3 ms·

I think you might not have thought it all the way through yet. For real, true immortality (a span of not hundreds, but also thousands, millions, billions of ye

I think you might not have thought it all the way through yet. For real, true immortality (a span of not hundreds, but also thousands, millions, billions of years), the problem shifts to what it means to be 'you'. You're not the same person you were when you were 5, 15, or 25, with different goals, preferences, and motivations. Extend that to geological time, and there become only a few reasonable cases: 1. You stop changing; the core of your personality becomes completely fixed. I would claim this is a form of death, because although you are still physically healthy and moving about, change is an inherent part of life and growth. 2. Your personality drifts to the point that previous incarnations of your 'self' (even if you remember them) become very far from who you are currently. In which case, you're not really immortal, you're just a series of 'different people' who happen to share a single memory and narrative. 3. Your personality shifts at some point to wanting to death, at which point (assuming suicide is allowed) life ends I highly recommend Schild's Ladder[1] and Permutation City [2], both by Greg Egan, which do an excellent job of asking 'who am I?' if we had the ability live for infinite time. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schild%27s_Ladder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schild%27s_Ladder [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(novel)

samatman 8y ago
I'm fine with 2. It seems to be the case already.
nickjj 8y ago
I've thought a lot about death, mortality, living in a futuristic world, etc.. I would immediately sign up for immortality instead of dying in ~70 years given the magic pill rule scenario. Just think of all of the amazing things you'll witness while not having any forced pressure for all aspects of your life. You'll never get sick, you'll never need to worry about finances because there's nothing that would put you into a fear driven scenario where you "must" make money. You could go through the years doing whatever you want and you'll live long enough to escape technology bubbles that each generation lives through. Like you said, you're pretty much a different person than you were 15 years ago. If you were 150 years old but still 25 inside, you'd get to experience a completely different world. It would be like having infinite lives with no reset switch on your memory.

samatman 8y ago

I'm fine with 2. It seems to be the case already.

nickjj 8y ago

I've thought a lot about death, mortality, living in a futuristic world, etc.. I would immediately sign up for immortality instead of dying in ~70 years given the magic pill rule scenario. Just think of all of the amazing things you'll witness while not having any forced pressure for all aspects of your life. You'll never get sick, you'll never need to worry about finances because there's nothing that would put you into a fear driven scenario where you "must" make money. You could go through the years doing whatever you want and you'll live long enough to escape technology bubbles that each generation lives through. Like you said, you're pretty much a different person than you were 15 years ago. If you were 150 years old but still 25 inside, you'd get to experience a completely different world. It would be like having infinite lives with no reset switch on your memory.