# Would you accept immortality? If not, why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010 "2010-08-21T23:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/21 "2010-08-22T05:04:01Z")
Yes and no. Life pretty much sucks as of 2010 for me. In the future I’m sure it’ll get much much better (advances in neuroscience and psychology will make life more enjoyable and emotions/cognition more user friendly). But right now I struggle with material lack, mental health issues, emotional trauma, isolation and boredom. I don’t want an eternity of that. Being eternally young 100 years from now sounds great. Life will be a whole lot better. But right now, it would be unpleasant. But if I’m not immortal I won’t get to enjoy life 100 years from now. So yeah, but not to maintain my current life and way of life, but as a segue to a better one. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/22 "2010-08-22T05:05:15Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > No. > > If I’m alone, I become a freak, and I have to keep moving so nobody notices. Which might be fun for a couple hundred years. > > But if it’s available to everybody, then things are going to get pretty darn crowded. I don’t wanna be here when that happens. You should watch the movie ‘the man from earth’ > **[The Man from Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth)** > > The Man from Earth is a 2007 American science fiction drama film directed by Richard Schenkman. It was written by Jerome Bixby, who conceived the screenplay in the early 1960s and completed it on his deathbed in April 1998. It stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, a departing university professor, who puts forth the notion that he is more than 14,000 years old. The entire film is set in and around Oldman's house during his farewell party and consists almost entirely of dialogue. The plot advan ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/23 "2010-08-22T05:26:25Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > But if it’s available to everybody, then things are going to get pretty darn crowded. I don’t wanna be here when that happens. On the other hand, sublight space travel suddenly becomes viable. Boring as _shit_, but viable. Load up colony ships and go find another planet. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/24 "2010-08-22T05:27:57Z")
In a heartbeat. There’s literally no downside: even if you for some reason develop the desire to die, there’s nothing stopping you just shooting yourself and saving the rest of us from your immortality wangst. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/25 "2010-08-22T05:34:43Z")
Aging sucks. So I’d take the pill provided I could still check out through other means. If only we had this before my eyesight went to shit and my hair started falling out and growing out my ears and nose, etc. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/26 "2010-08-22T07:37:18Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > > > But if it’s available to everybody, then things are going to get pretty darn crowded. I don’t wanna be here when that happens. > > On the other hand, sublight space travel suddenly becomes viable. Boring as _shit_, but viable. Load up colony ships and go find another planet. I was set on “no way” until I read your post. I would love to be able to see how the world will be in a few thousands and more years and if we’re ever going to inhabitate other planets and have always regretted that I’ll be dead before that. Because otherwise, being stuck on this planet till the sun blows up, with having seen and experienced all that there is to be here, sounds boring to me. (I know I could always kill myself though, but still…) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/27 "2010-08-22T14:52:02Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > That comment about “only” being married for fifty years. Oh young grasshopper, you have so much to learn and you have obviously never been married. The thought of a 100 year let alone a 1000 year marriage sends chills down the spine of even the most patient and dedicated people. Speak for yourself, please. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/28 "2010-08-22T15:23:57Z")
The OP situation would work out best. Mot many people would want to spend eternity trapped under a collapsed building that later gets turned into a memorial park, or spending hundreds of years trapped in a ship slowly rotting at the bottom of the sea, or anything like that. There has to be an Out. I recall reading something 15-20 years ago that stated that if all other means of Death were eliminated and only Accidents remained, the average lifespan would be still only be somewhere around 500-600 years, with a maximum of around 1,000 years before _something_ got you. So Death By Trauma still means you’re not “forever” immortal, but you will be around long enough to do quite a lot without having to worry about spending 2 million years trapped in a glacier. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/29 "2010-08-22T23:59:00Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I recall reading something 15-20 years ago that stated that if all other means of Death were eliminated and only Accidents remained, the average lifespan would be still only be somewhere around 500-600 years, with a maximum of around 1,000 years before _something_ got you. So Death By Trauma still means you’re not “forever” immortal, but you will be around long enough to do quite a lot without having to worry about spending 2 million years trapped in a glacier. I remember a thread on this very topic, and yes, the average lifespan would be only some centuries (it was based on current figures for lethal accidents, murders, etc…) . However, necessarily, some lucky people would live for millenias (assuming they would want to). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/30 "2010-08-23T00:15:12Z")
If the medical field could concentrate on treating trauma rather than disease, I wonder what advances could be made? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/31 "2010-08-23T03:01:01Z")
I honestly don’t understand why, if you have no moral compulsions about killing yourself, but are unhappy enough that you would want life to end, why you are still here. I’m pretty sure that, as life goes on, you can always come up with reasons to stay alive, if your brain is functioning properly. It’s been pretty much designed to do so. I still say the Heaven-style immortality is better: no pain, no sorrow, just eternal happiness. You can’t die, but you wouldn’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/32 "2010-08-23T03:39:04Z")
Merely halting the aging process is one thing, but then you would still be facing the never ending cycle of working for a living…forever…It’s not like to could retire at 65, or even 650 :eek: There comes a time where the eternal sleep is your friend ---
**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:** [August 23, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/33 "2010-08-23T04:03:24Z")
Yes, but only if I always have the option of suicide. It’d be great to change careers every 50 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/34 "2010-08-23T04:07:17Z")
> [@flickster](#): > > Merely halting the aging process is one thing, but then you would still be facing the never ending cycle of working for a living…forever…It’s not like to could retire at 65, or even 650 :eek: There is that. As the _I Ching_ says; _The finest clothes turn to rags_. You may pay off the house, but it’s still going to rot and fall down, or need major rebuilding or updating. Jobs and technology change, so you’re not entirely likely to be doing the same job for 50 or 100 years, but it is possible, especially if you’re a store clerk or a waiter. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/35 "2010-08-23T04:15:33Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Aging sucks. So I’d take the pill provided I could still check out through other means. If only we had this before my eyesight went to shit and my hair started falling out and growing out my ears and nose, etc. Yeah, i don’t want to spend the next 1000 years shaving my ear hair. > [@flickster](#): > > Merely halting the aging process is one thing, but then you would still be facing the never ending cycle of working for a living…forever…It’s not like to could retire at 65, or even 650 :eek: > > There comes a time where the eternal sleep is your friend I dunno. Most retired people work as much as I do, it’s just not for money. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/36 "2010-08-23T04:16:28Z")
I’d rather be uploaded into a computer and live that way, but the immortality described in the OP would be acceptable. **flickster** : If you’re forever young, you’ll have time to learn many trades and, effectively, live many lives, with memories from your old ones. (I’d be curious to find out how long the brain can keep memories, myself.) As for money, presumably once enough people take the treatment the economy will shift to allow for individuals to take advantage of very stable long-term investments. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/37 "2010-08-23T14:09:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I still say the Heaven-style immortality is better: no pain, no sorrow, just eternal happiness. You can’t die, but you wouldn’t want to. This would require a lobotomy. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/38 "2010-08-23T14:16:07Z")
I think I’d want some kind of guarantee against disease (not full, perhaps, but eventual self-repair of nonfatal damage), since I’d rather not think of what several hundred years of accumulated minor illnesses might look like; but definitely yes. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/39 "2010-08-23T14:21:57Z")
Can I pay extra for the not-only-do-I-not-age-but-I-could-still-shoot-myself-in-the-head-and-not-die-ala-Bill-Murray-in-Groundhog-Day pill? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010/40 "2010-08-23T15:47:39Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Can I pay extra for the not-only-do-I-not-age-but-I-could-still-shoot-myself-in-the-head-and-not-die-ala-Bill-Murray-in-Groundhog-Day pill? There’s probably no way to achieve that in the physical world as long as your brain is still in your head. Uploading into a computer simulation would make it trivial, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-accept-immortality-if-not-why/551010.md?page=3)