It depends, if I can interact with things but not people, I figure I can blow a few centuries reading and learning, but if I can’t turn a page of a book, it would be pretty limited. Better find someone who shares my interests and make a point of reading over their shoulder when possible!
Secondly, all my senses explicitly work! OMFG, best food tour of the world! Go from city to city exploring the best tastes available? Sure, I’ll miss out on the textures if I can’t interact with the physical items at all, but still, pretty aweseome.
Seriously though, if it’s just my consciousness, even given the above, after the first few centuries (at a guess) I’ll start checking with everyone else if there’s a way to end: I don’t think my mentality is equipped for eternity - eventually I’ll get bored with everything I can experience especially in my incorporeal state.
I shouldn’t start threads when babysitting - just now able to get back to this… ANYWAY…
I’d like to see what becomes of my grandkids, and their kids, and their grandkids - like did someone down the line cure cancer or discover life on another planet?
I’d like to find out from my grandparents’ families what their lives were like in Poland and why did they emigrate. That would require a universal afterlife language - a Deathtongue, if you will. (I know, I should be ashamed…)
And at the risk of anyone thinking I’m a voyeur, I’d love to see how other people live around the world, and up and down the economic spectrum. I don’t care about their intimate lives - just the everyday stuff - do they put their feet on the furniture? Elbows on the table? Do they put their t-shirts on hangers or fold them in the drawer? Yeah, I know, boring, but it’s something I occasionally think about, whether it’s mega-millionaires or minimum-wagers.
As for real intellectual curiosity - what the heck is in a black hole??
Assuming that I can read (the OP is rather vague on this point) I would catch up on all the books I never had time for when I was living. Ditto movies and TV shows.
World Tour! Visit all the places I’ve always wanted to see but never could. This would include sampling the local cuisine, of course. Especially foods I’ve heard of but never had the nerve to try, like fugu.
Finally, I would definitely like to track down my paternal grandfather, who died when I was a year old, and find out the truth behind why he emigrated from Berlin in 1901.
I’d probably go explore the planets (since I apparently have that ability). I just know some of the moons around Jupiter have little alien fishies swimming around in that underground sea.
I’m going to be disappointed if they’re not there. Lol
“Hey, I sure wouldn’t mind getting some more of that Arcturian poontang, remember that time?”
“Yeah, Frost, but the one that you had was male.”
“It doesn’t matter when it’s Arcturian, baby.”
―Pvt. Frost and Pvt. Spunkmeyer (from Aliens)
To continue the analogy there, eventually you enter the long, dark teatime of the soul.
To me, it’s one of the main arguments against there being some kind of “eternal afterlife”. What kind of loving God would condemn his beloved Children to madness?
To be human is to have a beginning and to fear the end, but at some level, also to need one. Life is a story, and a story that never ends is just boring, isn’t it?
(I was really, really impressed when the final season of The Good Place nailed this, BTW.)
I would like to observe which of my former friends makes a move and starts fucking my now widowed wife.
Having been divorced, it has been astonishing how swiftly, and who, makes their move. Your best friend that you started primary school with, the best man at your wedding, the pastor or priest who performed your wedding and your last rights.
I’d go all Good Place style and learn everything there is to learn. Piano, art, music, woodworking, and of course writing, which I already have experience with and wish I could do more. And I’d read all the books. And watch all the good movies. And visit every art and archeology museum.