4 ms·

I hope I live to see the day when we humans can die on our own terms rather than it being forced upon us.

Circuits 7y ago
I don't mind it being forced on us but I think we all wish the circumstances weren't so often, so cruel.
ASalazarMX 7y ago
It would be cool, but I fear some world leaders (be it politics, economy, science, etc.) would never want to die, stagnating the status quo for centuries until they die from accidents.
- pawelmurias 7y ago
  Scientists living forever seems like something that could accelerate progress.
  - scotradamus 7y ago
    "Science progresses one funeral at a time" -Max Planck
    - ASalazarMX 7y ago
      This was the quote I had in mind but couldn't quite recall.
- rossnordby 7y ago
  Agelessness might cause some social problems, but if the choice is between "everyone dying" and "needing societal innovation to avoid stagnation", it's hardly a choice at all. In an alternate Earth where humans never aged to begin with and society started stagnating (or worse) because of it, I doubt that the world's top minds would come up with 'kill literally everyone at X years of age' as their first option (or second, or third...). That would be comic book supervillainy. These kinds of concerns aren't invalid, I just hope they are considered with a wide enough perspective. In terms of direct and indirect suffering, it's hard to do worse than aging.
  - mcv 7y ago
    > "Agelessness might cause some social problems, but if the choice is between "everyone dying" and "needing societal innovation to avoid stagnation", it's hardly a choice at all." Needing societal innovation does not mean you're going to get societal innovation, though. Also, a cure for aging does not mean that nobody will die from old age. It means that the people who can afford the treatment won't die of old age. The poor will continue to die.
    - rossnordby 7y ago
      Both of those things are potential issues, yes. And they should be kept in mind so the future can be less bad. But they are not unsolvable problems, nor do they imply that aging is better than agelessness. They just imply we have to work harder, because again, the alternative is the death of everyone.
- taneq 7y ago
  "Humans should only die on their own terms... except for the most influential people, who shouldn't live longer than I say they should." Hmm.
  - ASalazarMX 7y ago
    You misinterpret my words. I meant if everyone was ageless it would be good, but influential people would get more influential the same as wealth tends to accumulate.
  - nitwit005 7y ago
    "Dictator for life" is definitely less of an issue than "Dictator for eternity".
- derefr 7y ago
  The fact that autocrats eventually die of old age is one of the main things discouraging people from bloody revolution—because it’s a lot cheaper (in lives lost, for one) to just wait and let nature take its course. Without death by aging, this moderating influence wouldn’t be there, so we’d see far more assassination attempts and coup staging.
- lukaszkups 7y ago
  yeah... "accidents" ;)
- solveit 7y ago
  "Kill literally everyone" seems like a poor way to deal with that (or any) problem.
- chr1 7y ago
  Why do you think any other people would want to die? I would expect wanting to die to be be as anomalous as it is now unless the life extension therapy doesn't work well. Also "stagnating the status quo for centuries " sounds bad because you expect to live decades. If you say it as "stagnating the status quo for time comparable to half of the human lifetime" you'll see it's not any worse than what we have now.
bg24 7y ago
My desire to make it so for myself. No I am not a psycho, I am an educated and balanced individual. It pains me to see how people do not realize that sometimes it is worthwhile to die peacefully than living in utter pain. Worse, it drags down immediate family, society and govt money. All for trying to reduce the torture they are going through. Sometimes there are individuals who have no knowledge of torture they are going through - they cannot eat, cannot sleep, always in pain, do not have money, and yet do not know what to do. I am going to live and die on my own terms, unless it is a sudden unnatural death (ex. Accident).
majkinetor 7y ago
This is a motive of the book/serie Altered Carbon. Highly educational material regarding possible scenarios.

I don't mind it being forced on us but I think we all wish the circumstances weren't so often, so cruel.

It would be cool, but I fear some world leaders (be it politics, economy, science, etc.) would never want to die, stagnating the status quo for centuries until they die from accidents.

pawelmurias 7y ago
Scientists living forever seems like something that could accelerate progress.
- scotradamus 7y ago
  "Science progresses one funeral at a time" -Max Planck
  - ASalazarMX 7y ago
    This was the quote I had in mind but couldn't quite recall.
rossnordby 7y ago
Agelessness might cause some social problems, but if the choice is between "everyone dying" and "needing societal innovation to avoid stagnation", it's hardly a choice at all. In an alternate Earth where humans never aged to begin with and society started stagnating (or worse) because of it, I doubt that the world's top minds would come up with 'kill literally everyone at X years of age' as their first option (or second, or third...). That would be comic book supervillainy. These kinds of concerns aren't invalid, I just hope they are considered with a wide enough perspective. In terms of direct and indirect suffering, it's hard to do worse than aging.
- mcv 7y ago
  > "Agelessness might cause some social problems, but if the choice is between "everyone dying" and "needing societal innovation to avoid stagnation", it's hardly a choice at all." Needing societal innovation does not mean you're going to get societal innovation, though. Also, a cure for aging does not mean that nobody will die from old age. It means that the people who can afford the treatment won't die of old age. The poor will continue to die.
  - rossnordby 7y ago
    Both of those things are potential issues, yes. And they should be kept in mind so the future can be less bad. But they are not unsolvable problems, nor do they imply that aging is better than agelessness. They just imply we have to work harder, because again, the alternative is the death of everyone.
taneq 7y ago
"Humans should only die on their own terms... except for the most influential people, who shouldn't live longer than I say they should." Hmm.
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  You misinterpret my words. I meant if everyone was ageless it would be good, but influential people would get more influential the same as wealth tends to accumulate.
- nitwit005 7y ago
  "Dictator for life" is definitely less of an issue than "Dictator for eternity".
derefr 7y ago
The fact that autocrats eventually die of old age is one of the main things discouraging people from bloody revolution—because it’s a lot cheaper (in lives lost, for one) to just wait and let nature take its course. Without death by aging, this moderating influence wouldn’t be there, so we’d see far more assassination attempts and coup staging.
lukaszkups 7y ago
yeah... "accidents" ;)
solveit 7y ago
"Kill literally everyone" seems like a poor way to deal with that (or any) problem.
chr1 7y ago
Why do you think any other people would want to die? I would expect wanting to die to be be as anomalous as it is now unless the life extension therapy doesn't work well. Also "stagnating the status quo for centuries " sounds bad because you expect to live decades. If you say it as "stagnating the status quo for time comparable to half of the human lifetime" you'll see it's not any worse than what we have now.

bg24 7y ago

My desire to make it so for myself. No I am not a psycho, I am an educated and balanced individual. It pains me to see how people do not realize that sometimes it is worthwhile to die peacefully than living in utter pain. Worse, it drags down immediate family, society and govt money. All for trying to reduce the torture they are going through. Sometimes there are individuals who have no knowledge of torture they are going through - they cannot eat, cannot sleep, always in pain, do not have money, and yet do not know what to do. I am going to live and die on my own terms, unless it is a sudden unnatural death (ex. Accident).

majkinetor 7y ago

This is a motive of the book/serie Altered Carbon. Highly educational material regarding possible scenarios.