. It's all a matter of perspective.