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Why Death?

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Lost Avenger View Drop Down
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    Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 14:16
Why do people have to die? If you could live forever would you want to?

If quality of life wasn't an issue, would immortality interest you?

What if immorality had an off switch? Would you consider living forever?

I'm interested in your opinions.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DeathDealer89 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 16:41
There is a postulate out there somewhere by people who have thought of it.  If you could live forever there is a 100% chance that you will eventually get stuck/entombed in some cataclysmic event or accident.  IE trapped under a building after Earthquake.  Based our current knowledge of the human psyche being stuck like that will eventually cause you to go insane.  The best parallel which has been studied we have is prisoners in solitary for life who end up going insane. 

Given that immortality is destined to end in virtual imprisonment and me going insane I would say no.  Also interesting question to post on a game forum.  But Illyriad is probably one of the better game forums to discuss such a question.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Angrim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 21:37
sexual reproduction makes death biologically necessary. organisms that reproduce by other means do not experience death.

so maybe the question you should be asking is, "would you want to live forever if it meant eternal celibacy?"...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lost Avenger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 23:34
Originally posted by DeathDealer89 DeathDealer89 wrote:

There is a postulate out there somewhere by people who have thought of it.  If you could live forever there is a 100% chance that you will eventually get stuck/entombed in some cataclysmic event or accident.  IE trapped under a building after Earthquake.  Based our current knowledge of the human psyche being stuck like that will eventually cause you to go insane.  The best parallel which has been studied we have is prisoners in solitary for life who end up going insane.

Re: Trapped, that's why I said there should be an off switch. If you can choose to be immortal, then obviously you also have the choice to not be as well.

In solitary confinement sure, but being able to travel the world, and even planets in future that would negate any negative effects. Life seems to be about experiences.

Originally posted by DeathDealer89 DeathDealer89 wrote:

Given that immortality is destined to end in virtual imprisonment and me going insane I would say no.  Also interesting question to post on a game forum.  But Illyriad is probably one of the better game forums to discuss such a question.

Illyriad is the only game forum I use so yes; to me it is the best :D
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lost Avenger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Nov 2016 at 23:41
Originally posted by Angrim Angrim wrote:

sexual reproduction makes death biologically necessary. organisms that reproduce by other means do not experience death.

Sexual reproduction is a byproduct of a very complicated evolutionary process. There is a species of jellyfish that is very close to immortal. Depending on environmental conditions, they can reverse their ageing all the way back to almost embryonic stage. Who's to say human immortality couldn't be similar? Anti-ageing will eventually be discovered so if you could keep your 25 year old body forever, why wouldn't you?

Originally posted by Angrim Angrim wrote:

so maybe the question you should be asking is, "would you want to live forever if it meant eternal celibacy?"...

I highly doubt a 25 year old body could be celibate... lol Especially if everyone else was 25 years also...

Why 25? No reason, I had to pick a number for the sake of the discussion.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DeathDealer89 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2016 at 04:43
No aging is very different than immortality.  That being said current projections of population have us being around 11B.  If no one grew old we would start increasing population at an absurd pace.  Were talking about a population doubling every 20 years.  Particularly if the immortals had infinite breeding lifetime instead of the limited breeding time that we have now.  


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tensmoor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2016 at 12:31
Originally posted by Angrim Angrim wrote:

sexual reproduction makes death biologically necessary. organisms that reproduce by other means do not experience death.

so maybe the question you should be asking is, "would you want to live forever if it meant eternal celibacy?"...


You mean I'm going to live forever???
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BARQ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2016 at 18:34
life is beautiful and attractive because it ends .
and here my thoughts end < ="application/x-dap-" id="DAPPlugin" style="visibility: collapse">
I m the most scarring dream of your life
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thexion Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Nov 2016 at 10:21
I knew it generations and generations have perished just that we can get some.

Edited by Thexion - 14 Nov 2016 at 10:22
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Angrim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Nov 2016 at 17:49
Originally posted by Lost Avenger Lost Avenger wrote:

There is a species of jellyfish that is very close to immortal. Depending on environmental conditions, they can reverse their ageing all the way back to almost embryonic stage. Who's to say human immortality couldn't be similar? Anti-ageing will eventually be discovered so if you could keep your 25 year old body forever, why wouldn't you?
there's more than a bit of magical thinking here. shall we remain 25 forever or regress to infants after reproduction and grow ourselves back? those seem like much different situations. it's easier for me to envision that latter, but then, having experienced childhood again, who would we be, and would we keep the memories we'd had from the first experience?

complex systems break down by their very nature, in accordance with the design and complexity of the enterprise--which is one reason why an "immortal" jellyfish (closer to reincarnation, really) is no evidence that the same biology will work with humans. (we've known for decades that starfish can regrow limbs, after all. anyone selling starfish tonic? i might know a few buyers.) 

as a practical matter, human life is more like a community than like the unit we mostly envision. myriad cells across the body act independently, serving their specific purpose because maximising "corporate" survival (that is, the survival of the whole body) seems to complement their own survival. when a group of cells decides that social contract is no longer working out, it goes rogue and, for instance, becomes cancerous. in that context, what would "immortality" be trying to preserve? the continuity of the "consciousness", that part of the brain that acts as the PR agent for the rest?

i admire your confidence that some form of immortality is inevitable. will we also discover how to make governments last forever? contracts? marriages? if we did, would they change in nature, and would you want to be involved in them? expect a similar change in lives made immortal. an immortal is no longer man, but something else, likely much less ambitious.
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