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Who wants to live forever?

Duncan

Student
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May 15, 2003
Messages
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A buddy of mine, who is also a "soft " atheist, and I got into a discussion about life after death the other day. He whole heartedly believes that once you're dead, that's it; there is no more. I said I wasn't sure. He, in return, said that was partly because I wanted to believe in life eternal when there was really no proof for such a thing. I agreed. When I responded with "What, and you don't?" He exclaimed, "Nope. Who the hell wants to live forever anyway? I actually like the idea of a finite life."

Well, as absurd as the notion may be, I for one would sure like to live forever. Doesn't mean it's true, or that it is going to happen just because I want it to, but I'm curious to see what some of you think. I know most of the people on this board don't believe in life after death, and in a way, neither do I, but if it was proven that there was, would you be happy about it, or would you as well prefer the finite life.

Side note: One little thing that keeps me clutching to this belief is that if energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted in to other forms of energy, and if we possess some form of spiritual energy, then is it possible that when we pass away, this energy, even if our consciousness does not remain, will continue on. I know, I have no proof of spiritual energy, but I feel there is something in all of us that makes us who we are. Anyway, I'm getting off topic in my own thread.

Just wondering who would rather have an infinate life rather than a finite one. I just thought it odd that my buddy would actually choose not to live forever if given the choice, but who knows, maybe I'm the odd one.
 
Frankly, I cannot even concieve of living forever. I want to live until I no longer want to live anymore, and not a moment longer.

Dr. Stupid
 
What do you do with eternity after you've done all the things you love to the point that you don't love them any more?
 
Duncan said:
Side note: One little thing that keeps me clutching to this belief is that if energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted in to other forms of energy, and if we possess some form of spiritual energy, then is it possible that when we pass away, this energy, even if our consciousness does not remain, will continue on.
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First, there is no reason to believe that "spriritual energy" exists. Second, even if it does, there is no reason to believe that it obeys some kind of conservation law. Third, I believe that if my memories and consciousness are not preserved, then whatever is "still out there," no matter how spiritual it might be, is not me.

Just wondering who would rather have an infinate life rather than a finite one. I just thought it odd that my buddy would actually choose not to live forever if given the choice, but who knows, maybe I'm the odd one.
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I'd certainly prefer a life of indefinite length rather than 80 years if I'm lucky. Whether I'd actually want to live forever is something I don't think any mere mortal is qualified to answer. Who's to say what a person feels after ho-humming for a few billion eons?

Jeremy
 
Forever is a really long time. Consider the age of the universe (what are we up to about 10-15 billion years?), the age of the earth 4 billion years or so, the age of humanity, 100-500 thousand years, depending on your definition of humanity. That is nothing compared to forever. Forever is a very long time, and it would get old and boring in a hurry. Like chulbert said, how long could you do your favorite thing before you got tired of it? You could learn to do more things and more things, and by the time you have learned every language, mastered every instrument, viewed every work of art, you would still have forever to look forward to. No Thanks!

I do feel that I won't have enough time on this earth to do everything I want to do, but a couple thousand years I think would be more than enough for me.

Besides, where would you live? I think the andromeda galaxy is set to tear the milky way in half a few billion years before the sun plans to go nova or whatever it's going to do. It could get ugly around here! ;)
 
I'd prefer living forever. Once humanity ended I'm not sure what I'd do though, hopefully by that time I would be smart enough to make some sort of transportation device and escape to another place that had intelligent life.

I'd still prefer to live forever though, even if I was the last human. The survival instinct in me is too strong to lay down and die, despite any boredom that may ensue without the rest of humanity.
 
Who the hell wouldn't want all eternity to drink beer, go to strip clubs and play video games?
 
I have no desire to live forever. I would however jump at the chance to live my remaing years out at the rate of one per decade. I mean keep my same age and jump immediately to 2013, live for one year, then jump without aging to 2023 and so on. Mostly, it is just curiousness about what the not so immediate future holds. Seeing 2103 or 2203 would be a trip.
 
Stimpson J. Cat said:
Frankly, I cannot even concieve of living forever. I want to live until I no longer want to live anymore, and not a moment longer.

Dr. Stupid
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That's exactly how I answer the question, Stimpson.

Almost to the word.

It's like being asked "Would you be president of the USA". Well, being a natural-born citizen over 35, I "qualify" but even in the absurd reach that it was a possibility I would simply NOT want the job. I think the only people who do want it are probably disqualified because they are nuts enough to want it.
 
Stimpson J. Cat said:
Frankly, I cannot even concieve of living forever. I want to live until I no longer want to live anymore, and not a moment longer.

Dr. Stupid
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Already been there, a couple of times. I was wrong. I want a time-delay mechanism built in just in case I change my mind.
 
Duncan said:
Side note: One little thing that keeps me clutching to this belief is that if energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted in to other forms of energy, and if we possess some form of spiritual energy, then is it possible that when we pass away, this energy, even if our consciousness does not remain, will continue on.
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No, humans have no spiritual energy. Since you've applied a physical law (first law of thermodynamics), you make the assumption the energy is physical. For it to exist, it'd need to exist in a potential state. Still, the energy would need to be transferred in some way to a spirtual plane. To get passed this, you could suggest the spiritual energy doesnt have to obey the natural laws of physics, but then it wouldnt be "energy".

But there is no such thing as "spiritual energy", no need to think so hard.

I know, I have no proof of spiritual energy, but I feel there is something in all of us that makes us who we are. Anyway, I'm getting off topic in my own thread.
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You are letting your inner convictions do your reasoning for you, not a good way to reason.


I'd like to live forever without ever growing older, then I'd get tired of it and kill myself.
 
It would be nice to live forever in the sense that certain belief systems approach the subject - that is, our 'soul' is forever and it travels from person to person thru reincarnation. But no, I wouldn't like this one ego / person, which I curretly am, to live forever.
 
The whole "wouldn't it be boring to live forever" argument sounds like sour grapes to me. We cannot live forever, so it is easier to convince yourself that you don't want that, anyways.

Although, I have wondered if the technology to keep people alive indefinately would have already been invented if the lies of "eternal life after death" hadn't made so many people complacent.
 
It's like being asked "Would you be president of the USA". Well, being a natural-born citizen over 35, I "qualify" but even in the absurd reach that it was a possibility I would simply NOT want the job. I think the only people who do want it are probably disqualified because they are nuts enough to want it.
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Amen to that.
As has been said before, it takes a special kind of psychosis to wake up one morning and say, "I know what's wrong with this country. What's wrong with this country is that I'm not running it!"
 
Side note: One little thing that keeps me clutching to this belief is that if energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted in to other forms of energy, and if we possess some form of spiritual energy, then is it possible that when we pass away, this energy, even if our consciousness does not remain, will continue on. I know, I have no proof of spiritual energy, but I feel there is something in all of us that makes us who we are. Anyway, I'm getting off topic in my own thread.
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If this spiritual energy cannot be created, where do people get it from? Do they get it when they are born? When they are conceived? Why do you believe that this energy cannot be dissipated to the point of being useless or turned into some other energy (e.g. thermal energy in a steam engine being irreversibly lost to the environment when it is turned off.) Conservation of energy does not prevent batteries from dying, why should conservation of energy prevent your consciousness from dying?
 
Duncan said:
One little thing that keeps me clutching to this belief is that if energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted in to other forms of energy, and if we possess some form of spiritual energy, then is it possible that when we pass away, this energy, even if our consciousness does not remain, will continue on. I know, I have no proof of spiritual energy, but I feel there is something in all of us that makes us who we are. Anyway, I'm getting off topic in my own thread.

Just wondering who would rather have an infinate life rather than a finite one. I just thought it odd that my buddy would actually choose not to live forever if given the choice, but who knows, maybe I'm the odd one.
Click to expand...

After death your body gets reused in one way or another. The electrochemical impulses in your brain dissapate. But if your consciousness doesn't continue then it won't really matter to you.

As for living forever - Hmm I've often thought I would love to do that, but with a couple of rules to it.
First, I must be able to kill myself when I can't stand to live any longer.
Second, I want to live at a fixed (or even flexable) biological age. Living to be 300 years old in a 300 year old body would NOT be fun!
Third, I would want to be able to keep the memories that I want to keep - no sense in living a few thousand years if you can't remember the first hundred (or thousand!)


After that, I would probably spend most of my existance in school, or doing research. Learning new occupations. I could work at an occupation for 40 years or so, then go back to school for another 10 or so to get my next PhD, and start my next career.

After the first hundred years or so I wouldn't need to worry about money too much anymore - the magic of compound interest would take care of me.

Hmmm - maybe not for forever, but I could get into a thousand years or 3.
 
Re: Re: Who wants to live forever?

I wouldn't want to live forever. Not for the 'gets boring' reason, but because without death, I would be taking up energy and space beyond my natural lifespan. Kind of a 'circle of life' kinda deal. Who am I to cling to life when others have died and made room for the next generations?

Would I like to exist forever as some kind of disembodied spirit? It depends heavily on the nature of my existence, something most religions don't go into beyond: 'It's Paradise! Whee! Don't think about it too hard!' :rolleyes:
 
I agree with calladus, but I would add the extra proviso that when I wanted to die, there would be a 100 or a 500 year delay, that can be cancelled at any time, just in case I change my mind if something interesting happens. If something has lived for tens of thousands of years, what's 500?

I understand many of the reasons given here for not wanting a greatly increased life span, but I know people who don't want to live for a long time coz they think life is boring. They have wrong end of the stick if you ask me.
 
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