If you could live for eternity would you?

whats newxt

As above if we all had the ability to live for eternity would you? If so why?

I personally wouldn't the video below just about sums it up

BBDBB

There can be only One

Too Tough To Die

I'd probably hang around just to see what happens in the football every week.

masti123

yes but only if i was able to kill myself

whats newxt

masti123 wrote: »

yes but only if i was able to kill myself

You can't eternity is endless time

Tokyo

Sounds like fun. But then, I was a big Highlander fan. I might start carrying a sword.

orangesoda

well that is one the after life kind of is, just not on this planet

Zed Bank

Yes, considering theres nothing after death.

TheMilkyPirate

Dont think id enjoy the eventual destruction of the universe that much

poundapunnet

masti123 wrote: »

yes but only if i was able to kill myself

Same here, be nice to have the option.

Frank Lee Midere

No but I'd like the option of not disappearing into nothingness. Or disappearing. As I wish.

nibtrix

Only if I could remain in my early 30's for ever more. I'm happy to be out of my teens and twenties, but I don't want to be old.

I really like this child-less, reasonably healthy, reasonable amount of money, fewer hang ups about what people think of you stage.

Knex*

I don't think so. There's a certain beauty in death. In that it makes life, and the world we live in, all the more precious.

I think Colin Wright's quote rings a little true, here.
“You have exactly one life in which to do everything you will ever do. Act accordingly.”

For me, I think I would take things for granted, and my whole mindset would be changed. I think I would find it very hard to get excited about anything, and that's rather depressing in itself. I really don't like the idea of it at all, to be honest.

And all that is from the perspective of someone living in a 1st world country, and is relatively well off in comparison to the World's Population. Can you imagine an eternity in some hell hole corner of the World?

KilOit

Knex. wrote: »

And all that is from the perspective of someone living in a 1st world country, and is relatively well off in comparison to the World's Population. Can you imagine an eternity in some hell hole corner of the World?

you would eventually become wealthy

Knex*

KilOit wrote: »

you would eventually become wealthy

How? If people can't do it one lifetime, what's gonna change to make them be able to do it eventually?

Perhaps if you were the only one who was eternal, but if everyone was, I think its a little idealistic to say that for sure. Some people are born into situations that will never allow them to see wealth.

Call Me Jimmy

If I had eternity it would be long before the end of eternity (i know) before becoming enlightened and then there no problems so would be pretty cool.

job seeker

Zed Bank wrote: »

Yes, considering there's nothing after death.

Prove it!!

swanronson

An eternity of ****ty daytime tv and endless fapping?

Knex*

swanronson wrote: »

An eternity of ****ty daytime tv and endless fapping?

Is that the pro campaign?

beks101

Good god no, imagine having to stick around to watch all your family and friends die, making new friends and watching them die too, suffering on and on and on through old age without even the promise of the release of death.

I think knowing that your days are numbered and could be up at any time makes life all the more meaningful and poignant.

Frank Lee Midere

Knex. wrote: »

How? If people can't do it one lifetime, what's gonna change to make them be able to do it eventually?

Perhaps if you were the only one who was eternal, but if everyone was, I think its a little idealistic to say that for sure. Some people are born into situations that will never allow them to see wealth.

Compound interest * eternity = wealthy.

alleystar

No, the world is already bad enough, wouldn't want to hang around for any longer than I have to.

Call Me Jimmy

Afterlife just won't be worth afterliving without Jeremy Kyle

Knex*

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Compound interest * eternity = wealthy.

You're still thinking first world country stuff here

The Pheasant2

I definitely would - I love living, the idea of death terrifies me

wretcheddomain

If you lived to eternity then it means at some point you'd have done everything you'd ever want or could have the ability to do; except one thing, die. If you couldn't do this last thing, then what's the point in choosing eternity?

Frank Lee Midere

Knex. wrote: »

You're still thinking first world country stuff here

No. I understand what eternity actually means and that there are banks in the developing world. And that the developing world will be rich as Europe or the US someday.

So to repeat

Compound interest * eternity = wealth. Just save a dollar and invest.

Artful_Badger

No thanks. You would just end up eeking by in some job you dont want to be doing, watching everyone you know die and everything you know become irrelevant until the sun explodes.

Call Me Jimmy

Artful_Badger wrote: »

No thanks. You would just end up eeking by in some job you dont want to be doing, watching everyone you know die and everything you know become irrelevant until the sun explodes.

In which case it's a Super Mario Galaxy time for yoohoo!

Knex*

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

No. I understand what eternity actually means and that there are banks in the developing world. And that the developing world will be rich as Europe or the US someday.

So to repeat

Compound interest * eternity = wealth.

And if you're born in some slum, where any scrap you can find goes simply towards your survival? Banks wont open an account when you turn up with fresh air.

But yeah, perhaps you do get lucky someday. Perhaps some aid comes to your area which sees it develop and you can eventually get out of the pure survival mode you're in.

But doesn't seem worth it to me.

If given the chance of being born in a third world country, but being immortal, or being born to rich parents and being as happy/content as you could realistically ask for while living for 40 years, I take the latter every time.

Frank Lee Midere

Knex. wrote: »

And if you're born in some slum, where any scrap you can find goes simply towards your survival? Banks wont open an account when you turn up with fresh air.

Perhaps you get lucky, or you maybe in a hundred years perhaps, or perhaps not, some aid comes to your area which sees it develop and you can eventually get out of the pure survival mode you're in.

But doesn't seem worth it to me.

If given the chance of being born in a third world country, but being immortal, or being born to rich parents and being as happy, or content really, as you could realistically ask for while living for 40 years, I take the latter every time.

And again you don't understand what eternity means or that the 3rd world is growing rapidity. Worrying about slums in the 3rd world is like a 12th century peasant worrying about his situation and thinking Europe would never get richer . If offered eternity. In fact it's not like that because Europe wasn't growing and the developing world is, so while the European peasant couldn't anticipate growth the developing world worker can.

You don't understand exponentials even in a normal human lifetime.

Of course the world economy could collapse but that would affect rich and poor. If there is no collapse save a few dollars, live for eternity and long before the sun burns out you will be the worlds richest man. That's just compound interest.

Fish Finger Pie

Yes. In the future people will come up with a cure for all negative emotions and I'll live forever in bliss.

ManCityFan01

The only reason I'd like to live forever is because I have this overwhelming fear about death. It's more of an obsession really. I think about it all of the time like how I will die and when I will die. It really freaks me out! Ideally I would like to pass in my sleep as an old man having lived my life to the fullest.

Wacker The Attacker

Immortality would get boring

wretcheddomain

ManCityFan01 wrote: »

I think about it all of the time like how I will die and when I will die. It really freaks me out!

You should really see a specialist if you're thinking about death all the time.

poundapunnet

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

And again you don't understand what eternity means or that the 3rd world is growing rapidity. Worrying about slums in the 3rd world is like a 12th century peasant worrying about his situation and thinking Europe would never get richer . If offered eternity. In fact it's not like that because Europe wasn't growing and the developing world is, so while the European peasant couldn't anticipate growth the developing world worker can.

You don't understand exponentials even in a normal human lifetime.

Of course the world economy could collapse but that would affect rich and poor. If there is no collapse save a few dollars, live for eternity and long before the sun burns out you will be the worlds richest man. That's just compound interest.

Ah here, there's no possible situation where 7 billion people and counting can have the standard of living that Europeans and Americans currently have.

There's a kind of narrative of capitalism that people believe, where the 'developing world' is just behind and it'll all even out if we just keep going the way we are, but the fact is those people need to stay poor for us to live the way we do.

If a person was going to live forever, it'd be pretty silly to put their trust in industrial capitalism and the banks to see them through. You'd want your land, your guns and your water, not your compound interest rates.

Ghost Buster

whats newxt wrote: »

As above if we all had the ability to live for eternity would you? If so why?

I personally wouldn't the video below just about sums it up

Not again, no

Jonny Blaze

Can't wait for this life to end, nevermind an infinite number of them!

Also what about when the universe expires? Be pretty boring after that..

Lone Stone

An eternity working 9 to 5 good god, hell no.

KilOit

Knex. wrote: »

And if you're born in some slum, where any scrap you can find goes simply towards your survival? Banks wont open an account when you turn up with fresh air.

But yeah, perhaps you do get lucky someday. Perhaps some aid comes to your area which sees it develop and you can eventually get out of the pure survival mode you're in.

But doesn't seem worth it to me.

If given the chance of being born in a third world country, but being immortal, or being born to rich parents and being as happy/content as you could realistically ask for while living for 40 years, I take the latter every time.

If we're talking eternity here you would eventually happen to fall into riches, even if you're not gaining interest. some day 10, 100, 10000 years etc you just happen to find a big bag of money (credits, bottle caps) whatever the currency is, live long enough and chance will happen, you could be quite easily be the richest person alive in 10000 or so years

Stavros Murphy

Live for an eternity? You've never been to Naas A&E so OP, you get to wait two eternities there just for an Xray.

Toots

I can see the appeal, but I just keep thinking of Tom Hanks' character in The Green mile - he's had to watch his wife and family and all his friends die while he continues to live.

catallus

It seems to be a thoroughly modern philosophical theme to discuss such hypothetical issues with an air of jaded cynicism: the default position of saying that life is such a distressing burden that one should welcome its expiry with open arms seems to me to be an immaturely skeptical take on it. Is it borne of the prevailing moral relativism? A capitulation to an imagined despair? A juvenile rejection of the Christian promise of redemption? Where does the idea of immortality being boring come from if not from an existential displeasure? Or is it from the silly ignorance of not realising what a gift life is, that people can say "Oh, no, I don't want to live forever." It just seems to be a disconnect from reality. Arse-biscuits, I say. Immortality should be the aim of any conscious being, or else they should meet their demise in the attempt of grasping that treasured prize, sought by philosophers and adventurers since the dawn of man.

Jonny Blaze

catallus wrote: »

It seems to be a thoroughly modern philosophical theme to discuss such hypothetical issues with an air of jaded cynicism: the default position of saying that life is such a distressing burden that one should welcome its expiry with open arms seems to me to be an immaturely skeptical take on it. Is it borne of the prevailing moral relativism? A capitulation to an imagined despair? A juvenile rejection of the Christian promise of redemption? Where does the idea of immortality being boring come from if not from an existential displeasure? Or is it from the silly ignorance of not realising what a gift life is, that people can say "Oh, no, I don't want to live forever." It just seems to be a disconnect from reality. Arse-biscuits, I say. Immortality should be the aim of any conscious being, or else they should meet their demise in the attempt of grasping that treasured prize, sought by philosophers and adventurers since the dawn of man.

Pretty much yeah.

whats newxt

catallus wrote: »

It seems to be a thoroughly modern philosophical theme to discuss such hypothetical issues with an air of jaded cynicism: the default position of saying that life is such a distressing burden that one should welcome its expiry with open arms seems to me to be an immaturely skeptical take on it. Is it borne of the prevailing moral relativism? A capitulation to an imagined despair? A juvenile rejection of the Christian promise of redemption? Where does the idea of immortality being boring come from if not from an existential displeasure? Or is it from the silly ignorance of not realising what a gift life is, that people can say "Oh, no, I don't want to live forever." It just seems to be a disconnect from reality. Arse-biscuits, I say. Immortality should be the aim of any conscious being, or else they should meet their demise in the attempt of grasping that treasured prize, sought by philosophers and adventurers since the dawn of man.

But nobody is saying the default position is "life is such a distressing burden that one should welcome its expiry with open arms" just simply put that death is apart of life. I think it's fairly logical to assume that if you lived to eternity that you would eventually get board, life would lose magic.

Stavros Murphy

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

Live for an eternity? You've never been to Naas A&E so OP, you get to wait two eternities there just for an Xray.

Karma gold, and the irony isn't lost on me, but two hours later, where was I IRL? Yup. A & feckin E......... Karma is a bitch. Never slag off things, People, they use magic and stuff to bite you. On the upside, still alive and day off work.

Uriel.

Damn right I would - though the caveat being that it's not in the physique of a 90 year old or something.

If I could live as I am now, then I'd be all for it. Life's too short, and the bastard keeps speeding up.

ScumLord

I'd like to live for a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, long time. Eternity would probably get boring after a while. It would be a bit like being stuck in a room with a load of teenagers, prattling on about crap you lost interest in years ago.

The_Valeyard

Death is natural. I look forward to it after a nice long happy life.

jimgoose

Absolutely. Provided that there was some sort of advancement, like the fusion of HAL and Dave Bowman into an omnipresent, omnipotent pan-Galactic hyperintelligence. Sort of thing. Nothing worse than being stuck in a dead-end job for ages.

Stretch The Pussy

Sounds like hell to me.