We want to live but we have to die. Why?

[jjimm]

@Peak Banana

We’re booby trapped by nature. Our bodies are tuned by nature to self-destruct, as it turned out that there was some kind of evolutional advantage to having a fairly rapid turnover between the generations.

Tell that to a Galapagos tortoise.

[Mangetout]

@jjimm

Tell that to a Galapagos tortoise.

I tried that once; he didn’t appear to be listening. Oddly, I got the same sort of reception from the giant redwoods.

[QuickSilver]

“Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it’s all over much too soon.”

• Woody Allen

[Der_Trihs]

@Mangetout

I tried that once; he didn’t appear to be listening. Oddly, I got the same sort of reception from the giant redwoods.

Tortoises don’t so much live longer than us as slower; we do have a much longer lifespan for our metabolic rate than other species. Roughly 4x, IIRC. Trees OTOH don’t have a “lifespan” as such; they last until they wear out, not a more or less set amount of years.

@Misnomer

Speak for yourself: I’ve heard of a lot of old people who were quite ready – some even happy – to let go when the time came.

But being old, they were already badly damaged and well along towards death. We have no way of knowing how they would feel if they were still physically young.

[Misnomer]

@Der Trihs

But being old, they were already badly damaged and well along towards death. We have no way of knowing how they would feel if they were still physically young.

But that has nothing to do with the OP, which is wondering why we all have to die – while claiming (in the subject) that we don’t want to. My point is that by the time some people die, they do want to.

[gigi]

@QuickSilver

“Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it’s all over much too soon.”

• Woody Allen

The food sucks and the portions are too small.

[Annie-Xmas]

We all owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes the Green Mile is oh so long–Stephen King, The Green Mile