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One thing I rarely see mentioned in regards to living forever is that during a life you will accumulate mental scars. My wife has lost a sister, and she's witn

One thing I rarely see mentioned in regards to living forever is that during a life you will accumulate mental scars. My wife has lost a sister, and she's witnessed a murder. Neither she nor I are the same after those experiences. I don't think we will ever be. If we lived forever I think we would all become more and more anxious and excentric as time progressed and our souls inevitably became more "scarred". Maybe it's a "challenge" that will also be solved - with memory erasure or what not - but it seems like an overlooked issue to me.

krageon 4y ago
> eccentric This is good. I always say rich people can't be weird, only eccentric. And chances are if you live for a long time, you have more money :)
- swader999 4y ago
  Or the difference between genius and insanity is the amount in your account.
ekianjo 4y ago
> If we lived forever I think we would all become more and more anxious and excentric as time progressed and our souls inevitably became more "scarred". Not sure, you could apply the same reasoning to people who go thru active wars: the first time they see someone die, they care, but by the time they see hundreds of people dead it does not matter to them anymore.
- goldenkey 4y ago
  It matters to them but they tuck it beneath the surface.
derbOac 4y ago
I agree. I am starting to think we might reverse biological aging before we resolve psychosocial crises associated with it. It wouldn't be the first time humanity has introduced physical tools they weren't ready for.
nonrandomstring 4y ago
It's an interesting point. I forget the exact quote and source, but it's something like: living to a very old age requires great emotional strength, and is lonely, because you will see all those you love die. Getting to know your grandchildren and embrace their changing world is probably a good defence in this regard. To the extent I agree with the parent commenter about it being "a nightmare", the danger lies in exacerbating inequality. As with all medicines, those with access to life-improving medicines will be first world, wealthier people. But of course that's no good argument against progress, just an unfortunate short-term side effect of it.
avgcorrection 4y ago
Isn’t this Cartesian Dualism? The brain is part of the body and it might be possible to reverse damage to it.
pawelmurias 4y ago
Time heals mental scars.
- jeppester 4y ago
  It gets better over time, but not to the point of complete recovery. I think PTSD is a good example of that.

krageon 4y ago

> eccentric This is good. I always say rich people can't be weird, only eccentric. And chances are if you live for a long time, you have more money :)

swader999 4y ago
Or the difference between genius and insanity is the amount in your account.

ekianjo 4y ago

> If we lived forever I think we would all become more and more anxious and excentric as time progressed and our souls inevitably became more "scarred". Not sure, you could apply the same reasoning to people who go thru active wars: the first time they see someone die, they care, but by the time they see hundreds of people dead it does not matter to them anymore.

goldenkey 4y ago
It matters to them but they tuck it beneath the surface.

derbOac 4y ago

I agree. I am starting to think we might reverse biological aging before we resolve psychosocial crises associated with it. It wouldn't be the first time humanity has introduced physical tools they weren't ready for.

nonrandomstring 4y ago

It's an interesting point. I forget the exact quote and source, but it's something like: living to a very old age requires great emotional strength, and is lonely, because you will see all those you love die. Getting to know your grandchildren and embrace their changing world is probably a good defence in this regard. To the extent I agree with the parent commenter about it being "a nightmare", the danger lies in exacerbating inequality. As with all medicines, those with access to life-improving medicines will be first world, wealthier people. But of course that's no good argument against progress, just an unfortunate short-term side effect of it.

avgcorrection 4y ago

Isn’t this Cartesian Dualism? The brain is part of the body and it might be possible to reverse damage to it.

pawelmurias 4y ago

Time heals mental scars.

jeppester 4y ago
It gets better over time, but not to the point of complete recovery. I think PTSD is a good example of that.