4 replies to this topic

[mycotheologist]

I've had short debates with people online and off about immortality and surprisingly, the majority of people I run into are opposed to the idea. The number 1 argument I hear is that life would get really boring if we were around for thousands of years. I'm a chemistry student and plan on becoming a research scientist. I never get bored. Literally never. There are always new things to learn, new ways to better myself etc. I had another argument with someone claimed that people who want to live forever are scared of dying. I'm a living contradiction to that theory. I have scars and fractures that never fully healed from my reckless behaviour. I have nearly died from drug overdoses and interactions countless times. I've taken every psychedelic I've ever encountered (permanent insanity would be worse than death IMO). When things get bad in life, what completely reverses any negative thoughts that arise is knowing that I can die at any time if I want to. Death is our best friend but seeking to postmone your appointment with it doesn't mean you're scared of it. Thats like saying someone playing a shoot em up game is scared only seeks to keep his character alive because hes scared of dying in the game. You're not scared but you seek to keep the character alive as long as possible because the games fun.

[Droplet]

I'm liking your thinking lots.

A similar topic already exists here: http://www.longecity...life-extension/
Some of the excuses are plain weird and some funny.

[thughes]

Its bizarre to think there's something wrong with not wanting to die.  Probably best not to even accept that sort of reasoning, rather than trying to find ways to show you aren't afraid of death.

It may be that the pro-immortality crowd is self selected for those who don't get bored often.  That would be interesting, as it would show that advocating for things that make life in general more interesting/more worth living may help the movement.

- Tracy

[Droplet]

thughes, on 20 July 2012 - 08:11 PM, said:

Its bizarre to think there's something wrong with not wanting to die.  Probably best not to even accept that sort of reasoning, rather than trying to find ways to show you aren't afraid of death.

It may be that the pro-immortality crowd is self selected for those who don't get bored often.  That would be interesting, as it would show that advocating for things that make life in general more interesting/more worth living may help the movement.

- Tracy

Thing is that there's often a sort of hypocrisy. You always get people who say that they will never have time to fulfil X, Y or Z yet they feel that living a huge and potentially unending lifespan would lead to boredom. These same people, if told that they were going to die tomorrow would more often than not give anything to hold onto life a little longer.

I think that the greater problem is the large scale acceptance of death as something immutable and somehow even desirable. People often won't consider their own mortality, as they feel that they can do nothing to slow or even stop their demise. As it is a nasty thing to think about even if they don't admit it, many people like to bury their heads in the sand and ignore death until it taps them on the shoulder because their clock has ran out.

I do find your point about advocating things that make life more worth living very interesting. I can find a myriad of reasons personally so perhaps we should try to point them out to other people as well as perhaps like you suggested trying to find more excuses to live. I think that one of our biggest problems is getting people over the "it's wrong to live and would be a bad idea" mindset.

[Mind]

Bennett Foddy of Oxford takes a whack at some of the arguments against rejuvenation.