# I have figured out why we are mortal **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 26, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306 "2017-12-26T13:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/1 "2017-12-26T13:30:11Z")
If no one could die, if we were all immortal, then nobody could ever sacrifice their life for someone else. And what is love if not that willingness to die saving someone’s life? Mothers have willingly died so their children could live, sometimes before they are even born. Soldiers have knowingly fought and died in hopeless battles just hoping to delay the enemy long enough for their families and friends to escape. Engineers have chosen death from radiation to to save their countrymen from nuclear meltdowns. Nurses and doctors have flown to epidemic centers and warzones and died from infection or explosions trying to save their fellow man. The examples are countless.These are the ultimate expressions of love we know. It’s no coincidence we hail these acts of selfless love as the noblest. The ones we tear up hearing about. Those people are our heroes. Perhaps it is morbid of me to say, but honestly: What would Love be reduced to in a world where Death does not exist? Where such heroes do not exist? Would we want to live in a world with …just cordial relations or some such instead of love? I think that is why we are mortals, because a long time ago we chose love over immortality. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/2 "2017-12-26T13:44:44Z")
There might be more than one reason. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/3 "2017-12-26T13:47:02Z")
Love is much more than mere sacrifice. And nobody has chosen mortality. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/4 "2017-12-26T13:57:00Z")
_[Turritopsis dohmii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii)_ tells me that is pure [narm](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Narm). I think that _Turritopsis dohmii_ has a point. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/5 "2017-12-26T13:58:19Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Love is much more than mere sacrifice. And nobody has chosen mortality. Perhaps nobody has chosen mortality, Perhaps that is just a poetic turn of phrase. We can’t know this 😉 Let us move on to the meat of the argument. the nature of love: No. Love is _not_ much more than mere sacrifice. Love _is_ the willingness (the act is almost never necessary) to sacrifice. The sacrifice need not always be your life. Sometimes it is time. Sometimes it is money. Sometimes it is health. Sometimes it is dreams. If you never sacrifice anything for someone when given the opportunity to do so, when they need your sacrifice, then you do not love them. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/6 "2017-12-26T14:02:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > _[Turritopsis dohmii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii)_ tells me that is pure [narm](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Narm). I think that _Turritopsis dohmii_ has a point. But those are animals though. Stop ruining everything. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/7 "2017-12-26T14:08:29Z")
We are also animals, and it is the fare of all vertebrates to die. Humans seem to be one of the few who worry about this enough to make up stories to help them feel better (or deny) this fact. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/8 "2017-12-26T14:23:31Z")
> [@Gozu](#): > > But those are animals though. Stop ruining everything. We are one species of animals out of uncountable millions of species of animals that have appeared on the Earth over the last several hundred million years. There is nothing unique or special about our biology that separates us from other animals. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/9 "2017-12-26T14:58:26Z")
As others have said, humans are just another species of animal. There’s no reason why we should be different than other species. The only reason why we would be immortal would be if immortality was the normal state for animals. And if immortality was normal, humans never would have appeared. The world would be overrun by all of the earlier species that existed before us. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/10 "2017-12-26T15:18:58Z")
OP, are you using your story as some sort of saccharine metaphor, or do you literally believe that there was some sort of celestial conference of immortal pre-humans who voted on whether or not to shed their immortality? ---
**Author:** ![yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yellow_sausage_bandit/32/394_2.png) [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_sausage_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/11 "2017-12-26T15:41:07Z")
Plenty of people (soldiers fighting for evil regimes, terrorists, spree killers) sacrifice their lives for hatred though. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/12 "2017-12-26T15:54:31Z")
Love is hormones. Death is biology. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/13 "2017-12-26T15:58:13Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Love is much more than mere sacrifice. And nobody has chosen mortality. Love is letting her drive your car because she refuses to put gas in hers before it runs out. That’s sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/14 "2017-12-26T16:00:01Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > OP, are you using your story as some sort of saccharine metaphor, or do you literally believe that there was some sort of celestial conference of immortal pre-humans who voted on whether or not to shed their immortality? Yes, that’s the story of the preexistence. I suggest waiting for the movie though. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/15 "2017-12-26T18:31:13Z")
Mortality vs. immortality has various definitions. By one common definition (apparently the OP’s definition), it means one eventually dies vs. never dies. But another definition (and I think, more common in mythology) means that one can never die a _natural_ death, but can be killed (e.g., in battle or by any other enemy). Immortals of this sort can live indefinitely long, but may eventually be killed. The elves of LOTR, for example, were this kind of immortal. By this definition, the OP’s entire thesis falls apart. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/16 "2017-12-26T18:45:18Z")
So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/17 "2017-12-26T19:08:49Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me? The reason that we allowed grapes to evolve is so that we had the choice to not drink the wine, which is really what makes wine meaningful. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/18 "2017-12-26T20:09:14Z")
The vast majority of people will never sacrifice their life. So for an occasional act of heroism, we all have to experience a slow decline into disease and pain before our lives terminate before some relatively short finite duration. Doesn’t seem like a good deal. Also, you could flip the whole thing around. One of the most evil things a person could do is take a life (and note, this has happened more often than people directly sacrificing their life). So a hypothetical immortal population might start a thread “I have figured out why we are immortal” with the argument that they will never know murder. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/19 "2017-12-26T20:14:03Z")
The comparative shortness of life may make us appreciate it and the lives of others more than if we were immortal, but that would only mean that love is a consequence of mortality, not a cuase of it. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306/20 "2017-12-26T20:40:30Z")
This makes me think of Anne Rice’s vampire books where the immortal vampires eventually kill themselves or go insane because they can’t keep up or understand modern times as they age, or they just get bored with living so long. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-figured-out-why-we-are-mortal/805306.md?page=2)