Jamie_L

A lot of atheists seem to take this position. I'm not one of them. I don't value my loved one's because I think one day they'll be gone. I value them for how they make me feel, now, and the things we have experienced together in the past.

Maybe I would get bored, but I want that choice. Maybe living forever is not what I want: I want to live as long as I want. When I get bored, if I get that bored, I'll check out. But right now, I like existing. I want to continue to exist.

But I can't, so I don't worry about it. Much.

Jamie

Perchance

Actually, I consider myself an agnostic. But thanks for the compliment .

I like to think that I value them for both (though maybe it's more balanced to one side or the other; how do you judge things like that, anyway?) However, I think if I and they both lived forever, there would be less of a temptation to, say, tell them I loved them. I would think there would always be another chance... and another... and another.

I also wonder what would happen to things like resolution of arguments. My family already has a bad habit of burying them and not talking about them. Would two immortals who argued just be tempted to ignore each other for, say, a few centuries, until the argument blew over? But who knows what our emotions would be like then? Maybe they wouldn't blow over.

Knowing that what I love is mortal makes the experience of life intenser for me, sweeter, and, I think, more beautiful. I think that's one reason that so many people find flowers beautiful: knowing how mortal they are.

(Sorry; random psychological bit there .

Hmmm. I think I'm one of the people who would get bored easily. And if I had true immortality- that is, not the kind where you don't die of natural causes, but the kind where you can't die at all- it would be horrifying to be trapped in a world that bored me with no means of escape.

And if immortal life didn't mean immortal youth... Uggh. Can you imagine spending, say, 600 years having to use a catheter?

All of this just being speculation, of course.

-Perchance.

rebelnerd

Perchance - And if immortal life didn't mean immortal youth... Uggh. Can you imagine spending, say, 600 years having to use a catheter?

Yeah, that would kind of take some of the shine out of extremely long life.

Jamie_L - Maybe I would get bored, but I want that choice. Maybe living forever is not what I want: I want to live as long as I want. When I get bored, if I get that bored, I'll check out. But right now, I like existing. I want to continue to exist.

But I can't, so I don't worry about it. Much.


I pretty much feel the same. Before terminal boredom set in I think I would want to read almost every book, see every play, listen to most music, grow most plants and etc.

I would also want to try living in different types of lifestyles, try variations - WTF you only live once. The styles I liked I might do again, the ones I disliked I could chalk up to a learning experience.

What I am struggling with now is how to use my remaining (not accounting for catastrophe) years to the fullest.

Filo

NOGO

If we lived forever then after a while life will seem too slow for us. I would opt for accelleration. If I lived forever I would also think that I would turn to long term projects.
It would definitely change the way we live.