Given the choice, would you become immortal?

nyarlothothep

Yes, yes and yes. Yes, I would like to be immortal. And my friends and family too if the option is available.

Tar.Aldarion

Depends on the clauses.

dr_manhattan

"Depends on the clauses."

don't bring santa & co into it: yes or no?

Tar.Aldarion

Would I age at a normal reate, my body becoming decrepid, would my braincells continue to die, not being replaced? etc etc.

dr_manhattan

check the thread: my contention is no: you retain the age at which you become immortal, and you also gain an amount of indestructability: but there's those who disagree.

The reason I assume the above is cos dorian gray was mentioned in the thread.

Tar.Aldarion

I did 'check the thread'. I am saying that it just depends on the deal.

dr_manhattan

here, isn't that an elven name? surely you're more qualified than most to comment, as one of the first of iluvatar's children?

;-)

Tar.Aldarion

Alas, he was but a man. A king, but a man. They did live for ages though.

dr_manhattan

Ah yes - one of the kings of numenor, no? Actually maybe i'm wrong, their title began with "ar-", no?

(i'm not gonna google it, i prefer to use my own brain in forums ;-))

is the amount of tolkien-ish names in here a coincidence, or a clique? just curious....

Tar.Aldarion

If there are many, it is coincidence. 6th king of Numenore. Their names began with Tar, which means king.

dr_manhattan

but wasn't ar-pharazon also a numenorean king?

just curious, and bored ;-)

Rhiannon14

Aaaaaand returning to topic...it seems as though we still have not defined our terms for immortality. We appear to be looking between the Tolkien definition whereby one could be killed by the sword (we'll leave out the death-by-being-wicked-sad) and a kind of immortal/invulnerable thing.

If we assume the first, then immortality theoretically is not absolute, as one could simply commit suicide when bored by getting shot, stabbed, etc. There would still be an amazing potential for influence over the course of history. However, since the ol' free will would still be intact, then of course you could choose to be a lazy swine and do f*ck all with your gift (or curse, if you lack imagination).

If we assume the invulnerability case, then yes, this is a kind of immortality that doesn't f*ck around. You would have to be prepared to witness more suffering, but inevitably also more joy. Those you know now would die, and you would remember them just as you remember those you lose in this current, 75 year span life. You would also meet new people and have influence on their lives. If invulnerabilty isthe case then we approach the most interesting issue that this debate has barely touched upon, that of continued existence without a physical body. If the earth were obliterated in a single death star like blast, where would you exist?

In either case it comes down to knowing how to enjoy life and not being too boring yourself as to become bored. I'm up for the challenge :cool:

dr_manhattan

"(we'll leave out the death-by-being-wicked-sad)"

lmao, I'm not sure those were tolkiens *exact* words.

I feel like i'm in some kind of glade with you elven lot: but as I was saying, my main concern as regards immortality works this way-

Immortality is relative: if one says that someone is susceptible to suicide, self harm or poisoning, and injury generally then one assumes that various toxins, addictions and their damaging effects all apply, too.

But toxic effects are all relative to life span. Poisons build up in non lethal doses in one lifetime in a post industrial environment but i would bet that if you'd lived 500 years in an industrialised environment there'd be a pint of mercury in your liver and lead in your bloodstream ;-) - are you immune to them? Is your system different to not just eventually develop cancer sooner or later when exposed to modern surroundings for hundreds of years?

It also raises questions about the immune system, coming into contact with diseases again and again as they mutate, eventually being an encyclopaedia of antibodies or more likely dead... roflmao my forthcoming book "the elven immune system"

Which makes immortality hell, no? If things can kill you?

Over two thousand years, your chances of you being hit by a bus increase quite a bit until it's a miracle you haven't... life would be spent howard hughes style, trying to cheat death with kleenex boxes on your feet... you'd never do anything because you'd risk certain death. Statistically unlikely in some countries to live longer than 24 years, you die through violence - that would make immortality a bit useless in the favelas, no? Or any rough neighbourhood...

Nah, immortality without invulnerability raises two hundred and billionty three questions that make it a biological unlikelihood: imho the only plausible explanation that doesn't require new biological laws is that this person does not die, period. New cells are not created because old cells do not die. The only way this can happen is if the cells are indestructible... besides which, this is certainly the most common form of immortality in fiction, no?

Hey don't blame me, i'm stuck indoors with broken limbs... but I stand by my thesis, lol. If not, 2,000 year old people would be all warts, liver spots, tumours and glandular disorders. Even if you say their life is just longer so it happens slower then you have to give a duration and that's not immortality is it?

Okay i'm boring myself now ;-)

Archeron

dr_manhattan wrote: »

"


But toxic effects are all relative to life span. Poisons build up in non lethal doses in one lifetime in a post industrial environment but i would bet that if you'd lived 500 years in an industrialised environment there'd be a pint of mercury in your liver and lead in your bloodstream ;-) - are you immune to them? Is your system different to not just eventually develop cancer sooner or later when exposed to modern surroundings for hundreds of years?

Perhaps to cope with these problems, we could learn from the cats and every few thousand years just cough up a mercury ball, thus clearing us out for another couple of millennia.

heirenach

Would you have to go to work forever and pay taxes.?Would have to be mega rich,replace organs every 20 years and own a botox factory.If you wanted to become mortal again you would have to kill all the other immortals. There can be only one.