JD have you taken a glum pill today. You'd choose oblivion, nothingness, over existence?
LOL. No, not quite. My point though, is that, after a certain period (which would likely vary considerably from individual to individual), existence itself would become a burden ... for all the reasons listed above, plus others I've not discussed. As I said, I've given this a
lot of thought over the years (both as a possibility in the real world, and for fictional purposes).
As to no children? Well I could quite easily deal with that. I avoid them anyway. They'd be a replacement rate for children anyway, disease and accident would still get people.
On that, I was replying to TZ's positing that taking the pill would make you sterile. Ergo -- no more children, for you or anyone else who took the pill. And you may avoid them anyway (many do, including myself in general) ... but can you truly imagine a
society without children? Children represent so many things to so many people, and are in general so important to the development of a society, that even reducing them to necessary replacements would have a very damaging effect on that society's psychological makeup. Plus there's the simple fact that, as people store up more experience, they tend to become more concretized in their thinking, thus less and less innovation -- which is one of the important elements about children and "new blood". Without them, the species would stagnate. The
individual may be able to get along without them just fine. But the
species ... no. And even among individuals, the vast majority have a desire to have children, and that's built-in by our entire history biologically, not something that could eradicated (or even seriously modified) any too easily. Would those people care to live with that void eating at them unconsciously day in and day out? I think you'd find that the majority of the human race would not be willing to give up the chance to have children at some point in their lives.
And yes very old folk often feel it's time to go, their generation is dead and they themselves often live in pain, discomfot and physical decay. Clearly none of that would be the case with the pill. I suspect a 100 year old with the body of a thirty year old would have a very different view to a 100 year old, who looks that age.
Not necessarily. Again, this is partly individual personalities. And it depends on how intensely one becomes attached to those one loves, how much one is able to cope with their deaths. I've known people it didn't seem to affect at all ... and others who still felt it keenly after 40 years and more. I went through a loss myself a very long time ago, that still hits me very hard now and again ... to carry that feeling through the centuries? From my readings in psychology (and my experience dealing with psychologists, psychiatrists, etc., who deal with this sort of thing daily), I don't think many would be able to cope with that and remain emotionally accessible to others. They would, perforce become more distant as a matter of self-protection... or they'd find themselves desiring suicide more and more, whether or no they took that option. And this is something that reaches across the age boundaries.
To return to your original here: As I've stated, I'd like to live longer (a century or two more, anyway), probably, as long as I was able to use it in such a way as to profit by it; but more than that, I simply wouldn't care for. There are too many psychological factors that tend to wear on people as they experience more of life, and those just cannot be eradicated by being "frozen" at a particular age, with the robust health of that age, indefinitely. Their effects may indeed be lessened, even lessened quite a bit ... but they're incremental, and they don't go away.
And as for exploring the galaxy (or other galaxies, the universe, etc.) -- while I agree that would be an incredible adventure, human irascibility proves that people cannot be cooped up in such a confined space (as a ship, even a very large, miles-long/wide ship) for such an extended period without eruptions of violence. It simply can't happen. Try going through a six-month period with someone you really care about without getting into an argument, without feeling petty resentments build. Now multiply that by however many people you have in such a mission, and then go exponentially for the various webs of interactions, and you'll soon see that no group of people (as we are now -- perhaps we'll evolve into something different, or find a workable psychology for dealing with such things, but I doubt it) could stand each other for that long ... and it's not a situation where one can pack up one's bags and leave. You're stuck there,
permanently. Eventually, someone's going to pull out the knives ... literally. And as for an individual making such a trip alone ... try going six months to a year without being around another human being. We simply wouldn't survive sanely. We're just not put together that way.
I'm not being a pessimist here, but I am being a
realist. Immortality
sounds nice, at first blush, but the more one thinks about it without rose-colored vision, just looking at the realities of life added into the bargain, the less attractive it becomes. An eternity of this? As I said, there may be the rare individual who could not only stand it, but enjoy it. However, I think that, if you really give it long and serious thought, that likelihood diminishes considerably. We're fighting against our entire evolutionary history here, and all the things it's instilled in us on a cellular and instinctive level, and that's just something you can't overcome with any little green pill.
So, in comparison with existence on the level of immortality ... yes, I'd definitely choose oblivion. Because immortality is something I know full well I could stand neither together with someone (nor the entire human race) nor alone. I agree with Hoopy here. I don't think most people have any really deep appreciation of what the word means... a true conceptual
feeling for such a span of time. A lifetime -- even a very
long lifetime of 150 years or better ... yes.
Eternity? No.
