If you could become immortal, would you?

Question

In other words, if you'd could remain in your (in my case) 35 y.o. body forever, would you?

The Cons? Forever means indefinitely, perhaps no end. You'd outlive everyone you've ever known, & loved, not to mention people you will meet in the future. The world would obviously not understand, so you'd have to change your identity frequently, and perhaps move frequently as well.

The Pros? You cannot die, you cannot be killed, you'll never get sick, and you'd have the benefit of having lived for centuries, perhaps. And with that comes firsthand knowledge of history, foreign languages, travel, you name it. Not to mention that you'd have an infinite amount of time hone whatever skill, craft, trade or knowledge it is you seek. That's power!

You CAN die if you lose your head, or if your body is destroyed. And you have no superpowers, only the benefit of infinite time to learn what knowledge is already out there.

The rules are: There's not turning back, and you cannot kill yourself.

Many answers are overlooking the rules. Remember, you cannot kill yourself. Not by taking your own head or by 'jumping into a volcano. YOU CANNOT KILL YOURSELF!!!

Answer 1

Good question.

The pros outweigh the cons on this one. But, I could not imagine living such a lonely existence, having to move constantly, never being able to form a deep, meaningful relationship with a woman (how would you explain the fact that you arent aging while she is?)

So, I think I would like to live for a few centuries, then Id take my head off when the lonliness got to be too much... EDIT: Just saw a new rule you threw out there. Seeing as I cannot kill myself, I would simply hire one to kill me.

Answer 2

It would be great to have immortality,but only if it came with only positives. The day doesn't always go the way you want it to, I'm usually bright-eyed, happy-go-lucky, but rough spots hit and I've had days where I just feel like dying. As a being who is aware of the impossibility of death, difficult personal situations would be viewed differently and handled differently. With immortality comes a stronger inevitability of change - good and bad. With immortality a humans whole persona would change. No more down to earth-ness maybe, because after all, self-esteem would be off the charts because you'd definitely have time to look after every aspect of your being. One thing the bible says is that not even the wisest of the wise could ever know all of life's mysteries; no matter how many are solved, no one could ever know the answer to them all, God is Great.

Answer 3

Of course, I would elect to live forever if possible. I'd love to be 21 forever. I'm probably in the best physical and mental shape I'll ever be in. And I would love the see the far future, to see if its anything like sci fi movies I like. I'd love to be able to live more recklessly, knowing that I could not die or get sick. And perhaps best of all, I could truly live life at my own pace without the death deadline looming over me. Changing identity or moving around every 20-30 years would keep life fresh and entertaining. It would probably be good for immortal people to be sterile though. Eternally youthful people would make too many babies.

Answer 4

Of course I'd do it!!

What a chance to see the advancement and evolution of humanity (note that I separated advancement and evolution).

I'd take to writing the most complete and by far the most reliable account of the history of humanity from the late XX century on.

And once I become bored with being alive, I'd just jump into an active volcano.

Answer 5

No way unless I have a superpower and be the strongest living thing on earth and I can even stand a rocket launcher and nuclear bomb attack, yes I would like to be immortal, but if no special power, no way.

Cause if I have no special power and live forever then it means future creature can make me as their part of experiment, just like how todays human make experiment on every living things.

Answer 6

There is an old Twilight Zone episode about this. Where the guy lived for a thousand years (or so) and he never got older. At the end one of his wives (now old) shot him because he left her and was cheating on her.

I myself wouldnt mind being immortal. The only down side is you can die..just cant get sick.

Answer 7

No, I wouldn't choose immortality. I would be so sad to see my friends and family die then years later seeing my family and friends die and so on. Not knowing what will happen in the future is the not the end of the world for me.

Answer 8

Shadow Warrior,
I see shades of the movie "Highlander" in your question... and my answer is found in the haunting song composed by the rock group Queen after screening a rough cut of that movie:

"Who wants to live forever when love must die?"

The grief of literally losing everyone you care about century after century would be crippling. Ask an older person who has outlived everyone they loved in ONE lifetime what it's like... then imagine what that would be like over the course of many, many lifetimes worth of time.

No, thanks.

Answer 9

YES. Absolutely, without a second thought.

There is just sooooo much to know about the world and the universe and we have sooooo little time to try to learn anything at all.

I want to see how technology develops, I want to see nanotechnology so powerful that I can become physically the being I find myself to be in my inner most thoughts.

Answer 10

I wouldn´t, because most of what we do in life is because we know that we are going to die someday so we better do it now than never, if people became immortal they would be lazy because they would think "i can do it anytime or whenever i feel like it so" they wouldn´t bother with most things. It would also be very boring after awhile because you would have experienced almost everything and nothing would be "new" anymore so you would probably cut your own head off...