Poll: immortality of age or of injury?

[Agayek]

There is absolutely no scientific information to back this statement up. Problems with immortality are all fictional.

That would be like saying "looping the pulse matrix plasma coils with a re-depolarization will cause an influx of sub-space energy and materialize a perfectly cooked hamburger" is fact just because it has shown up in fiction.
(and yes it has shown up in fiction. That sentence was a short story written by me right here and now ©present-4000.)

I didn't think it needed a qualifier, but I'll add "as far as we understand neurology, the human mind cannot cope with immortality."

Until we have people living for millennia, it's not possible to accurately test it. What we do know about the human mind suggests that it would not cope with an infinite stream of information very well though.

It's certainly possible for it to be just fine, and there be no side-effects of processing several hundred thousand times more information than the average human (which is what we evolved for), it's just not terribly likely.

 

[WolfThomas]

You know it mildly irritates me the way immortality has become synonymous with invulnerability in many aspects.

 

[Ashcrexl]

age definitely. so i can personally decide when and how i die barring accidents.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

But if I choose injury, does that mean I'll eventually die from old age?

 

[Dragnridr3]

I'd have to go for injury. Since being immortal to injury also means not getting sick, getting old wouldn't suck at all and no matter what I do, no matter how dangerous and stupid, I wouldn't get hurt and that's the whole point of being immortal.

 

[Curlythelock]

Injury, because then I would join the army and be a walking death machine.

 

[exarkunsith]

Injury, then its straight to the military to sign up, only as i now know i WON'T be hurt.

Then eventually to the SASR.

 

[zarix2311]

Depends what you mean by "immortality to injury". Do you mean "completely invulnerable to harm" or "you'd be surprised what you can live through" (for example, you're still alive despite being cut into many little pieces; you're just immobile until you're reassembled)?

If the former, definitely that. If the latter, immortality to age sounds better, as I can always get offed if I grow weary of my existence.

Fuck! I'd thought about that before I put this up, but I wasn't sure what kind I wanted so I was just hoping no one would ask. You've bested me!

 

[Gaiseric]

Injury. There would be shenanigans and I'd become a super soldier or something along those lines. Imagine jumping out of a plane without a parachute in the middle of a battle and fucking shit up. Or jumping out of a plane into a kids birthday party.

Watching my friends and family grow old and die while I remain the same doesn't sound that awesome. Also if you had kids or a wife/husband you get to bury them as well. Seeing nations rise and fall would get boring. Can you imagine what it would take to fight off boredom when you are 2037 years old?

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

Doesn't immortality from injury also stop you from dying by old age?

You said injury includes sickness, sickness(such as organ failure, or dieing from diseases that their age has left them valnerable to) is the real reason people die 'of old age', so being invulnerable to injury and sickness would therefore also make you invulnerable to death by 'old age'.
Doesn't mean you're body wouldn't get old and crappy i suppose, but nothing would fail on you so you wouldn't ever die.

The human mind simply cannot cope with immortality.

There is absolutely no scientific information to back this statement up. Problems with immortality are all fictional.

back in the early days of cars they use to think that going over 20 km/h would kill you, because the human body just wasn't meant to go at those speeds. We've well and truly proved that wrong.

 

[Nekron_X]

Age. Injury means people are going to start behaving incredibly stupidly and are going to kill people who haven't gotten in on it.

I agree. also, if you think about it, being able to not feel pain and such and do what alot of people seem to be planning, to me looks like a guarantee to spend the rest of your injury free life strapped to a table with scientist trying to figure out how you are able to walk away from everything you do. that said i'd go with age.

 

[Laser Priest]

Injury, hands down.

Age, I would be bored after a while, not to mention I would watch everyone who I didn't loathe die knowing that I can't. Immunity to any form of illness or injury means that I can do just about anything I want without worrying about those risks to myself.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Age obviously.

You can't really compare one with the other.Growing older makes you're body brittle and more prone to diseases.If you remain at the "prime" age,you shouldn't worry about injuries.Even if you injure yourself you will heal faster than older people.

 

[viking97]

i say time, at least that way if i get bored with life i can put a bullet through my gorgeous 21 year old body.

 

[New York Patrick]

I would take physical immortality over eternal youth any day. Want to know why?

As a result, my cellular structure would contsantly repair itself, since cells gradually dying off in old age could classify as injury.

And, even in the event that my random brilliant logic does not apply to the scenario, think about it: If you can't die, you don't need anethsetics.. or really, any form of safety limitations durring the massive ammount of surgery you could have performed to retain or restore your appearance.

 

[viking97]

Doesn't immortality from injury also stop you from dying by old age?

You said injury includes sickness, sickness(such as organ failure, or dieing from diseases that their age has left them valnerable to) is the real reason people die 'of old age', so being invulnerable to injury and sickness would therefore also make you invulnerable to death by 'old age'.
Doesn't mean you're body wouldn't get old and crappy i suppose, but nothing would fail on you so you wouldn't ever die.

i'm guessing by diseases the op means pathogens, but the question is so damn vague i have no idea.
clarify a bit more, perhaps?

 

[luna_moth]

Injury all the way. Mostly because I wouldn't want to watch all my loved ones die, and I dont really want to live that long anyway. Life gets boring. And if I never got injured or sick I'd probably live a relatively long life anyhow

 

[Chase Yojimbo]

Immortality of Age or Injury? I would want Immortality of Age, because I wish to see the Evolution of Mankind before my eyes, and I wish to learn everything imaginable about the universe. With our infinite universe, a universe of infinite change not infinite size, I will find myself living until the end of days. I may go insane, but I may not as well. You would think that with Immortality of Age I would still be in my early or late 20's, thus would not be effected by any deseases/ailments that effect the old mind.

 

[fletch_talon]

Doesn't immortality from injury also stop you from dying by old age?

You said injury includes sickness, sickness(such as organ failure, or dieing from diseases that their age has left them valnerable to) is the real reason people die 'of old age', so being invulnerable to injury and sickness would therefore also make you invulnerable to death by 'old age'.
Doesn't mean you're body wouldn't get old and crappy i suppose, but nothing would fail on you so you wouldn't ever die.

The human mind simply cannot cope with immortality.

There is absolutely no scientific information to back this statement up. Problems with immortality are all fictional.

back in the early days of cars they use to think that going over 20 km/h would kill you, because the human body just wasn't meant to go at those speeds. We've well and truly proved that wrong.

And there are still speeds the human body isn't meant to go at. Just because they were wrong about the specifics, doesn't mean they didn't have a point to make.
Its safe to assume that the human mind can only handle a finite amount of information, excessive amounts of info might not cause insanity but somewhere along the line you're going to forget things. It may take centuries, it may take millenia but eventually as you experience later years of life, you're likely to forget your earlier years.
And in the end, what use is immortality if you can't remember half the experiences you've lived through.