I hope it is all right to post this in this forum. I don't know the board that well yet Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! If, in a very unlikely scenario, you were giving the following two choices which would you choose a) Only twenty more years of life b) Immortality. By this I mean you cannot die by any cause. I would choose a) because the idea of immortality really frightens me.
Hi and Welcome Miss Chicken I like your question, but I have to know a couple of things. If I choose to die in twenty years, do I get my choice of how I actually die, and if I choose immortality does it mean I do not get sick, old or senile? If all was going to be well, and there was no chance that anything bad would happen to me, then I would choose immortality. I would love to know whether we ever get contacted by ET, or whether we discover the secrets of the universe. I would love to stay here to find out just how far we go with technology and watch as the human race evolves. I would get to see different species of animals come and go. I would get to find out the undiscovered secrets of the bottom of the oceans. I might even be able to travel into space as regularly as stepping onto a bus. Wouldn't that be cool? I know there is a downside, like losing your loved ones, but I think it depends on how you view life. Of course the question then comes to mind that if I'm finally sick and tired of being alive, do I get the priviledge of finally laying down and dying peacefully? It's an interesting question. My answer is just off the top of my head, but I would have to consider it a lot more carefully before I actually committed to a definite answer. I would like to see what others say too. How 'bout it folks? Die or live forever? Cheers, Teri Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Well I will clear up the points you raised. Firstly you are told that you will have only 20 years of life, no mention is made of how you will die. Secondly, if you choose immortality you get to stay as you are now. No old age, no sickness, no senility. And lastly - its immortality for ever. You cannot choose to die when you get sick of it.
Thanks for the clear up. So I guess the decision would have to be immortality. The reason being is that sooner or later an asteroid will hit this planet causing all life to be extinct and I won't have to worry about being tired of living. How's that?
The trouble is I said you can't die by ANY cause. So if the asteroid hits life might be wipe out but you will not be. If the Earth is shattered in a million pieces you will be floating around in the debris very much alive. I think I mean immortality like the Q out of Star Trek have without any of the powers that they possess.
I can think of no better gift than to see every age that mankind will ever live through, and have the ability to tell your descendants about life in the 21st century, something of myths and fables eventually. Sooner or later mankind will turn into a q-like organism, and having that and immortality would turn you into a god .
Trapped inside this fleshy shell for eternity. Nothing to say, it's all already been said. or Spend the first few thousand years building a space vessel. I think I would get bored with it when I'd finished exploring Andromeda. But then again why stop there? I could be the first person to walk throught he heart of a star. There's plenty to see 'out there'. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I would choose immortality. And if I will be tired of living (not likely) I'll just earse my mind (of course possible in far future) and start it all again with no previous experience. Cheers!
I would take the twenty years and run with em. Who, in their right mind, would want to live life over and over and over.... Isnt this life hard enough as it is??Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Just my opinion thoughPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Groove on
I can't imagine any reason why anyone would choose to die unless they were mentally deranged. It’s not as if you can change your mind afterwards. Selecting non-existence just doesn’t make any sense. However, immortality in this primitive biological body with a low capacity brain is definitely not attractive. If I were faced with immortality then I would sincerely hope that I could adapt and enhance myself continuously. Immortality implies an infinite universe and that implies and infinite number of lifestyle scenarios and things to try. Boredom should never be a problem. Cris
I would choose 20 years - for immortality - as if there are no possibilities for death - is indeed a frightening idea. Think about it - someday you would have explored nearly every corner of Space - and by that time, you would probably be bored to the whole essence of immortality already. Then again, if you would be offered immortality... wouldn't it make you a god, eventually? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
As I said before a mixture of magical immortality with the technological advances of the near and far future combine to turn whoever is immortal into a god. I think the Universe is too big to have been explored by one person even if they've been alive since it has been in its more modern form. But the thought persists: Has any one creature in existence ever seen every star, every planet, every creature ever to live and evolve? Storing the data even in an organic place would be a monumental if not impossible task.
Besides, with immortality, we would eventually forget how to appreciate life. Originally posted by Extra Terrestrial Lifeform True, in theory. Perhaps though, the time period suggested of twenty years is not enough to allow one to appreciate life either. At least with eternity you can truely say you've lived. That's the point of life, isn't it? To Live. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Has any one creature in existence ever seen every star, every planet, every creature ever to live and evolve? Originally posted by Pollux V I don't think so. Except perhaps Q. Still, the universe is a dynamic place. Stars die, burn out and others are born. Species evolve and become extinct. Cultures grow, flourish and are quashed. It would mean that you would be able to observe life in a geological time frame. Think in terms of ice-ages rather than days.
ETL, And dying somehow solves that problem, how is that? Given enough time you might also rememeber as well, but if you're dead you have no chance to forget or remember. Cris
Cris, yes, death - in a way, solves it. A human being is able to appreciate life if there is something he/she can contrast it to - think about it this way; if you would be rich and had no worries for money, you would eventually lose the ability to appreciate the small extra incomes a poor man would be glad about. ( or any other similar experience there of Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! if you get too much candy, it just won't taste as good anymore )
Hey Miss Chicken, - when I see your name I keep picturing that cartoon chicken wearing a bonnet (was it Miss Prissy?) and her heart on her 'sleeve' (not that she has one)- you know the one I mean, the one in love with FogHorn Leghon. Cracks me right up. Moving on... In answer to your last response - well, being alive and floating around in all the debris after an asteroid hit would make it more appealing to me. I adore looking at space and I wouldn't have smog or artificial light to inhibit my view. Perhaps I could land on a new planet and become the ET for them. I wonder what sort of reception I'd get? I was thinking about boredom in terms of life today, but hadn't yet considered all the things mankind is still to discover. I think it would be a very freeing revelation for me knowing that I'll live forever, in the sense that I'm one of these people who don't take risky chances by experiencing exciting things for fear of being hurt. Stuff like sky diving, or mountain climbing, or going over Niagra Falls in a barrel! Yep ... the answer is definitely bring on the immortality! Cheers, Teri Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It's too bad that none of us have been offered this gift, however there is a plausible way to get both without asking for either: Make your mark on society (hopefully in a good way, but evil will suffice just as well). By writing books, acting in movies, directing nations, formulating new theories, starting wars, and ensuring that people forever (hopefully) remember you your life becomes immortal even though you pass on. That is my goal, to make my mark by writing (once my book is published I'll tell everyone the title, its currently 'slated' for 2005), something I really, really enjoy doing. Imaginations must express themselves, mine does so through literature.
