15 replies to this topic

[brokenportal]

Hypothetical: You are impervious to death, except for certain activities that you can engage in that subject you to a ubiquitous chance of death. Are there any activities where you would say, "that's too bad, I'm going to engage in those activities anyways"? Even though they subjected you to potential death?

For example, if you could not die, but any of eating chocolate, vision, hearing, sex, driving, flying, looks, sense of adventure, etc... would subject you to the chance that you might die, then which of those might you think you would still do or want anyways? Any other examples?

Edited by brokenportal, 08 October 2011 - 01:23 AM.

[Brainbox]

Life is a vehicle for having pleasure. It is the pleasure that I would like to extend. Some pleasure inducing activities cause risk. So be it.

I do make choices regarding what activities I do, e.g. I do not eat copious diners nor smoke cigarettes. I eat healthy and take some supplements to try to extend my healthy lifespan so that I'm able to make choices what I do as long as possible. Regarding supplements, I do make an explicit choice to aim at the long term gain in health and less in short term improvements. Taking supplements for LE is a risk in itself, that I take, but only based on good research. Dubious research, no pils.

The question seems to be related to another thread where dying was seen as being deprived of life. For me, it's not the deprivation of life that prevails in my motivation, but it's aimed at the pleasure I can have while alive. The deprivation of life argument is far to negative and before you know it you become a sour individual forgetting the fun part of life. Deprivation of life is not the issue, after I die I'm not sufficiently conscious to notice it anyway. If I die at 100 having a lot of fun, I might be deprived of a theoretical extra 1000 years of life. I wouldn't mind the theoretical deprivation of life, but I would put a lot of effort to extend and enhance my living pleasure.

Extending and enhancing living pleasure is my main goal. Not to avoid death at all cost.

At first, this seems a somewhat ego-centric view, but if your social environment thinks the same way about this, the principle stays, albeit just a bit more complex.
And regarding ego-centricity, I would avoid risks of having undesired influence on life of others as much as possible. Being emphatic is one of my pleasures so to speak.

Edited by Brainbox, 08 October 2011 - 11:44 AM.

[hivemind]

If I lost my sex organs or vision, I would probably want to die.

[Brainbox]

If I lost my sex organs or vision, I would probably want to die.

I won't, there's a lot of pleasure everywhere. I know someone who is blind; it's amazing how it's possible to find pleasure in unimaginable way's if you just don't develop a passive attitude towards life.

[brokenportal]

@brainbox

Whether or not death is bad or not because of deprivation caused while dead, or the notion of its impending deprivation while alive, is an interesting discussion in itself.

But what I'm getting at here is particular things that you might not engage in if they subjected you to death, whereas you would otherwise, in this hypothetical situation, not be subject to death. Its meant to try to draw out what things you enjoy that you think would not be worth giving up for the sake of perpetual life.

For example, if your sex drive was non existent, and you were blind, you say you would want to continue living. Is there anything else?

What if, for whatever reason, you could never have the chance of moving on out beyond the planet earth. Inter-gallactic travel and colonization of other planets would never be in the cards for you for whatever reason. Would that prevent you? How about, your taste buds were taken away?



@Trip

If your sex drive was gone, and you were blind, and you were contemplating death, then lets say you get hit by a truck. You end up in a coma for 50 years. You wake up and see that we have colonized other planets; things are so automated that the cost of living is now down to the point where international flight is like $5.00; there is hover-ability; you hear a news report that space exploration has found some potential leads into the discovery of alien life, etc...

Upon waking to contemplate these things, do you think that you would be wishing that the truck had finished you off? Do you think you would still want to die because you were lacking sex drive and sight?

[corb]

I'd sign up for space exploration when I get bored of living peacefully on earth, that'll take some time though .
Hmm what else... I guess I'll never give up riding my mountain bike, I should be pretty safe if I wear a good helmet though so I'm not sure if that's considered life threatening. I plan on buying a yacht and sailing around the oceans, that's kinda unsafe, although with current day weather forecasting it's not all that dangerous.

As far as food restrictions go I'm ready to cut pretty much any food from my diet, hell I could cut food completely and eat synthetic nutrients if I have to.
I don't see how vision or hearing could be a problem, so I'd disregard that .
Sex, well if I REALLY have to then I guess I will. I mean you never know some super deadly sexually transmitted disease might evolve at some point in the future, If that happens I will stop having sex for however long it's not safe, decades if I have to.

Potentially I could give my body up if replacement bodies are available, although the idea still sounds gruesome to me but in 30 years if I don't have another chance, I'll do that too. Living as a brain in jar ... if it's just for a time and the VR is good I'll do it, if it's not I'd prefer cryogenics (if they prove they can actually revive you that is).

I'm pretty much ready to do whatever It seems, and I might have to, considering the grueling speed life extension research is going.

[hivemind]

@Trip

If your sex drive was gone, and you were blind, and you were contemplating death, then lets say you get hit by a truck. You end up in a coma for 50 years. You wake up and see that we have colonized other planets; things are so automated that the cost of living is now down to the point where international flight is like $5.00; there is hover-ability; you hear a news report that space exploration has found some potential leads into the discovery of alien life, etc...

Upon waking to contemplate these things, do you think that you would be wishing that the truck had finished you off? Do you think you would still want to die because you were lacking sex drive and sight?

Yes I would.

Not so much interested in international flying or alien life... I doubt travelling would be very fun as a blind person.

Also, I would have aged 50 years, so I would die soon anyway, and my sex drive would be gone anyway.

Edited by Trip, 09 October 2011 - 01:40 AM.

[brokenportal]

What I mean is that 50 years have gone by, but you cant die, hypothetically, your still youthful, and you can go on for hundreds and thousands of more years. But to get your sex drive and sight back, lets say that for some reason, getting the operations will take your indefinite life extension away, so that you are then subject to death at any time again. Just around any corner might be the death of you. Would you get the operations then or no?

[hivemind]

I would get the operations if it was impossible to fix my sight and sex drive in the future for some reason.

Indefinite life extension will never be possible even if aging can be stopped.

Edited by Trip, 10 October 2011 - 02:22 AM.

[brokenportal]

I would get the operations if it was impossible to fix my sight and sex drive in the future for some reason.

Alright, so you would prefer sight and sex over a hypothetical indefinite life. Would you add anything else to that list? Does anybody else that may be reading this agree that they would get their eyes and sex drive fixed too, even though it means susceptibility to death at any time?

Indefinite life extension will never be possible even if aging can be stopped.

That could be, why do you think that it will definitely never be stopped?

[hivemind]

Alright, so you would prefer sight and sex over a hypothetical indefinite life. Would you add anything else to that list? Does anybody else that may be reading this agree that they would get their eyes and sex drive fixed too, even though it means susceptibility to death at any time?

Yes I think I could come up with other things. How about thinking it the other way? Would you trade indefinite life for being super intelligent, very good looking, super rich... etc?

Or would you rather live indefinitely as an average person?

That could be, why do you think that it will definitely never be stopped?

Aging is not the only thing that kills people. Maybe, if you could make a backup of yourself to some computer memory, could you live for millions of years. But I doubt anything can last forever. I can't be 100% sure though, only 99.99999%. Earth doesn't last forever. The universe itself probably doesn't last forever according to science. The universe has not been around for an indefinite time.

[Droplet]

For me, life is all about pleasure and I do get a lot of pleasure in taking risks. A life without excitement for me is mere existence.

One of the reasons I want my aging cured is to have excitement that goes on for longer or at least a life not stopped by some stooopid internal clock. I'm with Brainbox on this matter.

[Posthuman Epoch]

Pleasure is an intrinsic part of our brain chemistry. The idea of enhancing its capabilities sound rather attractive in the short term, but in the long term, addiction(s) can develop and really hinder the positive effect of pleasure. The brain chemistry is so powerful that cravings can drive us to do things that we have never meant to do such as steal, harm oneself or others. So the final takeaway, for me is , if I were to live for centuries (indefinite lifespan) which I intend to do, i would be very cautious in choosing any type of pleasure enhancement that rely on artificial means. i think, that we can only master what we can control.

[brokenportal]

For me, life is all about pleasure

I wonder if it is possible that anybody could not say that (and mean it). Pleasure takes on forms in a variety of categories. Is there a concept, a word that covers all of those categories? It seems that "to know" or "experience" covers them all.

How many different things do you think there are to know or experience?

[Mind]

I can only envision dying in order to save someone I loved or a group of people. It would have to be an extreme situation with no other alternative. Then I would be willing to make the sacrifice if other people would be guaranteed to live.

[Droplet]

For me, life is all about pleasure

I wonder if it is possible that anybody could not say that (and mean it). Pleasure takes on forms in a variety of categories. Is there a concept, a word that covers all of those categories? It seems that "to know" or "experience" covers them all.

How many different things do you think there are to know or experience?

I reckon there are many thousands of things to experience. Just that I like things with a little bit of adrenaline. Not to say I'm fearless and there are plenty of things irrational fear would stop me from doing. However, I will confess to enjoying things I know carry a bit of a risk of getting hurt/caught in some way. Nothing illegal though. I was ina potentially lethal situation a few months back and whilst it freaked me out, it did not put me off entirely. Basically nearly fell of a stupidly high ledge in a place sane people would not go because we all got curious about some place on wasteland. Mercifully my friend was there to pull me back.

I can only envision dying in order to save someone I loved or a group of people. It would have to be an extreme situation with no other alternative. Then I would be willing to make the sacrifice if other people would be guaranteed to live.

I would have to really REALLY care about someone to do that. I know I could never take massive risks for a complete stranger and I have proved it to myself.

Edited by Droplet, 03 February 2012 - 07:01 AM.