Poll: Would you accept immortality?

[the spud]

A green kool-aid man from the future shows up at your front door. You let him in (he seems trustworthy enough) and he gives you a box. Inside the box, there is a magic gummi bear that, when eaten, gives whoever ate it immortality. You live forever and cannot be physically harmed or killed. You feel pain, but it is greatly nulled and maxes out at like a 3 on the 1-10 pain-o-meter. Do you eat the gummi bear?

Now at first the answer may seem obvious. "Why wouldn't I eat it?" you may ask. However, I reccomend reading this Cracked article. If your too lazy to read it I will provide a short summary.

Spoiler

1. Evolution will turn you into a freak: Over thousands of years something better, stronger, faster, and smarter will likely develop from humans, leaving you left behind as a freak.

2. Nobody can ever find out: If you've got immortality then everybody will want it. Governments, CEO's, the masses, you name it. And they don't care what they have to do to get it.

3. You're still getting older (mentally): You will be forced to remember everything that happens over the course of infinity, which your brain just isn't built to do.

4. Time speeds up till you're insane: As time flies by, your different friends, loves, and lives slowly fade from your memory, making 50 years seem relatively equal to a saturday night.

5. You will eventually get trapped there forever: Eventually, you will get trapped in a pile of rubble, or the rest of the human race gets wiped out, and you till be trapped there forever.

If you have any questions about that list, read the article. It is way more detailed and well written than the above summary.

So, would you eat the gummi bear?

EDIT: Just to make things clear, you would not physically age.

 

[LongAndShort]

You know what, I'd be tempted and probably do it. But, half the stuff on your list I'd go 'nah, I'll be fine', regardless of whether or not the kool-aid man actually told me this stuff would happen or not.

Be a hell of a ride. Besides, if it was possible for someone to learn the secret of immortality from me (implied in your second premise), I'd probably be inclined to try find someone(s) to spend eternity with.

Edit: Okay, forget my second paragraph. Just read the article, and I see it isn't implied. Sorry. Now the Kool-aid man on the other hand...

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

Fuck no. Living is bad enough without having to never die

 

[RougeSeraph]

Yup, I'd take it. I'm pretty much a loner by choice, so the long lonely future ahead wouldn't be so bad.

Hell, it would be awesome to see where evolution takes us in the next couple o' thousand years (assuming humanity really has it in it to last that long).

 

[kickyourass]

Yes, with the sole caveat that he provide me with some kind of ultimate suicide pill if indeed I got trapped under rubble or some similar incident were to happen.

 

[Don Savik]

What kind of hipster douchebag answers no? Seriously? LIVING FOREVER. You could rule the world by default, no questions asked. Could get boring? Did imagination die in the past 5 years and I just haven't noticed it or something? Too much depression on this forum. Lighten ups.

 

[SorrySight]

I'll take the gummi bear. I would happily submit myself as a test subject once the immortality could be proven, there's only so many tests that can be done and I've got the time.

If whatever changes that happened to me could be recreated everyone could be immortal. If not then my freakishness would be better accepted by the world of the future; maybe I'll be a circus act or a museum tour guide.

As for the memories? I'm hoping science will allow us to store memories somewhere better than the human brain in future. But dementia probably wouldn't be a problem so long as the gummy keeps my brain healthy, I'll just forget more than you could ever know >

The only problem I can't get my head around is the loneliness.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Yes. I can deal with the issues, and feel I could do a lot of good if the looming threat of death was off the table.

Boredom is easy to ignore. Being a freak by evolution? Eh, I'll cope. Chances are scientific advances can offset that. Stuck forever in nothingness? Escape into meditation in a death-like trance, which beats the alternative in my books.

Only huge issue would be the time one. It's a distant threat, granted, but eventually I'd end up being completely dissociated with the world around me. Again, beats the alternative, but that's a nasty thing to live with.

 

[Biosophilogical]

Can I run out of energy? Or age past say ... 25? If I can't be injured, does that include any futurey technology that may come out that gives people super-powers, or does it prevent cosmetic surgery that alters the underlying architecture and stuff[footnote]I don't want to be stuck with this face forever if I have the choice. After all, I may do something horrible on accident, and I'd rather not be identifiable throughout history simply because I can't change my face.

Either way, probably a yes seeing as it doesn't hurt anyone. If there was an external cost (like if I had to eat people to maintain it or something) then it'd be no. But I'd rather live than not. Also, I could be Jack Harkness.

 

[scoopz]

Would my body age as well? If so then I will never eat that gummy bear.

 

[walrusaurus]

i think a lot of the points in that cracked article would be mitigated by a change in perspective. If you've lived a million years and watched human society rise and fall countless times, your going to have a dramatically different perspective on reality. WHose to say you couldn't fine beauty in something totally unexpected. I'd do it. Not for fear of dying, but for curiosity. One way or another even if it takes eons, i'm going to see things i'd never imagined. It'd be worth it.

 

[GamerKT]

I don't know; I might get bored. Also, if I fell into a volcano, my life would be Hell, almost literally.

 

[arcticphoenix95]

I wouldn't accept it unless it meant that i only never physically age. I wouldn't want to be stuck here for millions of years waiting for the next species to evolve.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

A green kool-aid man from the future shows up at your front door. You let him in (he seems trustworthy enough) and he gives you a box. Inside the box, there is a magic gummi bear that, when eaten, gives whoever ate it immortality. You live forever and cannot be physically harmed or killed. You feel pain, but it is greatly nulled and maxes out at like a 3 on the 1-10 pain-o-meter. Do you eat the gummi bear?

Now at first the answer may seem obvious. "Why wouldn't I eat it?" you may ask. However, I reccomend reading this Cracked article. If your too lazy to read it I will provide a short summary.

Spoiler

1. Evolution will turn you into a freak: Over thousands of years something better, stronger, faster, and smarter will likely develop from humans, leaving you left behind as a freak.

2. Nobody can ever find out: If you've got immortality then everybody will want it. Governments, CEO's, the masses, you name it. And they don't care what they have to do to get it.

3. You're still getting older (mentally): You will be forced to remember everything that happens over the course of infinity, which your brain just isn't built to do.

4. Time speeds up till you're insane: As time flies by, your different friends, loves, and lives slowly fade from your memory, making 50 years seem relatively equal to a saturday night.

5. You will eventually get trapped there forever: Eventually, you will get trapped in a pile of rubble, or the rest of the human race gets wiped out, and you till be trapped there forever.

If you have any questions about that list, read the article. It is way more detailed and well written than the above summary.

So, would you eat the gummi bear?

Hell yes I would eat the gummi bear.

As for all the "downsides"

1. Evolution will turn you into a freak. At the moment it kind of seems like humanity has gone from physical evolution to more of a mental one, since we build tools to help us do things that we would have had to evolve to do previously (like fly). Humanity might actually become mostly immune to physical evolution in the long run, so I'm willing to take that chance.

2. Yeah, that might kind of suck, but on the other hand it gives you incentive to constantly move and see new places, and if you keep doing that no one will find out that you're immortal.

3. You'd be surprised as to what your brain can do. If it finds something to be unimportant, it'll forget it, so I won't ever actually be remembering all of eternity. Once it's 2500 I probably won't remember much from 1990 because it would no longer be relevant to me, past a few key memories.

4. Again, not necessarily true. This would require that the human brain work in a way that it doesn't.

5. If I'm immortal then the rubble will deteriorate before I do, so all I have to do is outlast it.

Also, just to point out, even if the rest of the human race ends up getting wiped out, it would mean very little to me over all. The universe it vast, and I would have all of time. If I have eternity I would be able to one day figure out how to build a space craft, and would leave earth to seek out new planets. Wouldn't have to worry about ever running out of air, food, or water, and wouldn't have to worry about landing on planets with inhospitable climates since I would be immortal. Just think about it. Even with the human race gone, you'll always have something to do.

 

[TheVioletBandit]

Yes, I would just for curiosities sake. I want to know what happens next.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

Read the article before, and every point is good and well thought through.
...
I'd still eat the gummi bear. >_>

(Woo! Eternity to train in every martial arts known to man. I am Trigger! But you may call me "Winner"!)

EDIT: Also, this.

Hell yes I would eat the gummi bear.

As for all the "downsides"

1. Evolution will turn you into a freak. At the moment it kind of seems like humanity has gone from physical evolution to more of a mental one, since we build tools to help us do things that we would have had to evolve to do previously (like fly). Humanity might actually become mostly immune to physical evolution in the long run, so I'm willing to take that chance.

2. Yeah, that might kind of suck, but on the other hand it gives you incentive to constantly move and see new places, and if you keep doing that no one will find out that you're immortal.

3. You'd be surprised as to what your brain can do. If it finds something to be unimportant, it'll forget it, so I won't ever actually be remembering all of eternity. Once it's 2500 I probably won't remember much from 1990 because it would no longer be relevant to me, past a few key memories.

4. Again, not necessarily true. This would require that the human brain work in a way that it doesn't.

5. If I'm immortal then the rubble will deteriorate before I do, so all I have to do is outlast it.

Also, just to point out, even if the rest of the human race ends up getting wiped out, it would mean very little to me over all. The universe it vast, and I would have all of time. If I have eternity I would be able to one day figure out how to build a space craft, and would leave earth to seek out new planets. Wouldn't have to worry about ever running out of air, food, or water, and wouldn't have to worry about landing on planets with inhospitable climates since I would be immortal. Just think about it. Even with the human race gone, you'll always have something to do.

 

[Nickompoop]

Hmmm, it's a tough one. On the one hand, being immortal would be quite nice, but being mortal gives humans a sense of humility and urgency (I'VE GOT 80 YEARS TO GET SHIT DONE. GO!GO!GO!).

I would go for it. Why? Because I know what I would do with that time. I'd become an academic. Of course, that wouldn't happen immediately, but once I get done partying and abusing my invincibility, I'd become a man of science.

This is no problem. Sure, I don't understand the math necessary to do science, but I literally have all the time in the world to get it down. I could cure AIDS, cancer, aging itself. You want a portal gun? Give an immortal man time and money, and he'll get it done. I could do anything, given the time. And I would have FOREVER. It'd be so awesome! I'd become a real-life version of The Doctor!

But, the first thing I'd do is put all my effort towards honing my body. I would need to be in top physical shape so I don't get trapped somewhere. That is extremely important and takes top priority.

Think of the benefits of immortality! Good God, it'd be incredible....