# Is life "too short"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 3, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785 "2014-01-03T11:54:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/1 "2014-01-03T11:54:17Z")
I think that life is too short for me to waste too much time - though I don’t mind others wasting their own time - in fact it is somewhat entertaining if they do. Perhaps youth is too short but we’re talking about life in general - not youth. I think life is a good length. If life was longer people who had unfortunate circumstances would suffer for longer. And people with favorable conditions might be more likely to take them for granted and life might seem meaningless if it was too easy for too long. Our current lifespans allow great minds and creative people to produce a lots of works. On the other hand our “short” livespans stop bad leaders from ruling too long. Though love songs sometimes talk about loving someone forever, many of us, especially Hollywood couples have trouble for it even lasting a few years. During that time they may have had sex thousands of times and things like the “Coolidge Effect” would make them look elsewhere - perhaps porn or cheating with physical partners. If you think life is too short, what type of person are you? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/2 "2014-01-03T12:06:11Z")
Why does the length matter? If you are religious then you believe that life is a stepping-stone to an eternal existence elsewhere. If you are an atheist then you believe that however long life is, you will eventually cease to exist and there will be no “you” to remember your life. In either case the length of the life on Earth surely doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/3 "2014-01-03T12:09:57Z")
Lord Mondegreen: Then why do some people say “life’s too short”? > [@](#): > > …In either case the length of the life on Earth surely doesn’t matter. What if some people lived a million years while others lived 20 years? Are you saying that there is no real difference between the two? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/4 "2014-01-03T13:23:50Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > If you think life is too short, what type of person are you? Maybe someone who lost an infant to crib death? (Not me, just an observation) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/5 "2014-01-03T13:32:48Z")
I’ve got a list of stuff, mostly trivial, I know I will never all get done (partly because it’s growing faster than I can cross things off it). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/6 "2014-01-03T13:34:14Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > Why does the length matter? If you are religious then you believe that life is a stepping-stone to an eternal existence elsewhere. If you are an atheist then you believe that however long life is, you will eventually cease to exist and there will be no “you” to remember your life. > > In either case the length of the life on Earth surely doesn’t matter. So why not kill yourself right now? (that’s ‘you’ in the generic sense. I don’t want you, personally, to kill yourself - but I think the answer to my question above is the same answer to why people would like a longer life) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/7 "2014-01-03T13:40:31Z")
Life isn’t short, it’s is the longest experience you’ll ever have. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/8 "2014-01-03T13:51:15Z")
Human life is _far_ too short. Not “just right”, much less too long. > [@JohnClay](#): > > On the other hand our “short” livespans stop bad leaders from ruling too long. It _also_ means that all of the people under them will die after a short lifespan, _regardless_ of what the bad leader does. Or a good one for that matter. Short lifespans also _encourage_ bad leadership. How often has there in history been a bad leader who escapes the consequences of his bad decisions by dying of old age first? Quite often. > [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > If you are an atheist then you believe that however long life is, you will eventually cease to exist and there will be no “you” to remember your life. > > In either case the length of the life on Earth surely doesn’t matter. :dubious: That makes no sense. The fact that this is the only life we have means its length matters a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/9 "2014-01-03T13:55:37Z")
Life is short in the sense that what we experience in our, say, 80 years on Earth is a small, small taste of everything possible to experience. Every person who spent a lifetime studying law missed out on a lifetime studying marine biology. All the marine biologists out there will never know what it’s like to vote in the Senate. Most Senators will never know what it’s like to look out a porthole while floating and see clouds swirling above planet Earth (I say most because of John Glenn). Point is, these are all wonderful experiences, but no one can do everything. We have to choose. That’s the difference between dying at 20 and dying at 1,000,000. Sure, some people will accomplish a lot in a short life - Mozart was 37 when he died - but Mozart was never able to write a series of bestselling science fiction novels. There’s simply not enough time for most people to become an extremely successful expert at _one_ thing you love, let alone everything. What’s more, our short lives mean we’ll never know what happens to the human race. In 500 years, our lives will seem as primitive and limited as we see the people of 1514. Huge colonies on Mars and Venus, manned deep space exploration, affordable personal spaceships, commercial hologram communication, discovery of a sentient alien species - these are all things we’ll most likely never live to see. To me, that is why life is much too short. ---
**Author:** ![Farin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e79b87/32.png) [@Farin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farin)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/10 "2014-01-03T13:56:53Z")
Is the perception of shortness just because we can’t “do things” that we want to? Enjoy the fruits of our labor, as it were? Or is it because we think that keeping a 30-year-old mind for another 100 years would serve us as a race a lot better than having the mind deteriorate into uselessness over the following 50 years? > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Human life is _far_ too short. Not “just right”, much less too long. How long do you think a human life should be? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/11 "2014-01-03T14:01:31Z")
I agree with **DT** , and I hope to live forever. If the quantum immortality thought experiment has validity, then we all will live forever. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/12 "2014-01-03T14:03:07Z")
> [@Farin](#): > > How long do you think a human life should be? Indefinite. We should die when and if we decide to die, not because a clock runs out. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/13 "2014-01-03T14:12:58Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I agree with **DT** , and I hope to live forever. If the quantum immortality thought experiment has validity, then we all will live forever. True, but that could still involve living forever in horrible pain or paralysis. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/14 "2014-01-03T14:13:53Z")
I chiefly think of the expression “life’s too short”, in its role as a (semi?)-humorous way of dissuading people from indulging in foolishly petty nitpickery or contention; or of defending someone’s refusal to be compelled to undertake time-consuming, finicking and largely pointless tasks. ---
**Author:** ![Farin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e79b87/32.png) [@Farin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farin)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/15 "2014-01-03T14:16:42Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Indefinite. We should die when and if we decide to die, not because a clock runs out. My only complaint to an infinity life span is procreation. By some estimates, there have been 100 billion people who ever lived. I’m fairly sure we’d be in permanent standing-room-only if that many people lived on earth for ever (without adding children to the figure for the future, mind you.) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/16 "2014-01-03T14:45:29Z")
If we live forever, I doubt it’s on earth. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/17 "2014-01-03T14:53:42Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > On the other hand our “short” livespans stop bad leaders from ruling too long. This incidentally is I believe the reason for the biblical story of the long lives before the flood. Living 100’s of years (darn near 1000), creates such a system where those in power stay in power, they don’t allow the younger to advance, and eventually it causes a situation expressed in [QUOTE=Gen 6:5] The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. [/QUOTE] So whether or not the story is true, the message of the story is in line with what you express. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/18 "2014-01-03T14:54:29Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > If we live forever, I doubt it’s on earth. It’s certainly not anyplace else. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/19 "2014-01-03T15:25:38Z")
Of course life is too short. It is all about how you live…remember “a year in London better than a cycle in Cathay”? Now if we could extend orgasm to a year-that would be neat! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785/20 "2014-01-03T15:29:09Z")
Well, it could be off-planet. If people lived indefinitely, there is at least a possibility that we would be more technologically advanced compared to where we are now - because the brilliant individuals of history would have had greater chance to explore more avenues - so we might have colonised the solar system by now, or something. Then again, it depends on when, in history, the immortality began. If it had been, say, 20,000 years ago, history may have played out very differently and we may never have developed agriculture or industry (or they might have come sooner and consumed all resources too quickly) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-too-short/677785.md?page=2)