[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by williamhessian

I am pretty sure you can be remembered without being dead. Hell, you can walk out of the room and the people remaining could remember what you have just said, or just done. Being remembered has nothing to do with death.

I wasn't talking about people remembering what I said before I left the room. Yes, in the strictest sense of the word, you'll be remembered. But I was talking about how we remember those who are no longer with us, through stories and sometimes legend. Perhaps you are right that the person being remembered doesn't necessarily have to be dead - but he or she would have to be absent for an extended period of time (specially if all who remember also live forever).

I do see your point about procrastination, and thats a valid argument. You might just not be suited for immortality. and there is nothing wrong with that.

Man was not designed to live forever. Nature could have evolved perfect organisms that never die of old age - but it didn't. We have been purposely programmed to die after a certain amount of time. Life needs death to succeed, so - in my mind - to cheat death is to cheat life.

I don't want to cheat life, I want to enjoy it. Every second of it, while it lasts.

I do not agree with choice losing meaning and power, we live to be 60 yrs, that doesnt mean choices we make now dont have any meaning or power simply because we have X amount of time left. Meaning and power holds relevance only in the current timeframe no matter where along the timeline it may occur, nor does it matter how long the timeline might be. Choices are still choices, 'what to do today' is still a question everyone has no matter if they are 5 years old, 50 years old or 500 years old.

I disagree. Choices are devoid of power and meaning if you have the time to try everything. If you have all eternity, you don't have to choose how to spend your time. You can just use brute force and experience everything there is to experience. The individual experiences then become meaningless... little more than ticks on your "done that" list.

I prefer to read the books that i like, and then if i have time to read them again. even with immortality i would still be reading the books i like, and hopefully finding more great books to add to my list.

Of course, I also prefer to read books I like and, if I have the time, read them again and again. But an important part of the satisfaction of picking up a good book is having to choose from the hundreds, or thousands, or millions even of different books available to me. Out of a million possible choices, I picked the one that made me chuckle at every other line.

Jim, you and i have very different outlooks on this subject. I look forward to hearing more from your point of view.

I think where we differ fundamentally, is that you seem to desire to experience everything there is to experience in the universe. I, on the other hand, am content with the few cherry picked treasures I find on my path from birth to death.

I just don't believe that endless time and endless freedom results in a more meaningful life. Just as creativity needs boundaries to flourish (just compare the brilliance of The Matrix to the relative mediocrity of Matrix: Revolutions), a life needs boundaries - a beginning and an end - to be meaningful.

Jim.