Live forever?

[farscapeone]

If somebody offers you the power to live forever, would you actually accept it? If you have to choose without the possibility of coming back, what would you do and why?

I know many people wish to live forever but have you ever seriously thought about it?

[DeadBattery]

I wouldn't accept an offer to live forever. Eventually, I'll get old and life will be painful and I'll want to die.
Currently, I'd like to live. This will change hopefully about 80 years later.

[krofunk]

erm...It is a tough question, obviously most would jump in and say yes. I however would find it hard to be friends with anyone knowing that they would die off and I would be left alone.


...Of course if you like to be alone then this could be fine, but I think it would get to you eventually + I think you would be rejected by society as a freak and such.

[carl6969]

I do not want to live forever, but I do hope to live for a very long time. I am planning on breaking 100 before I cash in the chips. I enjoy life and enjoy living and wish to continue enjoying life far into the future if possible, but not forever.

There is an important variable that was not brought up in the original post which might have considerable influence on a persons desire to live forever or not. What would quality of life be? Would one continue to age and be afflicted by a steadily increasing number of ailments, aches and pains? If so I would imagine that a time would come when death might be welcomed.

[ShadowmasterX]

I agree with carl, I do want to live for a long time, but forever is too much. Eventually, you do want to die because you are so tired of life, the pain, and you just want to rest in peace. As a young person currently, I have so much to explore, but I would not take that offer.

[galaxyAbstractor]

No. If I would accept, in the beginning it would look like an awesome idea. Everything would be nice, but after a while it will prove itself being a really bad idea (unless maybe if you could wish to die when you were ready or something).

Read a short story from my favorite author about a man that finds away to have death recognize him and not killing him when the time has come. He tries to make the same deal with death for his wife too, but it kills their baby and the man goes to prison and becomes insane. When the man get out of prison he is so depressed so he tries out if he really can live forever, so he binds some rocks to his body and jumps into the ocean. But when he reaches the bottom he discovers that every part of his body gone numb and he cannot undo the rope. He will stay at the bottom of the ocean forever.

What if something like that would happen? Wouldn't be nice :P

[farscapeone]

There is an important variable that was not brought up in the original post which might have considerable influence on a persons desire to live forever or not. What would quality of life be? Would one continue to age and be afflicted by a steadily increasing number of ailments, aches and pains? If so I would imagine that a time would come when death might be welcomed.

That part was left out intentionally ;)

[patriotseminar72]

I would choose the offer to live forever, but I would end up going into reclusion and observe the world from an outsiders perspective. I would try to understand human nature completely and eventually would come out of hiding and try to help humanity by educating and showing the error of the world. I would try to find the answers to how humans decide what they believe, and how certain parts of our lives effect the rest of us.
Also, adding to what carl said - without that bit of information it is impossible to actually decide what one would want. I feel like mine would work either way, but if you stay fit and at your current age then there would be no question for many people. If you grow old and weak and hurt, then it will still be no question for many people. You have to set something like you slow your aging down dramatically, but there are other problems with your way of life. Or something like that.

[John Klyne]

If I lived forever, or if people in general lived forever...without consequence, ...

It would bring me to think, food is not a necessity, water is not a necessity, nothing is a necessity....with such assumptions, living forever would also mean I do not age past age 21 for example....I would not mind.

If I could live forever, I would choose that option, as long as there is someone else to spend that time with, as long as life is, as it currently is, but without necessities.

I would live forever, to make money, and build, or obtain what I do not have. A mansion, a castle, create an army, take over land, only to have it retaken and so on. Without death, I would not mind. I would love to enjoy life, more than I am currently enjoying it. I would love to live forever, and just go on, living forever, with everyone else,

BUT if it were only me to live forever, and never age past 18 for example, or at my prime, I would accept as long as people still exist in their current state, as long as I can still have someone or multiple people to live with for a period of time. Would I live forever, that is no question within my mind, I would accept, as long as there is, no aging, and no necessity for myself and that I have one or multiple people throughout my never ending life to spend it with.

From John Klyne....I have thought about this...and as always I choose to live within conditions.

[truthguild]

short answer - no.

more elaborate version of that answer - even under the most ideal of all circumstances, for instance what many perceive as heaven, where there is no aging, sickess, suffering, or death, and that is shared by everyone present. i would actually have difficulty trying to imagine a worse torture for a sentient being then eternity. sure, it might be nice for the first few thousand years or so, but after i had done everything i could possibly think of to do, mastered every one of the arts, learned everything there ever will be to learn, etc, for all intents and purposes eternity would have just barely begun and there would be no end in sight.

i feel that it is mortality that gives life it's sense of purpose and urgency, it's meaning if you will. without that, it would become a rather empty existence.