Results 1 to 30 of 42

Thread: Mortality

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Ranting madman of the .org Senior Member Fly Shoot Champion, Helicopter Champion, Pedestrian Killer Champion, Sharpshooter Champion, NFS Underground Champion Rhyfelwyr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    In a hopeless place with no future
    Posts
    8,646

    Default Re: Mortality

    When I think about it, the idea of not being able to die is pretty terrifying. Hard to comprehend...
    At the end of the day politics is just trash compared to the Gospel.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Mortality

    I am starting to firmly believe that mortality will be eradicated by the time I would be old enough to die.


  3. #3
    Stranger in a strange land Moderator Hooahguy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    The Fortress
    Posts
    11,852

    Default Re: Mortality

    I welcome my morality. For multiple reasons, mostly because my life holds more meaning, knowing that I have a limited amount of time here, and I need to make the most of it.
    I will direct you to my favorite poem, "If" by Rudyard Kipling, specifically the ending of it:
    If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
    Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
    And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
    If I can fill my life- the unforgiving minute- "with sixty seconds worth of distance run," in other words, as much effort and passion that I can, "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it" which in other words is saying that I can do anything I want in this world.

    I draw from that poem the rationale for my morality that while I will eventually die- that is inevitable- I should not cower in fear of it; rather I should use the time that I have to sally forth and meet the world head on.

    I also think that the longer our lives, the more pain and suffering that we will have to endure and watch. For those who play Mass Effect, they would know that the Asari (a race of aliens in the Mass Effect series) live for a thousand years or so. This might seem like a great thing. But when asked about it in the game, one elderly Asari answers that it really is not such a great thing. The Asari tells you that while living for so long may seem like a good thing, it really is something very painful. Due to their long age, the Asari have seen countless wars and so much suffering that many of them become recluses from society. Not to mention that they always outlive their lovers, making the search for true love very difficult if you have to do it every 100 years or so. That is why morality is a good thing. Granted, we would all like to live to 1000, but the toll that would take on us, both physically and emotionally, would be too great for us to bear and we would eventually collapse, either physically or mentally.

    So thats why I value my morality. Knowing that I don’t have too much time on this planet gives me the drive to make the best of it at all times, and living forever only means that I would have to bear witness to the inevitable sufferings that would occur throughout history.
    Last edited by Hooahguy; 01-10-2011 at 02:26.
    On the Path to the Streets of Gold: a Suebi AAR
    Visited:
    A man who casts no shadow has no soul.
    Hvil i fred HoreTore

  4. #4

    Default Re: Mortality

    I disagree with you Hooah. I think it would only be a terrible toll on those who are too weak to handle it. If I knew I could live forever, quite honestly I would work so damn hard. Know why? Because now I can fulfill my big desire to learn everything. I want to learn everything, but in my 90-100 year time span I only have enough time to specialize in one field and perhaps along the rest of my life take intermittent breaks in my job to take classes in my later years to expand my learning. If I could live forever... I could see humanity become god and see us reach the point of terraforming entire planets far off in the future. It would be glorious and I would welcome it fully.


  5. #5
    Stranger in a strange land Moderator Hooahguy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    The Fortress
    Posts
    11,852

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name View Post
    I disagree with you Hooah. I think it would only be a terrible toll on those who are too weak to handle it. If I knew I could live forever, quite honestly I would work so damn hard. Know why? Because now I can fulfill my big desire to learn everything. I want to learn everything, but in my 90-100 year time span I only have enough time to specialize in one field and perhaps along the rest of my life take intermittent breaks in my job to take classes in my later years to expand my learning. If I could live forever... I could see humanity become god and see us reach the point of terraforming entire planets far off in the future. It would be glorious and I would welcome it fully.
    Of course, that would only be for those who are very committed. There will be always those who will spend centuries sitting around being lazy. If I knew that I would live forever, I would do that. Spend a century being a nerd, another century being a jock, and so forth. But eventually I would ask myself what Im doing on this planet if Im just wasting time. Of course people would say they are tough enough to handle it, but would they actually be tough enough? We will never know, for there wont be any cure for death in the future. At least within the next century. First we got to cure AIDS and Cancer.
    On the Path to the Streets of Gold: a Suebi AAR
    Visited:
    A man who casts no shadow has no soul.
    Hvil i fred HoreTore

  6. #6

    Default Re: Mortality

    bah, "immortality would be terrible" is one of those things that come from mythology. Like "getting three wishes will turn out terribly!" etc. Authors love to cheat when they write about it.

    Ask someone who's 80 if they'd like to be rejuvenated along with their wife and best friends, and given 80 more years and see what they say. And then make the same offer in another 80. How about living for a thousand years, that would be cool? Why do these stories always involve people who want to commit suicide but inexplicable can't, and people who lose all friends to death?

  7. #7
    Stranger in a strange land Moderator Hooahguy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    The Fortress
    Posts
    11,852

    Default Re: Mortality

    But then that just trivializes your actions of the past 80 or so years.
    On the Path to the Streets of Gold: a Suebi AAR
    Visited:
    A man who casts no shadow has no soul.
    Hvil i fred HoreTore

  8. #8

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by Hooahguy View Post
    But then that just trivializes your actions of the past 80 or so years.
    No it doesn't. If you spent your 80 years finding a cure for cancer and then managed to be given another 80 years, your accomplishments are not demeaned in any way.


  9. #9

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by Hooahguy View Post
    But then that just trivializes your actions of the past 80 or so years.
    So what would you say to a 40 year old then? Don't live to 80, it'll trivialize your actions of the past 40 years? And how does it trivialize it?

  10. #10
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Moral High Grounds
    Posts
    9,286

    Default Re: Mortality

    I have no idea how I would pay for my immortality.
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  11. #11

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
    I have no idea how I would pay for my immortality.
    How so?


  12. #12
    Senior Member Senior Member naut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    9,103

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
    I have no idea how I would pay for my immortality.
    Heavy.
    #Hillary4prism

    BD:TW

    Some piously affirm: "The truth is such and such. I know! I see!"
    And hold that everything depends upon having the “right” religion.
    But when one really knows, one has no need of religion. - Mahavyuha Sutra

    Freedom necessarily involves risk. - Alan Watts

  13. #13

    Default Re: Mortality

    Sure is going to be fun to be an immortal neanderthal in 1 million years. Good luck getting laid with all that hair and brow ridges. If you're immortal, the human race will evolve and leave you behind!

  14. #14
    One easily trifled with Member Target Champion Motep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    In flux
    Posts
    4,268

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by Yaropolk View Post
    Sure is going to be fun to be an immortal neanderthal in 1 million years. Good luck getting laid with all that hair and brow ridges. If you're immortal, the human race will evolve and leave you behind!
    Plastic surgery, dude. Besides, guys with lots of hair and heavy brows still get some. Look at my father
    TosaInu shall never be forgotten.

  15. #15

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by Yaropolk View Post
    Sure is going to be fun to be an immortal neanderthal in 1 million years. Good luck getting laid with all that hair and brow ridges. If you're immortal, the human race will evolve and leave you behind!
    Maybe a million years from now they'll invent a machine for removing body hair...some kind of sharp metal utensil...

  16. #16
    Senior Member Senior Member naut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    9,103

    Default Re: Mortality

    Quote Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro View Post
    Maybe a million years from now they'll invent a machine for removing body hair...some kind of sharp metal utensil...
    Madness!
    #Hillary4prism

    BD:TW

    Some piously affirm: "The truth is such and such. I know! I see!"
    And hold that everything depends upon having the “right” religion.
    But when one really knows, one has no need of religion. - Mahavyuha Sutra

    Freedom necessarily involves risk. - Alan Watts

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO