Is immortality a good or a bad thing?

[greenstripedgiraffe]

I feel it is good....as long as everyone around you is immortal as well....if that is not the case...then I feel it is bad as what is the point of living a life seeing everyone you love leave the planet..

If everyone becomes immortal, won't the earth become too overcrowded in just a couple of years?

immortality all right with forced sterilization? (please read the tongue in cheek!! )

[Vickyoreo86]

I think this might sound bad but if someone offered me the chance to have an immortal life, I would accept it (with the reasoning that I am still able to die, for example, in a fatal accident that can happen in everyday life) My reason for taking it, is because I am personally too curious about the world, other countries, people, what might happen after my lifetime....the future is something I want to see. I would like to know what it is like to live many lifestyles, learn cultures, travel, read everything, learn everything. I feel in a normal lifetime there isn't much time to do this. We barely have time to work, eat and enjoy our families and an odd holiday, unless you are lucky in your money situations.

There are disadvantages; loneliness, watching loved ones pass away, love and much more. Hence the reason I would still want to die. Maybe I am a little naive in my thinking but I often think about how much I want to do and how it would take me several lifetimes to do it. (I would want to be chosen for immortality before I am too old though )

[MarisaRose]

I think this is an interesting topic! I do not think immortality is a good thing, I think it takes away a lot of what makes us human. The ability to live forever would make one jaded and feel superior to others. Personally, I would not want to be immortal!

[greenstripedgiraffe]

I think this is an interesting topic! I do not think immortality is a good thing, I think it takes away a lot of what makes us human. The ability to live forever would make one jaded and feel superior to others. Personally, I would not want to be immortal!

Immortality would take away part of what makes us human. The only real immortal would be god-like.

[Tommie H Odom]

I believe that it depends on the individual. Some people want to be immortal and others don't. There are consequences that come along with this territory. You may want to die and can't. Then you have to live with your choice forever. You could be very old but young in nature.

[Gravy]

I believe it depends on the person and their capability to cope with immortality. I also think it depends on how it would effect them.

[psychopathycathy]

I would say bad. Maybe I'm just cynical, but the whole idea of being human is that you have a limited time to decide who you want to be and how you want to change the world. If you get rid of that sense of urgency, the point of living life to the fullest and WANTING to learn more becomes meaningless.

[Wasif Ahmed]

I would say bad. Maybe I'm just cynical, but the whole idea of being human is that you have a limited time to decide who you want to be and how you want to change the world. If you get rid of that sense of urgency, the point of living life to the fullest and WANTING to learn more becomes meaningless.

Exactly! Thanks for sharing your views with us. ?

[Heidi M Simone]

I feel it is good....as long as everyone around you is immortal as well....if that is not the case...then I feel it is bad as what is the point of living a life seeing everyone you love leave the planet..

If everyone becomes immortal, won't the earth become too overcrowded in just a couple of years?

I agree with this. I can't even imagine how long natural resources would be around for if no one passed away. Unless, we don't re-populate the Earth, but how's that fun? Children are one of the best aspects of life.

So maybe it is a bad thing...

[mratdegraff91]

As most of you have agreed there are a lot of things to consider. I feel that there could be benefits to certain individuals with the desire to better the world but not those considering doing so through evil ways. I myself would not choose it because I do not desire to watch all of my loved ones disappear around such as Steven did in the novel.

[Lest92]

I don't think it's a good thing. Some things about immortality are tempting, such as the opportunity to do, learn and experience everything people don't have the time to fit into their one lifetime. But I can imagine immortality backfiring for people who are poor and oppressed - they'd have to spend an eternity working like slaves, and that sounds like hell.

[jhmende]

If we're talking about immortality, I should mention the elves of Tolkien's universe. When Eru Iluvatar created the two Children (the two races of elves and men), he gifted the elves with grace, wisdom, and beauty. To the humans, though, he gave two gifts: the ability to change their fate, and 'the gift of Death.' That's right. From Tolkien's point of view, dying was a gift.

[TangledinText]

Bad. I would get so tired with life and you'd have to experience the same mistakes huminaty makes decade after decade.

-- Fri Feb 10, 2017 3:51 pm --

Bad. I want to live then let to peace, not have to keep reliving the same life over generations. You wouldn't appreciate people as much if you were never to lose them.

[Atomixx Blends]

bad....bad...

[seeker19]

It totally depends on the kind of person one is. Suppose a person is very emphatic and a healer and does not mind living eternally and also in a kind of solitude which comes when one has seen eons while other just running through years that it is a good thing as the person can learn on many human life cycles and can incorporate the knowledge ob betterment of future races of homosapiens. This also holds true for true saints who are detached from the world and learn from observation and exploration. But for someone who is in love with life for its variety, the love that comes from strong attachments and need stability in form of relations it might not be good.

This is a very good point! But don't you think that for one that is immortal, their personalities would evolve over the years they live. In our human lives, a person may enjoy solitude and observation and therefore choose to be immortal. But, as they go through thousands of years, the may come to crave human interaction and connection. That's why I don't think personality would make an impact on the benefit or disadvantage of immortality. Someone may choose immortality now thinking it is amazing, but I think everyone would come to regret it as their lives go on and on and on without any family or purpose.

I think immortality, at the end of the day, is bad because we wouldn't be able to appreciate our lives as they are, it would just be an endless nothing. And eventually, you would not want to form meaningful connections for fear of losing them (like Magnus Bane from the mortal instruments).

As for the option of everyone being immortal as people have stated previously, aside from the obvious overpopulation problems, there wouldn't be any new innovation or development. I think a core part of what makes us human, and what drives us to continuously create, innovate, and live our lives is the fact that we have a limited amount of time and want to make as large an impact as possible within that limited time frame. By removing the time frame, innovation might still occur, but it would be much much slower.