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http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2299

Seems to me this is the *best* part of immortality. Yes, some great works and advancements in science are driven by a desire to be immortal... but so is a lot of very destructive and negative behavior. If our immortality is taken care of, we may be more inclined towards laziness, but we'll also be more inclined towards happiness. And after a few hundred years, I believe everyone would see for themselves that hoarding money and having power don't make you happy (those are more for immortality than happiness). Instead of trying to get on the gravy train, imagine that you knew for a fact that you could eventually learn whatever you needed to learn to pursue what you love. No more "I'll never be a good pianist" but instead "oh, jeez, that'll take 50 years!!!". And if you want to advance a science or technology, you don't have to gamble on the new hot thing-- just study what you love, eventually you'll be around at the right time to make a contribution.

I dunno, maybe I'm overly optimistic. I feel like immortality is everyone's #1 drive, and happiness a distant second, and that's why we're not happy.

If I was immortal I'd probably jump off a really high building.

I don't understand the concept of immortality.

I'm a very happy man. I suppose my state of being could be described as mortal. I don't think about things like Death or why people are unhappy too often. Mostly I just like cartoons and videogames.

Maybe you should try out some cartoons and videogames if you're unhappy? Does wonders for me.

Man, the terrifying thing is the idea that I'm running out of time. My dream is to have an infinite number of lives to live so that I can decide how things go in each one, almost like Mr. Nobody. Or even if I get a new guy each time. It's scary to think of nonexistence because there is literally no way to frame it in your mind. I know I have to accept whatever happens to me after death but the thought of being disappeared freaks me out.

You sound kind of freaked out. There's a treatment for that you know?

The idea of non-existence does not bother me, because I won't exist so it won't matter. I'm only apprehensive about things I can actually experience. The idea of an afterlife of some sort in which I am conscious and aware is more disturbing to me.

We aim to remember what we choose to forget

God is just a baby, and the diaper is wet.

This reminds me of Terry Pratchett's "The Colour of Magic":

"Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying."

To the guest who started the thread:
That's all well and good. But if everyone else is immortal, instead of saying I'll never be any good at *blank*, you'll be saying I'll never be as good at *blank* as that other person. We will always have excuses and we always compare ourselves to those around us. Which means we will forever doubt ourselves even in immortality.

If I had immortality I would be more daring. That would be the only thing that really changed my behaviour. I would also be much more afraid of making mistakes, because your never going to live them down. Ever.

But I'd like immortality. I suspect I don't deserve it though, since I waste the time I have as it is. This has started to go downhill.

I'd slow down on the school and watch more cartoons. I got all of eternity. I can take my time. I wouldn't really be excited about doing anything so much as the opportunity to bear witness to it all. Might take up chronicling as a pass time. I'd be the guy who saw everything. I'd have to start a blog too. How could I not? If you're immortal you gotta blog.

Gangler wrote:I'd slow down on the school and watch more cartoons. I got all of eternity. I can take my time. I wouldn't really be excited about doing anything so much as the opportunity to bear witness to it all. Might take up chronicling as a pass time. I'd be the guy who saw everything. I'd have to start a blog too. How could I not? If you're immortal you gotta blog.

Except you'd be far from the only one doing this, and at some point everyone will just stop doing and start observing, and we will never get any progress done as a society.

Immortality will be the end of us all.

Kimra wrote:If I had immortality I would be more daring. That would be the only thing that really changed my behaviour. I would also be much more afraid of making mistakes, because your never going to live them down. Ever.

You can live down your mistakes, you just have to outlive everyone who witnessed them...

Eisbreaker wrote:Immortality will be the end of us all.

Hey, wait a second...

Eisbreaker wrote:

Gangler wrote:I'd slow down on the school and watch more cartoons. I got all of eternity. I can take my time. I wouldn't really be excited about doing anything so much as the opportunity to bear witness to it all. Might take up chronicling as a pass time. I'd be the guy who saw everything. I'd have to start a blog too. How could I not? If you're immortal you gotta blog.

Except you'd be far from the only one doing this, and at some point everyone will just stop doing and start observing, and we will never get any progress done as a society.

Wait, are we just talking about a Jack Harkness before Miracle Day type situation, or are we still stuck on the OP's everybody else after Miracle Day premise. Because the second one has a whole lot of ramifications beyond how I'd behave. I mean question #1 right off the bat is whether we're still having children or not. I'm not about to speculate on how we as a species would react to immortality in the long term. Not without some speculative fiction to reference anyway, and I think I got nothing on this.

Torchwood reference, yay!
I still have to watch the first episode. And then after it all, watch the whole season again because apparently the episodes that show in the US and UK are going to have some different footage and stuff to each other.

boris wrote:This reminds me of Terry Pratchett's "The Colour of Magic":

"Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying."

I think he stole this joke from Woody Allen (or else it's just a great-minds-think-alike thing), who before Pratchett's book often used the line "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."