39 replies to this topic

[RighteousReason]

I don't understand why so many people go through tons of trouble to become immortals. Isn't there an afterlife?

Not if you don't go through the trouble of building it.

[Heliotrope]

OMG , PLEASE JUST LET ME UNDERSTAND LIFE!

The ultimate questions , they're so hard . I just dont want to think about them. why why why, A million whys that we humans with puny brains can't comprehend...

Plelase Please let there be something after death. I beg you .

[VictorBjoerk]

Well I don't like the word immortality.I would just like to escape this stereotypical degenerative process I'm forced to go through that will destroy my internal as well as external appearance in a few decades until my body just can't stand it any longer and stop working permanently.
However I think that everyone will come to a point when they don't want to live regardless if it is 1000 or 1000 000 000 000 years.
When we need 25 years just to learn enough to start doing a job,is it feasible to think that people can gather enough information to keep up with advancing technology and knowledge in a normal human lifetime? I would say NOT! And how are we going to travel to other galaxies in the future if we just age and die long before reaching them?Human life extension really should be considered something urgent, a national priority.

[VictorBjoerk]

I think aging will doubtlessly be cured.The issue is if it's relevant for the people living and discussing on this forum now in 2008.I would like to hope so but sometimes it feels just like fiction....

[nefastor]

I don't understand why so many people go through tons of trouble to become immortals. Isn't there an afterlife? Or not?
Aren't you immortalists afraid of ever missing out on Heaven etc? What if there is a heaven ... after all?
Are you atheists? Is it too big of a risk?
Do you think it is really possible to live forever? Do you want to create a heaven on earth?

Just for my personal edification, are you an actual wandering Jew ?

Now : there's only a 50% percent chance that an afterlife exists (sorry Niner, Kostas is right : you're mistaking "educated guess" with pure probabilities, as many people do).

Not only that, but there's only a 50% chance the afterlife will suit my tastes. So there's a 75% chance I'd hate whatever happens after death. I don't like those odds.

No offense, but the "heaven" described in the Bible doesn't fit my definition of heaven. Not enough sports cars, alcohol and consequence-free sex with hordes of nubile women. And it still has a boss over my head : God himself. No thanks, in my heaven, I rule supreme

Of course I'm an atheist (ya think ? ) : I've stopped believing in fairy tales when I was a little kid. If God wants anything to do with me, his all-seeing, all-knowing, omnipresent ass can come and drag me to church. That's all I've ever asked of God.

As for the possibility of eternal life... yeah, I think it's doable. And while I agree with you that someday I may welcome death, it would be just a transitory state of mind (i.e. after the death of my beloved millionth cat) and I'd be very glad afterwards if it was impossible for me to kill myself. Besides, if I get tired of banging hordes of nubile women, I can always rest for one or two million years, do some charity work, travel the universe and stuff. Maybe even play god by seeding life on lifeless planets.

Speaking of which, a good view of what eternal life could be like is Greg Egan's "Permutation City". It's also a very enjoyable novel. Read it.

Do I want to create a heaven on earth ? Interesting question. Why would I limit myself to Earth ? What's wrong with the rest of the universe ? If I'm immortal I don't even need to travel faster than light, provided my ship as sufficient stores of booze, sports cars and women . I could seed life to a planet, God-style, but stick around to make sure they grow up to be a beautiful species and live in a real paradise. It wouldn't matter if it took me a thousand year, or a million : I could still do it hundreds of times in different ways and have eternity to spare.

You can choose to live forever and be the universal God of Rock'n'roll, or the malevolent God of Papercuts, the universe won't care, and if God exists, he'll come calling anyway. Unless he really can't be bothered... because he's having too much fun drinking a lot and banging his own hordes of nubile women (you need at least that much distraction to not give a damn about world famine, wouldn't you say ?)

All the limitations you place on yourself (death, Earth...) have no reason to be except tradition. But as I understand it, tradition is a pretty big concept for Jews (this isn't an insult : it's actually what my Jewish friends tell me)

Think big, man. There's no valid reason NOT TO. Think as big as you possibly can. The mind is the one place where you have absolute freedom.

OMG , PLEASE JUST LET ME UNDERSTAND LIFE!

The ultimate questions , they're so hard . I just dont want to think about them. why why why, A million whys that we humans with puny brains can't comprehend...

Plelase Please let there be something after death. I beg you .

The answer is forty-two

(sorry, couldn't resist )

Nefastor

Edited by nefastor, 27 April 2008 - 09:19 AM.

[Wandering Jew]

For those who asked, no, I'm not the actual Wandering Jew. If you know where the wandering Jew is , please let me know. I'd like to ask him a few questions, and get my money back, because he still owes me 10,598 Roman crowns from the year 88 when his inn business failed

[forever freedom]

About the idea that "i know i'll die some day", i refuse to have it. I may be being illogical but i really don't have this feeling that even some people here do that they'll eventually die. I think of my future and what i see is endlessness.

I'll hazard a guess and say that you are under the age of 25. Enjoy!

Now how did you guess

[Eternal Life]

The reason that I want to live forever is simple. It is just because of the basic sense of all animals - Fear of Death and facing the unknown future (if there is one).
In addition, it is very painful to see the one who you love and who loves you died before you. The best way to come come this is for all of us to become immortal !

[maxwatt]

But is there sex after death?

"Life after death" is a logical fallacy. If death is the state of an "absence of life", then "life after death" is life in the absence of life.

Edited by maxwatt, 06 May 2008 - 09:43 AM.

[VictorBjoerk]

About the idea that "i know i'll die some day", i refuse to have it. I may be being illogical but i really don't have this feeling that even some people here do that they'll eventually die. I think of my future and what i see is endlessness.

I'll hazard a guess and say that you are under the age of 25. Enjoy!

Now how did you guess

Well that's the good thing of being young