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techstepgenr8tion
that chatty American
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 Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:50 pm Post subject: Would you even 'want' a life hereafter? |
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I ask this question from the standpoint of - would you be able to stand being 'you', as the scope of your experiences has shaped you, out into infinity?
In thinking about it a bit more, I can't figure out how one could possibly even go to a permanent paradise and not be an utter failure at conformity or a bit of an outcast if what they went through while they were here or in other lives darkened them a bit or made them semi-serious. Even in a hypothetical heaven - especially if it were a libertarian existence - wouldn't we even be more likely to chase after shiny objects and ignore everything else?
I think this is where, even if I were to look at something like... say... a Silvia Brown abstraction of 'heaven' where its an eternal second-life style playground without the glitches that it would still be as frustrating a place - socially - for people who had been through things or had been forced by life to become adults.
Any thoughts on this as to why that view is off? Mind you - I get the possibility that if there is a present and vocal 'God' in the mix that people likely wouldn't be permitted to get that way or be that worldly but with that God people would need some heavy editing to their instincts, without that God you'd have a heaven or hell where it would be in the same place but it would essentially be a matter of whether you won or lost the popularity contest.
Regardless, if I had to be me hereafter I think I'd almost be looking forward for me (first name, last name) to have reality clap shut and never exist again. I wonder if anyone else is coming to share that same opinion. |
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peebo
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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it might be a little terrifying to think that you were simply going to exist for eternity with no escape, yes.
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ruveyn
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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Eternity in the Christian heaven would be hell for me.
ruveyn |
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Vigilans
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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| ruveyn wrote: | Eternity in the Christian heaven would be hell for me.
ruveyn |
Amen
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Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do |
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snapcap
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Live for eternity? Sure. I like the idea of conquering death. |
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techstepgenr8tion
that chatty American
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Vigilans wrote: | | ruveyn wrote: | Eternity in the Christian heaven would be hell for me.
ruveyn |
Amen |
I think the only way I could deal with it is if there's no stipulation that I need to be human or need to put up with anything as part of my own wiring that I don't want. Then again evidence to suggest that kind of post-reality and to be self-made in the most absolute sense is....aside from fantasy and desire...next to nil. |
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TM
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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It depends on what form it takes, I find the concept of eternal life or reincarnation to be interesting, but if the latter does not include the ability to recall previous lives then I don't see a purpose for it. It's not so much that I don't want to die, its more that I'm so exited to live at this time of human development and it saddens me that I won't be able to see the many exiting prospects for human development.
I'll probably not be able to see the first space colony or the first manned space mission to another galaxy, the inevitable discovery of other intelligent life and a time when I can have my own holodeck. I won't be able to see the full effect of DNA enhancements, cybernetic enhancements and nano-techology. Nor will I get to see where we go from here in society and many other fields I'm interested in. |
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Vigilans
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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| techstepgenr8tion wrote: | | Vigilans wrote: | | ruveyn wrote: | Eternity in the Christian heaven would be hell for me.
ruveyn |
Amen |
I think the only way I could deal with it is if there's no stipulation that I need to be human or need to put up with anything as part of my own wiring that I don't want. Then again evidence to suggest that kind of post-reality and to be self-made in the most absolute sense is....aside from fantasy and desire...next to nil. |
I don't know if I could deal with it. I have made peace with my own short existence in the past few years; the thought of spending eternity pondering the meaning of existence (since death is just a transition) sounds really unappealing to me
_________________
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do |
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techstepgenr8tion
that chatty American
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| TM wrote: | | It depends on what form it takes, I find the concept of eternal life or reincarnation to be interesting, but if the latter does not include the ability to recall previous lives then I don't see a purpose for it. |
Well that and there's no suggested mechanism to account for quality. You could stand tall, fight tooth and nail to rise up through the ranks, have a great life, and be a legendary figure for all the right reasons and in all the right ways, all to have that collapse and be a pregnant teenager in a trailer park and an eighth grade dropout in the next. What got learned? Absolutely nothing. Was their progress? Occasionally, only by accident, and get resigned all over again to the dice every time you die.
| TM wrote: | | It's not so much that I don't want to die, its more that I'm so exited to live at this time of human development and it saddens me that I won't be able to see the many exiting prospects for human development. |
I've thought of it both ways; on one hand there's seeing 2100 or 2200 and how things work out, the other - my parents and grandparents generation lived to see changes in the world of a magnitude that have never before and likely never will ever occur again, so I'm almost jealous in a way of those who lived from near the beginning of the 20th century even if they never really saw much past 2000.
| TM wrote: | | I'll probably not be able to see the first space colony or the first manned space mission to another galaxy, the inevitable discovery of other intelligent life and a time when I can have my own holodeck. |
Though if you become that person via reincarnation you might occasionally wonder what it was like to be a person living in early 21st century Earth and, you'd be at a loss for any personal clue aside from video feed from that time.
| TM wrote: | | I won't be able to see the full effect of DNA enhancements, cybernetic enhancements and nano-techology. Nor will I get to see where we go from here in society and many other fields I'm interested in. |
It could be that we somehow achieve immortality while I'm still alive but, if that comes at the price of being on the autistic spectrum for all of eternity it runs the same problem of having to live for ever while being anything that resembles me. Being recondite = sheer loneliness. |
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techstepgenr8tion
that chatty American
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Vigilans wrote: | | techstepgenr8tion wrote: | | Vigilans wrote: | | ruveyn wrote: | Eternity in the Christian heaven would be hell for me.
ruveyn |
Amen |
I think the only way I could deal with it is if there's no stipulation that I need to be human or need to put up with anything as part of my own wiring that I don't want. Then again evidence to suggest that kind of post-reality and to be self-made in the most absolute sense is....aside from fantasy and desire...next to nil. |
I don't know if I could deal with it. I have made peace with my own short existence in the past few years; the thought of spending eternity pondering the meaning of existence (since death is just a transition) sounds really unappealing to me |
Yeah, you'd have to be able to limitelessly tailor yourself to your own environment, further and further ease stress, though strangely I think the further along we got the closer we'd come to not existing at all. |
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Declension
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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Living forever cannot end in anything other than madness.
After you've done everything there is to do 10,000 times, you will inevitably go insane. Especially if you're in heaven, where there is apparently even less stuff than there is to do on Earth.
Living for a finite amount of time is preferable to living for an infinite amount of time. After you've figured out that, you realise how lucky we are. Sure, we can quibble about how long our finite time is. But it could have been worse.
Last edited by Declension on Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Vigilans
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Declension wrote: | Living forever cannot end in anything other than madness.
After you've done everything there is to do 10,000 times, you will inevitably go insane. Especially if you're in heaven, where there is apparently even less stuff than there is to do on Earth. |
Heaven: Population 350. All Mormons.
I'd rather not be trapped with one Mormon for eternity let alone 350
_________________
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do |
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ProfumoAffair
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Feb 23, 2012
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Eternal life would be fine. All you need is a drone and a chair. |
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techstepgenr8tion
that chatty American
Joined: Feb 07, 2005
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Location: A beautiful vector among many
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Declension wrote: | | Living forever cannot end in anything other than madness. |
Either that or slow dissolution. |
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TM
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| techstepgenr8tion wrote: | | TM wrote: | | It depends on what form it takes, I find the concept of eternal life or reincarnation to be interesting, but if the latter does not include the ability to recall previous lives then I don't see a purpose for it. |
Well that and there's no suggested mechanism to account for quality. You could stand tall, fight tooth and nail to rise up through the ranks, have a great life, and be a legendary figure for all the right reasons and in all the right ways, all to have that collapse and be a pregnant teenager in a trailer park and an eighth grade dropout in the next. What got learned? Absolutely nothing. Was their progress? Occasionally, only by accident, and get resigned all over again to the dice every time you die.
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Well, in that way I guess reincarnation is a lot like an MMORPG, you put in time and effort to become the best, then an expansion hits and you have to do it all over again.
| techstepgenr8tion wrote: |
| TM wrote: | | It's not so much that I don't want to die, its more that I'm so exited to live at this time of human development and it saddens me that I won't be able to see the many exiting prospects for human development. |
I've thought of it both ways; on one hand there's seeing 2100 or 2200 and how things work out, the other - my parents and grandparents generation lived to see changes in the world of a magnitude that have never before and likely never will ever occur again, so I'm almost jealous in a way of those who lived from near the beginning of the 20th century even if they never really saw much past 2000.
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That's the thing about advancement, suddenly we'll hit another growth-spurt and something amazing happened and we didn't even know until it was over. I've been alive for most of the true computer revolution and thinking back there has been some leaps. The reason we suddenly hit a spurt was due to the war-frequency in the world. The cold war alone determined that the two superpowers dedicated enourmous amounts of resources to research and development into military technology that was then adapted for civilian use.
The sad thing about the whole deal is that if as much money had been spent on medical research we may have saved millions of human lives.
| techstepgenr8tion wrote: |
| TM wrote: | | I'll probably not be able to see the first space colony or the first manned space mission to another galaxy, the inevitable discovery of other intelligent life and a time when I can have my own holodeck. |
Though if you become that person via reincarnation you might occasionally wonder what it was like to be a person living in early 21st century Earth and, you'd be at a loss for any personal clue aside from video feed from that time.
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Yeah, hence why I pointed out how pointless reincarnation is if it doesn't feature memory of past lives. However, given that there would be quite a few of us that were reincarnated beings at one time, it's strange that we have been unable to scientifically confirm reincarnation.
| techstepgenr8tion wrote: |
| TM wrote: | | I won't be able to see the full effect of DNA enhancements, cybernetic enhancements and nano-techology. Nor will I get to see where we go from here in society and many other fields I'm interested in. |
It could be that we somehow achieve immortality while I'm still alive but, if that comes at the price of being on the autistic spectrum for all of eternity it runs the same problem of having to live for ever while being anything that resembles me. Being recondite = sheer loneliness. |
Well, if they can fix dying I'm sure they can give you something for autism. Furthermore, as lifetimes expand odds are that anyone will be able to find suitable company. |
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