immortality

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-01-17 10:07pm

would you want it? what would you do with it?

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-01-17 10:13pm

If you accept it, can you turn it off if you ever get bored with life, or will you continue to live even as the sun explodes?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-01-17 10:16pm

This isn't some kind of trick question thing, such as gaining immortality only to eventually end up as a dessicated, living corpse, is it?

If not, then yes I would accept immortality.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-01-17 10:18pm

hehe, that's always fun - ask for eternal life, but not eternal beauty. . . living scraps of dust. yes!

say, live until killed. elven immortality.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-01-17 10:19pm

Enforcer Talen wrote: say, live until killed. elven immortality.

If it's LOTR elvish style, then sure I'll take immortality.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-01-17 10:24pm

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-01-17 10:29pm

Probably.

Can I still kill myself, or am I destined to live for eternity regardless? If the universe keeps expanding forever, it might get boring after the first million billion years:

1.5e10 years after big bang: Sun dies

7e11 years: galaxies beyond local cluster become invisible.

1e14 years: Star formation ceases.

1e15 years: planets wander from stars

1e30 years: black holes consume galaxies

1e37 years: galactic fuel exhausted

1e65 years: quantum tunneling liquefies matter

1e85 years: electrons and positrons bind into new form of matter

1e98 years: galactic black holes evaporate

You would eventually reach a point where your brain would no longer be able to store information, and you'd have to forget things to get new information. In your final state, you would reach a point where you could no longer collect new information, and would spend eternity remembering the past.

source: scientific american, Dec 2002

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-17 10:32pm

Well, I'd jump at the chance to live for ten thousand more years, then it's lights out for me.

I'd really like to see the future.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-01-17 10:36pm

I'd take it if I could choose to end it all when I wish.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2003-01-17 10:50pm

Yes. Elven-style rocks!

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-01-17 10:58pm

Enforcer Talen wrote:why?

I don't want to miss out on anything and I want as much time as I want to do everything I ever wanted to do. I don't want life to end

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-01-17 11:00pm

Additionally during my immortal life I'd find some way to extend/enhance my memory so that I don't forget the past or become unable to remember new things. And somewhere down the line, perhaps several million years later, someone may have found a way to travel between parallel universes. In that case, I'd hop aboard and explore an endless infinity of realms.

Boredom is not an issue

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-01-17 11:44pm

I'd accept it in a second, given that I can end it if I wish, and I'd work toward building either the starship Bistromath or the Heart of Gold so I wouldn't have to wait around a few trillion years after the Earth is destroyed by a supernova underneath my feet.

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2003-01-17 11:52pm

Shinova wrote:This isn't some kind of trick question thing, such as gaining immortality only to eventually end up as a dessicated, living corpse, is it?

If not, then yes I would accept immortality.

Aurora and Tithonus. Aurora asked Zeus to grant her lover Tithonus immortality, but forgot to ask that he never grow old. He ended up as a drooling old invalid, but couldn't die. So in mercy Zues finally turned him into a grasshopper.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-01-18 12:47am

I would not want immortality. I think this has been covered before. I wouldn't want to see all my loved ones die around me, time and time again. I couldn't handle it.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-01-18 01:16am

verilon wrote:I would not want immortality. I think this has been covered before. I wouldn't want to see all my loved ones die around me, time and time again. I couldn't handle it.

I would like to be young forever (not a kid, but Elvish young).
I would get to see the future, advancements in science, have millions of kids (

) and learn so much my head will explode.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2003-01-18 01:18am

Aurora and Tithonus. Aurora asked Zeus to grant her lover Tithonus immortality, but forgot to ask that he never grow old. He ended up as a drooling old invalid, but couldn't die. So in mercy Zues finally turned him into a grasshopper.

Was he still immortal as a grasshopper though? I didn't know Zeus could grant immortality, and contrary to Xena eating ambrosia doesn't make you immoral, but ONE thing could, being submerged in the river Styx, that is how Achilles became semi-immortal, his mother dunked him in holding him by the ankle, so his heel was his only weak spot. With "greek" immortalty can you even be hurt and feel pain, or is it like unbreakable immortality, where you can not be physically injured period, but do die of old age (I'm assuming he would) We read a story once about the hydra in latin class about how it's immortal head "Was not able to be wounded because it was immortal" So, Hecules put it under a rock.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-01-18 01:25am

I wouldn't want to be immortal. There comes a time where the most honorable thing to do is to step out of the way and allow the next generation their chance to accomplish great things.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2003-01-18 01:42am

I wouldn't want to be immortal. There comes a time where the most honorable thing to do is to step out of the way and allow the next generation their chance to accomplish great things.

Who says you can't have both? You can live and do great things just as they do.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-01-18 01:44am

Shrykull wrote:
I wouldn't want to be immortal. There comes a time where the most honorable thing to do is to step out of the way and allow the next generation their chance to accomplish great things.
Who says you can't have both? You can live and do great things just as they do.

Eh. I suppose. I'm just thinking of the Rejuvenants from Elizabeth Moon's books. I really need to find my literary magazine so I can post the poem I wrote on endings.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-01-18 01:51am

If it's Elven or Highlander immortality sure. I'd like Highlander a bit better since I can get shot and stuff.

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2003-01-18 02:10am

Shrykull wrote:
Aurora and Tithonus. Aurora asked Zeus to grant her lover Tithonus immortality, but forgot to ask that he never grow old. He ended up as a drooling old invalid, but couldn't die. So in mercy Zues finally turned him into a grasshopper.
Was he still immortal as a grasshopper though? I didn't know Zeus could grant immortality, and contrary to Xena eating ambrosia doesn't make you immoral, but ONE thing could, being submerged in the river Styx, that is how Achilles became semi-immortal, his mother dunked him in holding him by the ankle, so his heel was his only weak spot. With "greek" immortalty can you even be hurt and feel pain, or is it like unbreakable immortality, where you can not be physically injured period, but do die of old age (I'm assuming he would) We read a story once about the hydra in latin class about how it's immortal head "Was not able to be wounded because it was immortal" So, Hecules put it under a rock.

I believe he was still immortal as a grasshopper. And being dipped didn't make Achilles immortal, it made him invulnerable - except for his heel, where his mother held him. This was where he was wounded during the siege of Troy, and he bled to death. This is where the term "Achilles' Heel" comes from.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2003-01-18 02:40am

I believe he was still immortal as a grasshopper. And being dipped didn't make Achilles immortal, it made him invulnerable - except for his heel, where his mother held him. This was where he was wounded during the siege of Troy, and he bled to death. This is where the term "Achilles' Heel" comes from.

That's not what I heard, I heard that Paris shot him in the ankle with a poison arrow that that's what killed him.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-01-18 03:22am

Shrykull wrote:
I believe he was still immortal as a grasshopper. And being dipped didn't make Achilles immortal, it made him invulnerable - except for his heel, where his mother held him. This was where he was wounded during the siege of Troy, and he bled to death. This is where the term "Achilles' Heel" comes from.
That's not what I heard, I heard that Paris shot him in the ankle with a poison arrow that that's what killed him.

He stayed immortal as a grasshopper.

Achilles: Paris shot him with an arrow in the heel. The water of the River of Styx only made him unable to be killed by other human hands.

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2003-01-18 04:12am

Shrykull wrote:
I believe he was still immortal as a grasshopper. And being dipped didn't make Achilles immortal, it made him invulnerable - except for his heel, where his mother held him. This was where he was wounded during the siege of Troy, and he bled to death. This is where the term "Achilles' Heel" comes from.
That's not what I heard, I heard that Paris shot him in the ankle with a poison arrow that that's what killed him.

Paris shot him in the heel - his one vulnerable spot. If the arrow had hit elsewhere, it would not have pieced his skin. Go look it up dude. "Achilles' Heel" is a synonym for a weakness, and it comes from this event in the Iliad.