2012-05-28, 23:20 | Link #41 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
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It depends on the extend of the immortality.
Do you still age but don't die? Immortality without youth is pointless. Do you not require basic requirements for life (air, water, food, sleep, heat, etc) or suffer the ill effects from the lack of it? Are you still vulnerable to sickness and disease? Are you killable or are you invulnerable or have super regeneration? I imagine that a immortal will have changed perspective. Some may want to rule the world, some may want to benefit mankind and some may want to make a lot of money and employ a mansion full of cute maids. I don't think boredom will be an issue as there will always be new things to do. (Until you outlive the rest of humanity) Or since you have so much time try to perhaps discover why you have immortality and the workings behind it. |
2012-05-29, 00:27 | Link #42 |
Kurumada's lost child
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Immortality would not be a curse if people learned to live in the present, not worry about the future nor the past, and above all not becoming attached to anything. After all, it is our attachments that brings us misery. Having an immortal human being who suffers from attachments to things would be hell indeed.
Since this society conditions us to link our happiness to the approval/disapproval of others, as well as being emotionally dependent on others, a normal human being would suffer a great a deal when he knows that anyone he is emotionally attached to will eventually pass away leaving him behind. One great thing that could come from being immortal would be immense wisdom, again, provided the person learns to direct his attention to the present. Because enjoying the present leads us to be amazed by experiences that most people, except young kids, would find mundane. However, becoming a kid in spirit could take more than a 100 years to the average Joe. Real happiness comes from peace within one's self. We mistake thrills and wants for happiness. A healthy person does not rely on anyone but himself in order to be happy.
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Last edited by Sugetsu; 2012-05-29 at 00:44. |
2012-05-29, 00:28 | Link #43 |
Megane girl fan
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
Age: 55
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One aspect that I find interesting is that you would finally have time to actually master all those hobbies and other interests you have. When you master one subject, start learning the next one. I don't see how one can possibly become bored with all that information and possible learning out there.
Endless "Jack of all trades, Master of all" Soul
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2012-05-29, 00:44 | Link #44 |
Absolute Haruhist!
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Age: 36
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Learning is definitely the most interesting thing you can do forever.
You can never learn and know everything, not even an immortal can do that. There will always be more things to do as you learn more about things. An immortal is blessed with the ability to learn as much as he can.
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2012-05-29, 02:11 | Link #46 |
Absolute Haruhist!
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Age: 36
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No problem with that.
Isaac Newton was a very anti social man, he hated people and always locked himself in his room to do his research. It was all by himself in his room that he came up with all the laws that made him the father of modern science. In fact contrary to popular belief, he may not even have sat under the apple tree because he hated the outdoors, he came up with gravity just by thinking and calculating in his own room. Albert Einstein was alone and bored in his tiny room at the patent office he worked in. Besides the desk and the patents he's supposed to go through, he day dreams, or rather, conduct thought experiments while staring out the only window. And exactly because he was very curious he asked himself the weirdest questions, such as what would happen if that guy cleaning the roof on the building were to fall? And what will happen if the person is falling while enclosed in an elevator that is falling forever? It is just like this, observing through the window thinking of a man falling from the roof and doing calculations by himself that he came up with his Special Theory of Relativity, won the Nobel Prize, and continued to be the greatest mind that ever existed. And these scientists kept on learning because what they've discovered only created more questions. The more they learn, the more they want and need to know. There are so many things you can do and ask even by yourself, even with nothing. What is nothing? Is there really nothing? All you need to do is ask and think.
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2012-05-29, 02:34 | Link #47 |
Secret Society BLANKET
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: 3 times the passion of normal flamenco
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C.A.'s points are basically what I think when talking about immortality too. As someone who's a fan of history in general, it's easy to see that our world has changed so much within the last 2000 years that someone living in 1 AD would experience the mother of all culture shocks if you took them to 2012 AD. So many cultures have fallen and risen, societal norms created, twisted and broken, technologies being developed... people who say we can ever get bored from living too long has not seen what we as a civilization has accomplished.
The world in itself, let alone the entire UNIVERSE has so much more to offer than all of us can ever hope to take in or achieve in our single 80-year lifespans. Immortality (which in this definition refers to long life) would allow one to partake of all that this reality can offer. My perspective in life is somewhat balanced by what my life is like. Sure I normally coop up behind this PC as part of my daily job routine which can get boring. But occasionally, my family decides to go on roadtrips or even trips abroad to places we've never been to: Florida, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Tokyo etc. Contrasting those travel adventures filled with dazzling sights and sounds and moments with my normally hum-drum daily life has taught me that this world alone has a hell of a lot of history, culture and society that one can experience. Experiences that one could not possibly partake in in full in the span of a single lifetime. When I think what new and wonderful life experiences I could be missing by the mere act of dying, then it's obvious that I can never see Immortality as anything other than a blessing. All people see when they think of immortality are the negative points portrayed in TV and movie stories, and yet some of those stories also have a bright side to them that people seem to ignore: The immortal, should he/she undergo the realization, finds that his life is more enriched through his long life. It's easy to think that dying is the way out of all the misery in life (the main reason for suicides), but then you'll be missing out on all the good things in life that you can experience while you're alive. Life is only boring if you let it.
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2012-05-29, 03:16 | Link #49 | |
The Opened Ultimate Gate
Join Date: Dec 2011
Age: 29
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2012-05-29, 06:04 | Link #53 |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
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Tell me, is there ever a time in the last 500 years when something new and exciting didn't happen? Is there a time ANYWHERE in human history when something new and exciting didn't happen?
How are you suppose to get bored if everything changes in 200 years? 250 years ago we have no cars and everything runs on steam. Do you have any idea how much the world changed, constantly, over the centuries?
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2012-05-29, 06:17 | Link #55 |
Did someone call a doctor
Join Date: Apr 2007
Age: 40
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Curious, since that leap of technology since the industrial revolution and all that, does it seems that things have slowed down quite a bit in the modern age?
Also, say if you were a soldier, wouldn't it after a while seem if one war or battle was the same as the next? War does seem to be when big leaps in technology happen after all.
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2012-05-29, 07:47 | Link #56 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
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Tech seemed "slowed down" because if you look back in history, you look a decade at a time. In your life time you will only ever notice ten decades of tech jumps. So your frame of reference concerning your present and future is tiny; we would see maybe three or four technological leaps before we die. Compare to the "past", which is measured in centuries. It's just a compressive illusion. Tech is going forward all the time, but if you observe tech advances on a daily and weekly basis, of course it would look slow.
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2012-05-29, 08:21 | Link #57 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Some very visible areas like transportation have now reached a stage of refinement rather than leaps. The impact of information technology in the last two decades has been insane. It's hard to predict where the next big jump in technology will be that will change our daily lives. Genetic engineering, nanotechnology, robotics, augmented reality, energy production, material science, who knows? Last edited by Bri; 2012-05-29 at 08:39. |
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2012-05-29, 08:30 | Link #58 |
Kurumada's lost child
Join Date: Nov 2003
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My first priority as an immortal would be self knowledge. To fully master my mind, body and emotions. I want to be able to use a 100% of brain and surpass the feats that shaolin monks accomplish. In other words, i would would want to become a super human of sorts. One that has full control over his entire being. A person who isnt emotionally dependant on others, a person who is at pwace with himself and has the spirit of a child; someone who will never get bored of life because he lives in the present and is able to enjoy every little thing.
Then after i am a master of myself and have evidently become a sage, then i would focus on gaining scientific knowledge. Being a master of myself i would exponentially imcrease my ability to absorb and analyze information. My ability to direct my attention to where i need it to would enable me to see things most human beings are too blimd to see. I would make amazing discoveries. Know thy self, know the universe. Am i alone in this line of thinking? Come on there's got to be some one else reading this thread who also believes that spiritual development would be paramount as an immortal being ? Otherwise your exsistance would be misserable.
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2012-05-29, 10:01 | Link #59 | |||
Schwing!
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Central Texas
Age: 39
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Gotta do something when you're traveling the world Last edited by Mr. DJ; 2012-05-29 at 10:14. |
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