Eternal Life or Not?

[Ther]

The magician David Copperfield recently claimed to have discovered the fabled Fountain of Youth, and convieniently on his own property. You can find the news story at this URL:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060815/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_copperfield

My question to you is this: if in some strange fantasy world this was true, and you had access to the Fountain of Youth, would you drink from it and live forever (we'll also assume that the Fountain of Youth keeps your body whole and healed, no matter whatever happens to you), or would you reject it? Some people would say yes, others would say no because of all the pain and lost friends one would suffer over the years (think of the story of Arwen in Lord of the Rings, for instance).

So what would you do?

[Angelousy]

I gotta say no. As great as eternal life might be, like you said, you'd have to go through the pain of constantly losing friends and loved ones. Watching them grow old and die as you remained young and hale would be a lot to bear. The Highlander's curse.

[Roscar Palidyne]

I say no as well. You guys read any Ann Rice books? Those vampires are always so unhappy about something or other. If you ever wanted to meet the perfect emo kid, it'd probably be a vampire. Definitely.

What the hell is wrong with David Copperfield, anyway?! Too many martinis he's "disappeared" I guess.

[Vorin]

Yes. Oh god yes.

Screw the melancholy. After a century or two you're bound to grow dead inside to the entire thing, stop making friends, write some crappy poetry. Doesn't matter. People seek glory and fame for immortality, the real thing is probably better.

*Read enough Anne Rice. Those vampires are also perverts*

[Walter]

I'd probably take it too. I mean if I have access to it, what's to stop me from giving it to all my loved ones?

[Cyrus the virus]

No. I don't want to watch my girlfriend age and die, and this question doesn't include anyone but me.

Copperfield's an idiot, it seems. Or maybe I will be teh foolz when he showz us all his phantom of yourh!!!

[Letho]

I voted no. One of my favorite proverbs of all time is: "Mors principium est" or "Death is just the beginning". Whether or not that's the truth, I'm not so certain but I want to find out. Not too soon though. But I don't want to wait an eternity for it. Besides, there is enough shit in one lifetime, let alone a hundred of them.

[Cage]

Well, I think it would depend on if you needed to continue drinking from it periodically. If that was so, then you could live for a thousand years and then let yourself die whenever you choose. If we assume that it kept you young and healed no matter what, then you wouldn't need to consume anything to survive; water, food, air. I would definately use it.

[Molotov]

sure, why not. I would no longer need health insurance.

Also, I could totally go be Rambo and win the Vietnam war all over again.

[Serilliant]

Absolutely. It's not that I'm unfeeling or anything, but in the grand scheme of things, I'd rank all of the advantages of living forever as greater than whatever sadness might be felt about people dying. Besides, in theory immortality would grant you infinite wisdom. And once you've attained that, I doubt you would any longer mourn the death of loved ones as you would understand the grand purpose to the universe.

Maybe I'm getting too metaphysical...

Okay, I'll try again and be more simple. Yeah I'd want to be young forever so that I could fuck all the boys for the rest of my immortal life. Eternal twinkie body + endless sexual experience = good lovah'. Oh yeah.

[Vorin]

Yes, but would you still be contagious to the general pool of boys you'd sleep with?

[Serilliant]

I had just assumed that the fountain of youth also cures crabs, chlamydia, herpes, AIDS, and the gum disease known as GINGIVITIS. Someone get Copperfield on the phone so that we can clarify.

[Chiroptera]

I would, because I think of all the things that I would able to do if I had an endless amount of time. I could go to school for years and years and still have enough of a lifetime to use all my PhDs. I coul travel to every country in the world, learn languages, witness history, and use what I've learned through my life to help those who would've been my descendents.
Of course, it'd be a lot cooler if I would get an endless supply of money too, but . . . :p

[Koran]

I'd say yes.

If I'm immortal and can't die. . .what and who is going to stop me from taking over the world? :)

[Aleister]

Me. Another immortal who cannot die and likes the world just fine the way it is. But we'll need katanas and dramatic violin music for the fight.

[Letho]

Of course, it'd be a lot cooler if I would get an endless supply of money too, but . . . :pThat's easy. Hold on to some trinkets for a thousand years and sell them for some major moolah.:D

[Ter-Thok]

Monsieur Copperfield might be crazier than a possum in a pair of pants, but Kindly Mother Science is certainly on the job as far as this goes.

Apparently, because aging is by nature a series of molecular and cellular degenerations in the human body, it will be 'curable' with a number of technologies in as little as ten years. Hell, some scientists in South Korea claim to have synthesized a molecule that reverses aging directly on a cellular level.

So, basically, while you'll probably still die from disease, skydiving accidents, and...uh...babies, there's no reason why all of us, on these forums, won't still be strapping young lads and lasses 1,000 years from now.

In conclusion: I would totally take some of that stuff right there.

[Koran]

Me. Another immortal who cannot die and likes the world just fine the way it is. But we'll need katanas and dramatic violin music for the fight.

Technically you couldn't stop me...just stall me...for eternity. Seeing as we'd be fighting forever...or until we finally decided that enough was enough...or something.

[Empyrean]

No, for the same reasons as everyone else who voted no.

And for me, at least, it would be hugely depressing and weird (though interesting) to watch the world evolve from everything it used to be and to be the only one who lived in the past.

I've read too much science fiction.

[Ther]

Monsieur Copperfield might be crazier than a possum in a pair of pants, but Kindly Mother Science is certainly on the job as far as this goes.

Apparently, because aging is by nature a series of molecular and cellular degenerations in the human body, it will be 'curable' with a number of technologies in as little as ten years. Hell, some scientists in South Korea claim to have synthesized a molecule that reverses aging directly on a cellular level.

So, basically, while you'll probably still die from disease, skydiving accidents, and...uh...babies, there's no reason why all of us, on these forums, won't still be strapping young lads and lasses 1,000 years from now.

In conclusion: I would totally take some of that stuff right there.

Interesting stuff Ter-Thok, although last I heard the South Korean scientists were going to sell their discovery to a prominent chocolate factory owner, who plans to use it in his new, shiny glass elevator.

[Futsuriai]

I have to say a resounding yes. Quite literally if I could have one wish it would be this, as Empyrean I may have read too much Science Fiction but I want to know the future, I want to see how things turn out, what's discovered, what changes, gah, even thinking about it makes me tingly. Of course there's also the fear of the naught, the idea that I won't be makes my skin creep but that's not really my reason. It's the above, the desire to know. To see, to experience.

In short I say yes because I want to see the way things turn out. Metaphysically I don't think ultimate knowledge is practically achievable but I want as much as can be gleamed, I want to get as close to it as one can. To me the search for it is one of the noblest pursuits. It's why I wish I could study forever, there's just so much fascinating topics out there but so little time.

[Daggertail]

I say yess becaue I'm used to seeing things grow old and diw, if yoiu have pets then you will witness it and it's sad but nothing that will kill your soul if you are prepared.

[Makira]

Futsuriai has a point... All that knowledge would be priceless, but me... I voted yes for a simple reason. I would enjoy endless time to study, but... What I would really want to do is spend my time helping the world at large... I plan on being rich in the future, and I will not be spending the money on myself... Well, not all of it, anyway... I won't be giving o charities, either... I will be starting my own. Sounds like altruistic crap that I would never really do, but... It's true... What use is my money if I don't put it to good use? What use is my wisdom if I don't share it with those who want it?

[Cyrus the virus]

None of you nerds have ever been in flowery love before.

[Gadgeteer Mikami]

Hey, I could go for the Eternal Life thing. There's never enough time in a single lifetime. But seeing everyone die around you one by one does have me disheartened... plus I would never know what death feels like... =S

Raven: I'm kinda dead inside already, but at least I have the Girls to keep me company. I'd care less if my shell dies, but I'd literally die if my soul is corrupted.

Also, I will go for Eternal Life. It's a curse, I believe, but one you can use to redeem others from the corrupted paths taken by the old. It's not selfish to be immortal unless you don't use it to help other people.

Nonetheless, it's a curse the Immortals must bear...

[Sighter Tnailog]

That's easy. Hold on to some trinkets for a thousand years and sell them for some major moolah.:D

I can imagine nothing more frightening than Antiques Roadshow...of the FUTURE.

[Mark Twain]

I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead--and not then until we have been dead years and years. People ought to start dead, and they would be honest so much earlier. No real estate is permanently valuable but the grave. All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"-- a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

[Futsuriai]

I have the answer (http://www.timetravelfund.com/)!

[Mark Twain]

All people have had ill luck, but Jairus's daughter & Lazarus the worst.

[Godhand]

Bump for great justice.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Hell yeah, I'd use the Fountain of Youth.

I would become like Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged, who ran around the universe insulting every living thing, one by one.