Immortality - Blessing or Curse

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by CrimsonPhoenix, Jul 1, 2020.

  1. CrimsonPhoenix

    CrimsonPhoenix Well-Known Member

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    So after reading so many Chinese novels and such where the goal of the protagonist is to achieve immortality; it made me wonder whether immortality could be considered a blessing or a curse. In this case, I mean immortality as an individual has become unable to die but immortality affects that individual alone and it does not grant them invulnerability. Let's make it so that they cannot suffer permanent physical damage like losing limbs or destroyed organs, etc. I understand that there are both good points and bad points regarding immortality but want to hear others' opinions.
     
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  2. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    I won't say it is bad but it is not good either :hmm:
     
  3. brigs11

    brigs11 Well-Known Member

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    True immortality is a curse because they'll forced to live even if they don't want to. Immortality unless they get dealt with enough damage to die is a blessing because there's a way out.
     
  4. Ursula

    Ursula Well-Known Member

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    It's good if you have someone else beside you to keep your company like a soulmate or a family, eternity will be lonely without them :bloblove:
     
  5. Tilgarial

    Tilgarial [Chaos Tiger] [Paradox] [ded][Houseplant]

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    @Alea-san look, look!
    We were just talking abut something like this~


    Anyways!

    I'd say it's both. A blessing and a curse.
    Immortality gives you mainly one thing: Time.
    You have the time to go insane.
    The time to return to sanity.
    The time to aquaint yourself with the death of those you like.
    The time to enjoy all reality has to offer.
    The time to suffer, and come out the other side.
    The time to find joy in the simple things.
    The time to fall in love, again and again.
    The time to lose yourself to despair.
    The time to smile at those you see before you again.
    And so much more....

    So yeah, curse and blessing.
    Which one it is, would depend on what point in time you look at
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
  6. Stormaggeddon

    Stormaggeddon Well-Known Member

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    it all depends.if you're in a cultivation scenario, i suppose you want to advance to godhood. if it's a sci-fi scenario, it might get boring after the first millennium or two. unless you like the vastness of space and all the different kinds of ships time will bring. "that'd be me BTW."
     
  7. Pleasantly-plump

    Pleasantly-plump Well-Known Member

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    I think Immortality is only a curse if you lack a transcendent goal so all that time will seem like torture. Look at cultivators they complain about not having enough time because they are chasing a never ending peak.
     
  8. UnGrave

    UnGrave ななひ~^^

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  9. Arbalest

    Arbalest Arcane Knight Anti Mage Honeytrap Devourer

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    If you ask me immortality + ethernal youth is a blessing for me you can do a lot of things in your own way.
     
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  10. AnonymousX

    AnonymousX [Deleted]

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    For me I'd say it depends on if you have any other powers to go with it. With just basic human abilities, an immortal life might as well be a curse since you'd stagnate in terms of development with the limitation on upgrading yourself, this plus in the current age, when you get caught (not if, but when), you can only experience a life as an experimental being. But if you have something else going for you in terms of other super power then it might be worth it.
     
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  11. Goblin Sleuth

    Goblin Sleuth Well-Known Member

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    It would change your perspective, after a time you would no longer care about normal human dilemmas. Important events to ordinary people would seem mundane and trivial to you. This does not represent the end of living a meaningful life though, quite the contrary your interested would simple shift to things that can not be fully appreciated by mortals.

    You could plant a forest and spend a few thousand years watching it grow.
    You could use selective breeding to create a new species of plant or animal.
    You could watch continents and land masses join and separate as the platonic plates shift.
    You could see the formation of new mountain ranges, and be the first human to explore them.

    It wouldn't be so hard once you've lived long enough even a hundred years would feel like a day.
     
  12. FranckOA

    FranckOA Killer Klown From Outer Space

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    If you talk about the immortals in CN novels, they can pass thousands and thousands of years sitting and watching their navel, they usually doesn't care much about familly or loved one (as their harem is just a big number list of interchangeable jade skinned beauties, when one die they find twelve more under a rock) or the state of the world around them as they are only interrested in protecting their face, slapping the face of others and mass murdering so I don't think they really can suffer from immortality...

    For almost every other novel characters, it's a mix of both curse and blessing, with proportions varying depending on how "dramatic" the author want his story to be...
     
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  13. LittleBigSnowFlower

    LittleBigSnowFlower 悪くないよねぇ 〜

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    One good depiction of immortality (partial) is from Evangeline's Monologue on UQ Holder from chapter 1

    'There might be good times... But they are just moments compared to the rest of your life... At that time, you'll get tired of everything... As life goes on, you'll just forget everything.'


    Another case would be from some novel i forgot the name of... When the MC outlived everyone he cares for and it burns the psyche to see MC's loved ones die one by one and the MC gets more distant that the MC became crazy and want to die to join them.

    tldr it's both a blessing and a curse...
     
  14. Zaart

    Zaart Deer Master Race

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    as said before i'll say it depend on your definition
    immortality literally mean 'not mortal' which mean you can never die
    this is a curse, 'cause after the planet explode you'll suffer immense cold for eternity
    if you mean 'don't die of old age', 'super-human regeneration', and 'youthful body'
    then it is a blessing
     
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  15. adrianvs

    adrianvs Well-Known Member

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    Who wants to live forever?
    Forever is our today
    Who waits forever anyway?
     
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  16. LeakLeaf

    LeakLeaf Well-Known Member

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    figuring out the solution to the immortality problem is P vs NP problem cuz were don't have infinite time to solve that problem lol
     
  17. ExcitableFoci

    ExcitableFoci Well-Known Member

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    Harry's eyes stared directly at that which lay beneath the tattered cloak, looked straight at that which had been named Dementor. The void, the emptiness, the hole in the universe, the absence of color and space, the open drain through which warmth poured out of the world.

    The fear it exuded stole away all happy thoughts, its closeness drained your power and strength, its kiss would destroy everything that you were.

    I know you now, Harry thought as his wand twitched once, twice, thrice and four times, as his fingers slid exactly the right distances, I comprehend your nature, you symbolize Death, through some law of magic you are a shadow that Death casts into the world.

    And Death is not something I will ever embrace.

    It is only a childish thing, that the human species has not yet outgrown.

    And someday...

    We'll get over it...

    And people won't have to say goodbye any more...

    The wand rose up and leveled straight at the Dementor.

    "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

    The thought exploded from him like a breaking dam, surged down his arm into his wand, burst from it as blazing white light. Light that became corporeal, took on shape and substance.

    A figure with two arms, two legs, and a head, standing upright; the animal Homo sapiens, the shape of a human being.

    Glowing brighter and brighter as Harry poured all his strength into his spell, blazing with incandescent light brighter than the fading sunset, the Aurors and Professor Quirrell shielding their eyes in shock -

    And someday when the descendants of humanity have spread from star to star, they won't tell the children about the history of Ancient Earth until they're old enough to bear it; and when they learn they'll weep to hear that such a thing as Death had ever once existed!

    The figure of a human shone more brilliant now than the noonday Sun, so radiant that Harry could feel the warmth of it on his skin; and Harry sent out all his defiance at the shadow of Death, opening all the floodgates inside him to make that bright shape blaze even brighter and yet brighter.

    You are not invincible, and someday the human species will end you.

    I will end you if I can, by the power of mind and magic and science.

    I won't cower in fear of Death, not while I have a chance of winning.

    I won't let Death touch me, I won't let Death touch the ones I love.

    And even if you do end me before I end you,

    Another will take my place, and another,

    Until the wound in the world is healed at last...

    Harry lowered his wand, and the bright figure of a human faded away.

    Slowly, he exhaled.

    Like waking up from a dream, like opening his eyes after sleep, Harry's gaze moved away from the cage, he looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him.

    Albus Dumbledore was staring at him.

    Professor Quirrell was staring at him.

    The Auror trio was staring at him.

    They were all looking at him like they'd just seen him destroy a Dementor.

    The tattered cloak lay empty within the cage.
     
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  18. deepon

    deepon One who inevitably awakens

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    To put immortality into perspective, imagine the most boring, longest Chinese novel you have ever come across, and then imagine having to read that novel again and again infinitely. Being unable to die makes for a very boring life. Now if immortality simply referred to not aging and thus not dying naturally, then I don't mind dying after living a long, fulfilling life. But an immortality that simply won't let you die no matter what, is just a curse.
     
  19. MahotsukiKonran

    MahotsukiKonran √¶∆℅¥×¶÷π√ ™°℅{^¢¡¿∆ \\£¥^√π¥℅¶∆÷√ ©¢¥®<®]¡¶∆¿

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    Think of getting immortality in a normal body still aging and deteriorating but never being able to end it
     
  20. Stormaggeddon

    Stormaggeddon Well-Known Member

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    if you were imortal, being in a long term relationship wouldn't work out in the long run. spouse would age and pass away. that'd be sad to carry with you. short term or one nighters would be safer on the conscience. all the pleasure without any strings. otherwise known as callgirls or hookers. one is an allniter and the other is a "wham bam, thank you ma'am".