# Live Forever, or Be Remembered? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079 "2015-09-21T06:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/21 "2015-09-22T04:24:10Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Since the death part of the bargain is painless and immediate, I think I would choose to be remembered. I haven’t made that many strong connections in this world (I have all of 20 Facebook friends, only 10 of whom I really like) and I think it would be nice if those few people who know me reasonably well would remember me fondly. Of course, once I’m dead I won’t know that, but I don’t think that matters. > > So I’m choosing Be Remembered. I’ll take live forever. The problem with being remembered is that the people who are doing the remembering will eventually die. No matter how nice a person or beloved you are, even being remembered will eventually fade away. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/22 "2015-09-22T04:31:12Z")
To clumsily paraphrase James Joyce, imagine a mountain a million miles wide and a million miles tall. Imagine that at the end of every billion years a small bird took one grain of sand off the mountain, flew a thousand miles, and deposited it on a flat surface. Imagine how long it would take for the bird to make even a small pile of sand. Now imagine the amount of time it would take this bird to completely reconstruct the mountain; imagine the time to reconstruct a thousand mountains. A million mountains. As many mountains as there are stars in the sky. That length of time is not even a fraction of a percent of forever. When most people imagine living “forever”, they’re thinking thousands, millions, maybe even billions of years. That might be interesting - our current lifespan is certainly much too short. But _forever_ forever? I’d go insane. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/23 "2015-09-22T06:00:06Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > To clumsily paraphrase James Joyce, imagine a mountain a million miles wide and a million miles tall. Imagine that at the end of every billion years a small bird took one grain of sand off the mountain, flew a thousand miles, and deposited it on a flat surface. Imagine how long it would take for the bird to make even a small pile of sand. Now imagine the amount of time it would take this bird to completely reconstruct the mountain; imagine the time to reconstruct a thousand mountains. A million mountains. As many mountains as there are stars in the sky. That length of time is not even a fraction of a percent of forever. > > When most people imagine living “forever”, they’re thinking thousands, millions, maybe even billions of years. That might be interesting - our current lifespan is certainly much too short. But _forever_ forever? I’d go insane. I explicitly catered for that argument in the original post. ‘Live forever’ actually only means here ‘as long as you like’. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2015, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/24 "2015-09-22T08:10:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > No, it’s basically heaven (not the chilly church service version, unless that’s what you want) - your loved ones will join you later - and have their memories of you restored, if they make the choice to live forever (and if theirs and your definition of heaven permits this). I’ll opt for “heaven.” I don’t care about being remembered, except by my partner. But if he’ll join me later, that’s good too. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/25 "2015-09-22T11:21:42Z")
On reflection, being forgotten could be considered a great mercy to those you are leaving behind. They won’t suffer the pain of grief at your loss. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/26 "2015-09-22T11:49:26Z")
I’d rather serve as another man’s laborer, as a poor peasant without land, and be alive on Earth, than be lord of all the lifeless dead. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/27 "2015-09-22T12:03:16Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I’d rather serve as another man’s laborer, as a poor peasant without land, and be alive on Earth, than be lord of all the lifeless dead. Yeah, but that dude was a heel. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/28 "2015-09-22T16:42:17Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Nobody is going to really \*remember \*you for long. Sure a few people will show up at your funeral, but after that, forget it. Even for close friends and relatives, you quite quickly become a (very) distant memory. Yep. And even if you are mega famous and so “remembered” for generations, that’s not really you, that’s some bullshit legend. It’s worthless even if you were alive to see 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:** [September 22, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/29 "2015-09-22T16:54:51Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Yep. And even if you are mega famous and so “remembered” for generations, that’s not really you, that’s some bullshit legend. It’s worthless even if you were alive to see it. I guess it depends a bit on whether your memory is an inspiring example to others (Rosa Parks maybe) or whether you’re just famous for being famous. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/30 "2015-09-22T17:16:03Z")
Is this about [Achilles](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0217%3Abook%3D9%3Acard%3D334)? > [@](#): > > My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end. If I stay here and fight, I shall lose my safe homecoming, but I will have a glory that is unwilting. Whereas if I go home my glory will die, but it will be a long time before the outcome of death shall take me. That’s the choice Achilles has: If he goes to Troy, he will be killed, but he’ll win everlasting glory. Or he can stay home and live a long life, but win no glory, and be forgotten. Achilles went for the glory, obviously, and we all remember him to this day. Although, when Odysseus meets him later in the underworld, he [seems to regret his choice](http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.11.xi.html): > [@](#): > > ‘[…] As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are here you are a great prince among the dead. […]’ > > ‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death’s favour; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man’s house and be above ground than king of kings among the dead. […]’ Apparently, obscurity above ground isn’t so bad after all, because being below ground pretty much sucks. But then again, Achilles always was prone to sulking. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/31 "2015-09-22T17:23:19Z")
This is not even a question. If you become the most famous person on the planet, but you are not existing to perceive it, it didn’t happen for you. Let’s say I tell you that in a parallel universe, you are the most famous and important person in the world. How does that affect you? ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/32 "2015-09-22T17:31:20Z")
Meh… I’m not really sure I want either. I’ll fight the hypothetical. I certainly care nothing for being remembered. I want to do my little part to make the world a better place, but a level where I can live and die anonymously. Living forever might be nice for a while, but if it’s not a good old-fashioned Christian Heaven, then it’s not really high on my list of priorities. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/33 "2015-09-23T01:53:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > That said, I can imagine no more horrific fate than to live forever. > Interesting. Can I ask why? It’d be like reading a book with no ending. The ultimate lack of closure, I should think. Life is meant to have a span, a beginning, a youth, teenage, twenty something, etc through mid life and then, decline, frailty and an END ! How could you view the context of the life you’ve lived, correctly from an age of 200 yrs or more. You won’t be out of step, you’ll be out of context. _::::::shiver:::::::_ ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/34 "2015-09-23T02:08:26Z")
Live forever. What’s the point of being remembered if I’m not here to enjoy it? ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/35 "2015-09-23T03:37:42Z")
I’d rather choose neither or both. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/36 "2015-09-23T05:35:40Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I guess it depends a bit on whether your memory is an inspiring example to others (Rosa Parks maybe) or whether you’re just famous for being famous. True, but this is shifting the question somewhat. If the OP had been whether I would live indefinitely or _significantly change the world for the better_, then I would have hesitated. But the option was just “be remembered”, and I don’t think anyone is remembered for long; most of us will be forgotten within a generation, and the rest live on as a legend that is not a real person. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2015, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/37 "2015-09-23T06:11:12Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > It’d be like reading a book with no ending. The ultimate lack of closure, I should think. Don’t you ever get to the end of a book and wish the author had written a whole series of them? I do. > [@](#): > > Life is meant to have a span, a beginning, a youth, teenage, twenty something, etc through mid life and then, decline, frailty and an END ! > > How could you view the context of the life you’ve lived, correctly from an age of 200 yrs or more. You won’t be out of step, you’ll be out of context. > > _::::::shiver:::::::_ You could have a whole series of lives, each with its own beginning and end. Think of all the different ways that people live their whole lives; their different crafts and professions. Are you happy trying only one of that multitude of options? ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/38 "2015-09-23T06:35:28Z")
Name all the Immortal characters you know: Dracula Wandering Jew Zombie Doesn’t Voodoo have a mindless person said to have risen from the dead? None of these are noted as ‘fun people’. You watch as all your friends age and die. Forever. I would choose ‘Eternal’ only if it came with a guaranteed method of dying at the time of my choice. If there is any chance that I’d end up as a Terri Schiavo (comatose and brain dead - but this was Florida, so all Hell broke loose) and I’d go whenever the universe decides my time is up. Being ‘remembered’ is the very least of my worries. I’ve gotten this far without getting a Wiki article, so I doubt that I will do or become anything noteworthy. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/39 "2015-09-23T12:53:58Z")
Given my tendency towards episodes of depression, I wouldn’t want to live forever. It doesn’t really appeal to me. Plus, I’d get to see many of my friends and family members die, which would trouble me, even though I imagine I would make new friends. Though the way it’s phrased in the OP, saying you’d have an extremely good life and get what you wanted, it sounds kind of appealing, especially since it says you can live that way “for as long as you wish to live.” Though in my case, that might not be “forever,” exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079/40 "2015-09-23T13:53:22Z")
If I understand the hypothetical, I die and go to heaven. All the good I did on earth remains; it is just attributed to someone else. And my loved ones join me when they die. I don’t see a downside. Apart from not being remembered, I don’t see how it differs from how things work now, two or three generations after my death. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-forever-or-be-remembered/732079.md?page=3)