• oranssi
    29
    Actually I have 3 questions. Might be seemilar in context but beg different answers.

    1- What would you do in life if you had extreme longevity, if your appearance would be 30 for some decades?

    2- What would you do if you knew that you never age, but were vulnerable? And finally...

    3- How would you live if you were immortal? (Invulnerable biologically and / or extra-corporealy)
  • Bornready
    4
    I would live in the most original state of my being.
  • Terrapin Station
    13.8k
    I take it that you're asking what we'd do differently if we knew that we'd never age, but that we could die via accidents, etc.versus being immortal in the sense that we also couldn't die or get seriously injured etc.

    In the former case, I'd live as I do now. I'd not go to extremes to avoid risks, because that would make life not worth living in the first place--I'd not avoid drivin/riding in cars, I'd not avoid riding bicycles, etc.

    In the latter case, depending on whether I could still be in pain or not, and assuming "not," I'd do all sorts of crazy things that I wouldn't try otherwise--jump out of an airplane without a parachute, free dive all over the ocean, hike in the middle of lion country, etc.
  • noAxioms
    1.3k
    In the latter case, depending on whether I could still be in pain or not, and assuming "not," I'd do all sorts of crazy things that I wouldn't try otherwise--jump out of an airplane without a parachute, free dive all over the ocean, hike in the middle of lion country, etc.Terrapin Station
    I had the same sort of thinking, but I don't think any of these activities would be fun since they involve no danger. Without the concept of danger, nothing can be thrilling.
    I find it interesting that the two answers (between can-be-killed and not) gather such opposite responses. A life with danger is worth taking the care to preserve, and the one most like the typical description of our afterlife on the new earth results in futile attempts to get back what was lost.
  • Terrapin Station
    13.8k
    I had the same sort of thinking, but I don't think any of these activities would be fun since they involve no danger. Without the concept of danger, nothing can be thrilling.noAxioms

    I'm someone who routinely uses invincibility cheats in video games.

    Jumping out of airplanes, for example, would be kind of like a roller coaster in that situation. I have enough trust in amusement parks that I don't think there is any danger on a roller coaster. But it's still thrilling because of the sensations (and the airplane would be because of the views, too)
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    I think you're the first person I met who broke down the notion of immortality into categories.

    I think immortality of type 1 and 2 are becoming more and more plausible with advanced in medicine and genetics. Type 1 immortality is very much a reality with many people aging well i.e. able to lead independent and fulfilling lives and I think some in this forum prove that. I don't know about others but I see a real advantage for young folks that people live to their 90's now - the knowledge and experience they can gain are incalculable. Of course there'll be a few exceptions - some people we can do without - but overall I think we stand to gain.

    Type 2 immortality is still a dream but, I think, achievable. Knowledge would grow exponentially as (some) people will invest themselves wholly in the information age - something like in type 1 but on a much greater scale.

    Type 3 immortality will be a singularity. Unpredictable! Will people thirst for the vast amount of knowledge, which is growing as we speak, availabe or will we become couch potatoes. God will become redundant because the only real thing we desire from him is, well, immortality. That also raises the question of the value of morality. Also, on the flip side, since we won't be able to hurt each other, bad would also be meaningless.
  • Cavacava
    2.4k
    3- How would you live if you were immortal? (Invulnerable biologically and / or extra-corporealy)

    As a point.
  • Nils Loc
    1.3k
    In all cases I'd think about overcoming my limitations and fears to achieve a kind of life worth living.

    The first step might be to dispense with a fickle internet wandering in favor of performing acts and taking risks in the world of 3-dimensions.

    If I was absolutely invulnerable I'd designate myself a deity and either help or hinder people. Lead a group of freedom fighters in the Congo. Become a new prophet of fundamental Islam owing to my divine or demonic powers by shear force. Destroy the Coca Cola corporation after I sit on the couch and drink coke for a thousand years.
  • _db
    3.6k
    I'd wonder if I really was immortal. What if there was something that could kill me? How could I ever know I really was immortal unless I were God?
  • T Clark
    13k
    1- What would you do in life if you had extreme longevity, if your appearance would be 30 for some decades?

    2- What would you do if you knew that you never age, but were vulnerable? And finally...

    3- How would you live if you were immortal? (Invulnerable biologically and / or extra-corporealy)
    oranssi

    I'd like to think I would turn down the opportunity, but I probably wouldn't. I think my answer is the same for each of the three choices. I'd do nothing. Then more nothing. And then more and more. Until something told me to do it. Then I'd do it. Then I'd do nothing until something else told me to do it.

    You don't need to worry about what you'll do next if you don't have to worry about your security and don't get bored. Actually, that's what I would do - I'd teach myself how never to be bored. I've made progress in that regard already. With eternity to work with, I'd get it right eventually.

    What about when the universe re-collapses or expands to its heat death? What happens to me then?
  • Wosret
    3.4k
    Not aging past 30, I'd miss out on a vast swath of the human condition, and never be able to truly correlate my experiences to the very general experiences which make us language, and thought. Everything would be different than it had ever been for another, and you'd be entirely alone, with no one that ever truly understood the conditions of your existence.

    Fear of death is fear of life. "Unfinished business", feeling that one missed out on facets of the human condition at pivotal points in their development -- but they procrastinate, and fear living, and because they know that their time is limited, and the psychological future never arrives (putting stuff off until later, just makes one better and better and putting stuff off until later, and "later" never arrives), so they wish for an infinite amount of time to twiddle their thumbs in avoidance.

    Short answer... if I were immortal, I'd stress test that shit... lol
  • River
    24
    The immortal can live immorally. No karma/judgement—ever.
  • oranssi
    29

    There could be a danger of boredom when immortal.


    :)


    :)
  • oranssi
    29
    As a follow-up,

    Could we already be immortal, choosing to live dangerously as mortals?
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