# What would you do if you knew you were immortal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611 "2006-02-02T01:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/1 "2006-02-02T01:39:41Z")
If you knew that barring accident, war, murder or suicide that you would live indefinitely? What long-term plans would you make for the coming millennia? Would you become paranoidly safety concious- or become a thrill seeker? Build up power and/or wealth as far as possible? Would you attempt cultural or breeding projects that would take centuries to show results? How would you plan for a time when the nation, society or language group you belong to no longer exists? ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/2 "2006-02-02T02:56:21Z")
Cry. A lot. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/3 "2006-02-02T03:02:57Z")
Kill people. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/4 "2006-02-02T03:08:42Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Kill people. Duh. Someone must not remember their Twilight Zone episodes.A man is granted immortality by the Devil and kills his wife, hoping to beat the electric chair. He is given life in prison without parole instead. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/5 "2006-02-02T03:10:21Z")
Stay physically fit and healthy. Build wealth quietly. Would I age physically? Hope not. I’d be one decrepit looking dude in a hundred years. Move every 20 years to a new place. After 100 years, I could come back without anyone recognizing me. It’d be cool to learn lots of languages and cool new technologies. Relationships with people, romantic and platonic, would be a real bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/6 "2006-02-02T03:13:53Z")
I’d become batman. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/7 "2006-02-02T03:20:35Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > Someone must not remember their Twilight Zone episodes.A man is granted immortality by the Devil and kills his wife, hoping to beat the electric chair. He is given life in prison without parole instead. But the ep copped out when: The Devil allowed the guy to have a heart attack and die. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/8 "2006-02-02T03:21:40Z")
> [@Harmonix](#): > > I’d become batman. Well, you’d have plenty of time to get prepared. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/9 "2006-02-02T04:53:06Z")
Damn, I was about to say “stick paperclips into a power outlet” but I guess that would count as seucide. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/10 "2006-02-02T05:09:26Z")
Would I still be subject to pain and suffering? Like, if I stopped eating - knowing I couldn’t die of starvation - would I get hungry? If I didn’t have to eat, stay warm, etc., I could quit working and do something I like. If I still had to eat, stay warm, etc., I suppose I’d be looking at an interminable lifetime of having to do something that looks an awful lot like what I do now. Crap. ---
**Author:** ![roshia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@roshia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roshia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/11 "2006-02-02T05:09:28Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > Damn, I was about to say “stick paperclips into a power outlet” but I guess that would count as seucide. Heh, that’s along the lines of what I though when I read the thread title. It reminded me of this novel whose name I can’t remember for the life of me (BAD PUN?) where, basically, everyone was essentially immortal and some of these people decided to make a game out of finding creative ways to die. Then, being immortal, they came back unscathed and um, undead. So yeah, my first thought was along the lines of “Well, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to jump off of the top story of a skyscraper…” But since that would still make me, you know, dead and stuff, I guess I’d have to pass on seeing if going SPLAT! is fun for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/12 "2006-02-02T05:54:39Z")
I’d travel extensively, for prolonged periods of time, absorbing knowledge wherever I could find it. Whereas now a couple of months backpacking through Europe sounds like a great adventure, with virtual eternity to play with, I could do it for years; even decades, until I became bored with it. Where I might have only been able to stop in one area for a few days or a week, I could spend years anywhere that struck my fancy. I’d take up as hobbies things that normally require a lifetime of study and patience and diligent work, like archaeology. In the meanwhile I’d have put some money into some long-term investments to build up a fortune over an extended period of time, so that I might forever be independently wealthy enough to continue to pursue whatever whim struck my fancy. Eventually I’d grow bored and tired of life and begin to look for a creative way out; probably succumbing to thrill-seeking hobbies and life-threatening employment. If I lived through that for long enough, after ensuring the proper dispersement of my assets, I’d, depending upon my mood and level of sanity (living that long has got to take it’s toll eventually), either quietly kill myself or go on a rampage. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/13 "2006-02-02T06:27:53Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > Cry. A lot. ditto. It would suck watching every one I knew and loved die. Tough call to kill yourself though. It’s a lot easier with the choice out of my hands. Plus if you have kids eventually everyone will be your descendant. That’ll make for a weird dating pool. I’m not sure I like anything so much as to spend centuries doing it. At least not anything going forward in time. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/14 "2006-02-02T06:34:40Z")
I’d stick $10 dollars in a savings account somewhere, sit back and see what the power of compounding interest can really do. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/15 "2006-02-02T07:41:19Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Would you attempt cultural or breeding projects that would take centuries to show results? I would attempt to influence the world to give up liking soccer, which I loathe. That would definitely take a while. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/16 "2006-02-02T13:26:31Z")
I would continue to live as I do now. I already plan my future as if it extends much more than 100 years. I save money for later, but have no serious plans of retirement. I seek constant intellectual growth, push myself physically and try to learn as much as I can while still enjoying the moment. I watch the world, and do plan on a time in which what is will no longer be. I adapt to the new and assume that the environment around me will not be the same forever. I realize that many people use the term Immortal meaning doesn’t die of old age, but immortality simply means free from death. In my post I took it in context and assumed that I can die of old age or serious illness (AIDS, Plague, flesh eating disease, et), but that I will not age at all otherwise. I think many of the posters in this thread are referring to it in the idea that you simply cannot die at all. If that were the case, I would do many more daring things, knowing that I cannot ever possibly die. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/17 "2006-02-02T13:43:32Z")
Sharpen my sword. “There can be only one!” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/18 "2006-02-02T13:53:57Z")
Donate blood. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/19 "2006-02-02T14:44:34Z")
Cancel my life insurance. Guess I’d get started on the mother of all shaggy dog stories. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611/20 "2006-02-02T14:51:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > barring accident, war, murder or suicide this bit of the OP implies that you COULD die, so I wouldn’t become a thrill seeker, which I would if I were immortal like the Highlander guy. In the Highlander scenario I would also be a lot more likely to put myself in danger to protect others. But as stated, I would just do the compound interest thing. And definitely go back to school to train for a more lucrative career. And learn a lot of languages. Once I’d got the money-working-for-me rather than me-working-for-money thing worked out I’d travel travel travel! Till I got bored of that. and then I’d do something else. Hopefully all this extra time and education would improve my social skills enough so that I’d always be making new friends as the old ones died off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-knew-you-were-immortal/342611.md?page=2)