Philosophy Philosophical question number 10

Mycernius

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As Smoke seems to have left his questions at number 9, iI have decided to take up the flag with this one ( hope you don't mind mate):

If you were offered immortality, would you accept or refuse?

I ask this because it seems to have come up on the 'Why do people die thread?' and because I did a play a couple of years back called 'The Immortal City' in which an entire city was given immortality by a demon to see what would happen. Eventually everyone left the city to live a mortal life in the outside world.
The question above sets no boundries on the immortality offered. You would remain the same and be able to go anywhere.
 
imaging the memories like files: every ten years one needs to update.

so does the offer includes free updates?

or, the person shifts slowly into status of oldfashioned/outmoded

(if applied to real world)

or, the scenario does not change over the decades...
 
As long as that self portrait I have in the attic is OK .... I'd go for it !

?W????
 
I would probably say "no" because after the first few hundred years, chances are the novelty would have probably worn off by then. After travelling abroad and visiting every locale imaginable (from the exotic to the mundane), after having seen or witnessed anything and everything in this world firsthand that might have caught my fancy, sooner or later I would want to settle down. And therein lies the problem because human beings are by our very nature social creatures.

Emotionally, it would be too difficult to get to know someone, become attached, fall in love, maybe live together or get married, and then... watch that person grow older with the passing of time, eventually to die leaving me back at square one with only the option to repeat the cycle. Watching family, friends, even one's own children pass away time after time would be too difficult for the human psyche to bear, doomed to repeat an endless cycle... And anyone that thinks they could endure the solitude of an ageless existence is only kidding themselves.

Hardly a life worth living if you ask me...
 
Goodness, I liked your resposne Iron Chef. :cool: But I think I would say no to immortality. I would say, better dead than alone.
 
What do you mean by immortality? I would reject all immortality on principle unless some sort of "god" powers were involved. Like if my hand was cut off, would it grow back? Could it even be cut off? If I was thrown into a volcano, would I merely burn in agony forever? If I was given some sort of immunity from all pain &c... I would happily accept. But without some other powers to accompany it, it's worthless.
 
Depends on 2 factors

1: Could you choose a mortal life eventually
(Not nessesarily due to not being able to die but more the fact you KNOW you cant die even if you want to would probally eventually drive a person insane. I dont wanna be off my rocker for all eternity) I would need to be able to die if i choose to.

2: Would you age. I dont wanna be an old wrinkly or in bad health. Could i stop my age at 25?

If 1 and 2 are satisfied then i would. I could travel everywhere and learn everything(That would be possible to learn in this time) New things are invented, found out so obviously i would have to keep up with the times.

I think the fact about loved ones dieing is not really an issue. After so many years e.g. 500 you would of lost so many loves, wives, children that i imagine it will get easier and you will begin to understand that people die, you dont have a choice and so move on.
A problem i see is getting yourself in financial trouble. If you lose everything you may have to spend quite a few hundred years pennyless. So financial stability would be an issue. If of course you were really rich chances are you would stay that way but investments or just Bank interest lol (very very rich) putting you in a place to really help people with your time etc. It would suck to get something like Aids though because then that would really put a downer on you living forever. Or would this not happen, does immortality come with not being able to get diseases.

As chris said i dont wanna be tortured forever by lying in a volvano so a certain amount of other powers will be needed and to be taken into account.

However if these lose ends could be tied up by this evil demon to give me this power then i of course would take it. However i feel i ask of alot more that will not be given, there are to many little problems that could lead to a big one. In the end some kind of contract with 1 billion extra needs would need to be incorperated. Is there something you also have not thought of or i have not thought of that is not in my post. It would take that eternity of immortality to make this plan safe.

What if you some how got buried alive, could you live there unable to move or do anything for eternity. In the hope some archologist will dig you up hundreds of years later only to let you end up in some military test center in the hope they will find this secret for their soldiers etc.


I sit on the fence and ask for more. I could not turn this offer down but at the moment it has to many problems to agree with.
 
It Depends On The Options Given To Me

If I could have the choice of having immortality would I take it? Unfortunately for me there is no simple yes or no answer on this one. I would have to see the various options and rules that apply before I would ever make such a choice.

1.) Who is giving me this choice? Is it somebody who represents good or is it somebody who represents evil? If it was somebody who represents good then I would take it into consideration. If it was somebody who represents evil I wouldn't even bother thinking about it at all.

2.) Is it just immortality or is it eternal youth. If I had a choice between the two I would choose eternal youth simply because I could give an extremely long and fulfilling life, and yet I still had the option to die when I wanted to. To age but never die is a very poor existence in life.

3.) If it's both immortality and eternal youth is there still an option for me to die? Meaning is there still a way I could off myself or die of natural causes when I finally decide enough is enough? Death is an integral part of life. Not having an option in death just defies the cycle of life. I would think that having an option to die would still be a good thing to have; Kind of like Achilles?f heel if you know what I mean.

4.) Am I the only person who is offered this? Who else is offered to be immortal? I would like to think if there was somebody else who was in on it with you it would make all the death of generations gone by a little bit more bearable.

5.) Why am I given this opportunity? I would think there should be a good reason to be offered such an incredible power in cheating death as to having immortality. What have I done to deserve such a choice?

There are many other factors that come into play, but those are just some of the main ones. Personally if there was a way to still die in the end, and it was for good and not evil then I would go for it. Simply put my thirst for knowledge is infinite. I would explore the world, our galaxy, and beyond until I was tired, and felt that I had gained enough knowledge on this plane of existence before ending my life. Loneliness is a considerable factor since we are after all social beings, but then again loners like me kind of like the solitude. Sure it's sad to be lonely, but as long as I'm happy learning things then that's all that matters.

Still like I said there are many factors that must come into play before I would choose such a thing. I would have to really sit down and think about it for a while too. I guess in the end it all really depends on my options; other than that I would not go with such an option despite how large my thirst for knowledge is. There are just some things you have to acknowledge about life in general before you decide to take a plunge like that. Well at least I know I would take things into account, but I don't know about anybody else.


Doc:ramen::happy:
 
Some good question back to clarify what I meant by immortality. I did say you would remain the same, by that I inferred that you would not age and your body would repair itself if damaged. Almost as if time had stoppped for your body. The offer is immortality, total and absolute, there is no get out by death clause. Why would it bother you if it was offered by good or evil Doc (human concepts)? The offer has no strings attached and it is you and you alone. Hope this has answered some of your questions.
 
Option 1 :
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Option 2 :
551b0524.jpg


Option 3 :
e092af89.jpg


While ,

OPTION 4 :
Mortality.jpg


So, 'tis EASIER to refuse Immortality than to accept Or 'tis BETTER to Die than to Get Bored. :D

( This is the way i was used to express my Feelings in 2005 BC ) :souka:
 
Even with God-like powers? Well, I would probably except immortality. But then, I think I would still be misrable. Walking this earth, with no real purpose. And my soul being trapped inside of me. Yeah, I think about stuff like that. But then, Anne Rice has influenced my beliefs on immortality. :blush:
 
Id probably accept as long as I dont become immortal like they do in "Death Becomes Her". Then again i might not. Now i think aboot it, its not a simple question... :?
 
www.deathclock.com <<<Welcome to the Death Clock(TM), the Internet's friendly reminder that life is slipping away... second by second. Like the hourglass of the Net, the Death Clock will remind you just how short life is. :D

I love the part when it shows 'Seconds Left in My Life . :D

Btw ... my date of Death is 20th May, 2056. ah ... !!! :D

(Sorry, in case I'm getting off-topic)
 
Mycernius said:
Why would it bother you if it was offered by good or evil Doc (human concepts)?
Why? It's because I would rather die than spend an eternity on this moral plane of existance, die, and then spend another eternity in Hell. Two Hells? Nope not gonna do it!

Doc:ramen::happy:
 
Ma Cherie said:
Walking this earth, with no real purpose.

You could walk the earth doing good where it is needed. Bringing joy and happyness to those without.
 
InnerVision said:
www.deathclock.com <<<Welcome to the Death Clock(TM), the Internet's friendly reminder that life is slipping away... second by second. Like the hourglass of the Net, the Death Clock will remind you just how short life is. :D

I love the part when it shows 'Seconds Left in My Life . :D

Btw ... my date of Death is 20th May, 2056. ah ... !!! :D

(Sorry, in case I'm getting off-topic)


That's not friendly. Besides darling, how accurate do you think that clock is? Goodness, you love to know the seconds left in your life?! :mad: This is outragious, totally outragious!!! :mad:
 
That's not friendly. Besides darling, how accurate do you think that clock is? Goodness, you love to know the seconds left in your life?!

That was quite Long ago when human started to think that he has given the ability to Invent. So, in those beautiful days of Invention he developed something called Humour & then suddenly he modified it into 'Sarcasm' .I just made Use of this Outrageous Invention.:D

This is outragious, totally outragious!!!

You Guys do not even Know where to put an 'I' where to Not. :( :D
 
Well, you don't know when to use capital letters. *sticks tongue out* :blush: Let's not turn this into a discussion about punctuation. :bluush:
 

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