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Posted: 5/8/2003 8:28:02 PM EDT
If we cracked the genetic code that causes aging (and ultimately death) would you do it?
If it was possible to live forever in more or less your current state would you? Obviously you could change your mind and check out by your own devices if you decided you had seen enough. If you did how long would you stay? Forever? To see the end? Justa few centuries? If you decide on a natural life (including death) why would you choose not to? Religious reasons? Other reasons? I think I would. I have a insatiable curiosity about what happens next. I would love to see things 100, 200 or 500 years from know. |
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Hell no.....I don't think I could stand being married forever.
Sgtar15 |
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"Son, if they ever offer you immortality, don't accept. It's always impolite to be the last one at the party."
A memorable quote from a long forgotten science fiction novel. |
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I would. I was interested in vampires when I was younger for that exact reason. I went first into architecture, and then into construction partly because I think it's the closest thing now. Building something that may not stand forever, but for a damn long time is a good way to be "immortal".
I'd stay right to the bitter end too. Until the day the worlds collide, or whatever. |
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Quoted: "There can be only one". View Quote First thing I thought of. Even with the pain and loss you might have, i'd still do it. Juggernaut, Once and Future Highlander... J. |
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I think I would. Life is [i]interesting[/i]. And, as you say, we always have the option to end it ourselves.
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Quoted: I would. I was interested in vampires when I was younger for that exact reason. I went first into architecture, and then into construction partly because I think it's the closest thing now. Building something that may not stand forever, but for a damn long time is a good way to be "immortal". I'd stay right to the bitter end too. Until the day the worlds collide, or whatever. View Quote A quote just for you... "Man fears Time, but Time fears the pyramids of Egypt." |
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I wouldn't do it. One life is to long sometimes. I mean I'm grateful for the time God has given me, but there is nothing on this planet that causes me to want to stay. I heard it preached like this. For a Christian, Earth is as close to hell as you will ever get. For an unsaved person, Earth is as close to heaven as you will ever get. I loved a lot of things about the Corps, but I didn't want to stay in for ever. I believe heaven will be way much better.+ I get a glorified body. NO more reading glasses!, no more sickness,or disease,or injury.
Even if you could stop the aging you would still wear out parts wouldn't you? |
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Quoted: Quoted: I would. I was interested in vampires when I was younger for that exact reason. I went first into architecture, and then into construction partly because I think it's the closest thing now. Building something that may not stand forever, but for a damn long time is a good way to be "immortal". I'd stay right to the bitter end too. Until the day the worlds collide, or whatever. View Quote A quote just for you... "Man fears Time, but Time fears the pyramids of Egypt." View Quote Funny you should mention that. I REALLY want to travel to Egypt. In general, I am a firm believer that there is no reason for me to travel outside of the US when there is so much to see here, but there is nothing in the US that compares. Wanna hear something sad? When I go on vacation, the pictures that I come back with are of buildings. |
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That's a good question. I almost feel like if I could do it, and didn't, it would be like just [i]letting myself die.[/i] For that reason, I would think that I would do it. OTOH, I think that there's something better after death, so it's a tough choice.
Of course, just because you belive in the after life, doesn't mean you should let yourself die. But if you don't let yourself die, in this situation you would live forever and not ever see the after life! AHHH! AHHH! IT'S CONFUSING! [shock] 'Course, I reckon someone could still kill us, right? |
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Two things: For the individual, who wouldn't want to see the future?
For the culture: The biggest problem in society is peoples short memories. Books are a imperfect substitue for having people with personal experience of major events always available... |
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You mean just living forever?
But still susceptible to physical harm. Tough question... |
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Yes. If only to serve as a marker that humanity existed. A marker that no one would ever see I guess, but it would sort of be a big f u to the universe. We were here.
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Quoted: Even if you could stop the aging you would still wear out parts wouldn't you? View Quote Yup, stupid can still get you killed. However, cells regenerate. And when they do they contribute to "aging." If you could get cells to regenerate without "aging" most things would heal and you'd be basically the same. |
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Immorality? I've got that already?
Oh....you mean immorTality! [:D] Yeah, I'd go for it, on the condition that it includes a guarantee of a perfectly healthy body all the way, and no ageing processes. If you were to just grant long life, things would still wear out. Teeth, for example. Joints. The consumables would have to be replaced. There's an old parable about a man who was granted immortality but not immunity from ageing. He withered into a lizard. I'd like to see for myself if the universe ends with a bang or a whimper. Sure, there'd be loss associated with outlasting everything you gave a hoot about, but there'd always be something (or some one) else to grab your attention. CJ |
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Hell yeah.
Stick around long enough and you'll get to go into space. |
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I wouldn't be the first one to try it (wouldn't want it to fail and melt me down or something, lol) but I would be all over that.
Seems to me aging is similar to taping something on VHS repeatedly. Each copy deteriorates more and more. Find out how to force better or even true 1:1 copies and why would the body continue to age anymore? Maybe find some ways to combat radiation damage to cells or whatever, etc... Gotta be something science will learn to do at one point to at least greatly extend the human life... |
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Quoted: I wouldn't do it. One life is to long sometimes. I mean I'm grateful for the time God has given me, but there is nothing on this planet that causes me to want to stay. I heard it preached like this. For a Christian, Earth is as close to hell as you will ever get. For an unsaved person, Earth is as close to heaven as you will ever get. I loved a lot of things about the Corps, but I didn't want to stay in for ever. [red]I believe heaven will be way much better.+ I get a glorified body. NO more reading glasses!, no more sickness[/red],or disease,or injury. Even if you could stop the aging you would still wear out parts wouldn't you? View Quote If sicence figured out how to stop aging, im sure they could figure out a few other things too, like how to eliminate the need for vision correction. Hell, if Dexter is already working on my "code" to make me not age, i might as well have him work on a few other things while he is in there. i would not hesitate to do it. i dont beleive in an after life. Ben, The Immortal |
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If I could be like Wolverine or Sabertooth, hell yeah. Otherwise, no.
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Forget it ... I don't think I could stand several hundred years of the further degradation of humanity.
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FUCK YES
immortality is the ultimate power, greater than flight, invisibility, etc. Within a few hundred years, you'd be the wealthiest man on earth due to compound interest. The foibles and follies of of man that repeat eternally would be your personal amusement park. |
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Steyr, did you watch that show on the Discovery channel the other day or something?
The one about SuperHero powers? |
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Could you truly do it Steyr, seriously?
Could you watch as your life long friend's dissapear? Could you watch as your wife grow old and die while you stay the same? Could you watch your daughter grow old, die, and have to bury your own child? Sure, you could get new friend's, a new wife, and more children, but how long could you stay in that cycle of investing time and effort into friend's and loved ones only to see them pass away while you never change? IMHO, once you got tired of this life you would truly be in hell knowing there was no way for you to escape it.... |
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I can't think of anything more painful than the thought of outliving my 2 children or wife. I would only do it if they could also come along but then there would probably be grandchildren, children's spouses, and great grandchildren, etc. Where would it end?
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We all would because laws would no longer apply to us.
And hell I get to jump off high buildings. Or out of a plane with out a parachute. I want to see things 1,000,000 years from now. |
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Quoted: If we cracked the genetic code that causes aging (and ultimately death) would you do it? If it was possible to live forever in more or less your current state would you? View Quote Hell yes. I'm the curious type...I want to see what happens next. |
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hell yes i would
in a second, as long as its highlander style, where i heal up from injuries. no insuffering hell for all eternity type stuff where the planet gets nuked to shit, and there's no food, but i live on, a wandering hungry skeleton gone insane |
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you are damn right I would......we could all play the ultimate Highlander game.....
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Yes.[:D] I'd live my life doing this to the EVIL BASTARDS on this EARTH [stick].Thank You.
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Nope not for me.
Life and death are part of a cycle, a cycle not meant to be changed. My time has come and gone, so I pass the torch to my children, I hope I've done everything I can to raise them right. Instructed them, taught them, instilled morals and values. Taught them to be strong, self-sufficient and intelligent. Then make sure it is passed on down the line and passed, from parents to children. That will be my immortality. |
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You would still need to age, but it would be nice to "reset" the countdown!
The reason aging needs to happen is because you need exfoliate and replace older cells. If not, they will keep layering. If that happened, you could, for example, have really THICK SKIN. You wouldn't want to be thick skinned would you? |
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Reminds me of a book called "The Eternity Brigade" about a soldier who grew tired of living centuries in which he fought non-stop in wars (regenerated via DNA).
I think you need to take into account what type of quality of life you would have. If I was a poor soul in Bangladesh I don't think I would want to live forever. Then you have to throw in the concept of Heaven. If you believe it is the wonder to end all why would you want to stay here? Gimme a good 75-80 years and then I'll take my chances with the afterlife. |
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Quoted: Hell no.....I don't think I could stand being married forever. Sgtar15 View Quote women are not included in the genetic code cracking. |
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I don't know...some days I know why old people get bitter...it's because they're sick of everyone's shit!
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this would be like living the life of "Casca": the eternal mercenary
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Of course. It's not like I live **FOREVER**, just up until I get hit by a bus, or hyper-bus or something.
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I would in a heartbeat.
To address the others aging around you, it already happens. People I have known have died. I buried my father two years ago. It's tough, but you move on. The biggest problem would be the politicians. Any and all politicians would have to be banned from the process as it would lead to tyranny. |
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I saw a very interesting documentary on immortality a couple of years back. A guy on it said that if we somehow did manage to stop aging, but we were still capable of dying in accidents or being murdered or whatever, that about half of all people could be expected to live to be about 100,000 years old. And half of those would live to 200,000 and so on. It's not immortality, but it's a LOT more time for us to be here. Plus, I don't think that'd cause any religious problems, since we are eventually going to get to whereever we are going. We'd just be here a lot longer before going there.
It would fundamentally change our way of life. Until we managed to get space expansion going, people couldn't have any more children once our population got to about 9 billion or so (which would only take a few years), because then Earth wouldn't be able to support everyone anymore. But on the other hand, space exploration becomes more feasable, because who cares if it'd take us 10,000 years to reach another star system to live in? It'd be boring, but that'd be like waiting 5 years or so now. Overall, I'd say hell, yes, sign me up! [:)] |
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Sure, but what happens after you have been around for 6 or 7 thousand years?
Wouldn't it get boring? Av. |
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I wouldn't want to stop aging completely. Maybe slowing it down by 10 to 20 times would be good.
I would definately want 800 - 1600 years. Also, I may be killed in battle! |
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Quoted: Steyr, did you watch that show on the Discovery channel the other day or something? The one about SuperHero powers? View Quote Nope just stuff I think about. |
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Quoted: Could you truly do it Steyr, seriously? Could you watch as your life long friend's dissapear? Could you watch as your wife grow old and die while you stay the same? Could you watch your daughter grow old, die, and have to bury your own child? Sure, you could get new friend's, a new wife, and more children, but how long could you stay in that cycle of investing time and effort into friend's and loved ones only to see them pass away while you never change? IMHO, once you got tired of this life you would truly be in hell knowing there was no way for you to escape it.... View Quote And exactly why wouldn't my friends and loved ones do the same? Also how do you figure there would be no escape? Did you read the post? You could die at any time, you just wouldn't die of cell aging. |
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Quoted: Nope not for me. Life and death are part of a cycle, a cycle not meant to be changed. My time has come and gone, so I pass the torch to my children, I hope I've done everything I can to raise them right. Instructed them, taught them, instilled morals and values. Taught them to be strong, self-sufficient and intelligent. Then make sure it is passed on down the line and passed, from parents to children. That will be my immortality. View Quote Consider this... At one time life expectency was about 30 years. We died of all kinds of things. Bubonic plague was part of the "natural cycle." Natural disasters are part of the "natural cycle." With vaccinations, surgery and monitoring the weather we already circumvent the "natural cycle." The "natural cycle" sucks. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Could you truly do it Steyr, seriously? Could you watch as your life long friend's dissapear? Could you watch as your wife grow old and die while you stay the same? Could you watch your daughter grow old, die, and have to bury your own child? Sure, you could get new friend's, a new wife, and more children, but how long could you stay in that cycle of investing time and effort into friend's and loved ones only to see them pass away while you never change? IMHO, once you got tired of this life you would truly be in hell knowing there was no way for you to escape it.... View Quote And exactly why wouldn't my friends and loved ones do the same? Also how do you figure there would be no escape? Did you read the post? You could die at any time, you just wouldn't die of cell aging. View Quote Cause it said what if "man" broke the genetic code...[:)][:P] |
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