Death.

[Smokedaddy]

If someone lived for hundreds of years, his or her brain would deteriorate, how would that threat be handled? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm legit asking.

Also you cant really be immortal, in a literal sense, because the sun will eventually die out, and earth will become unlivable.

Why would their brain deteriorate? Presumably, whatever technology / medicine / etc. kept them from dying would deal with that somehow. We don't know and can't speculate about the details, but given A we can assume B will have been dealt with. A software solution isn't out of the question -- I truly believe that true artificial intelligence is possible. There is nothing in the Universe that can't be described mathematically, and that includes what goes on in the kilogram or so of electrochemical jelly between your ears. (After all, this forum is not real life, just an incredible simulation.)

Personally, I believe that mankind's future lies in the stars. There are formidable obstacles to getting there, most notably the cosmic speed limit that makes it really hard to get anywhere else. Fuck warp drives and whatever else you see on tv, it's going to be a very, very difficult problem to deal with and the answers won't be easy either, but we have a few billion years to work on it.

 

[The Dude]

If someone lived for hundreds of years, his or her brain would deteriorate, how would that threat be handled? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm legit asking.

Also you cant really be immortal, in a literal sense, because the sun will eventually die out, and earth will become unlivable.

Who is to say that the brain deteriorates because it's getting older. Maybe the brain deteriorates because our body deteriorates, not because it has some built-in expiration date. So, if someone's body were able to live to...say...500 years old, then why wouldn't their brain be able to stay sharp for that period of time as well so long as their body holds up?

 

[Carlson]

If someone lived for hundreds of years, his or her brain would deteriorate, how would that threat be handled? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm legit asking.

Also you cant really be immortal, in a literal sense, because the sun will eventually die out, and earth will become unlivable.

Who is to say that the brain deteriorates because it's getting older. Maybe the brain deteriorates because our body deteriorates, not because it has some built-in expiration date. So, if someone's body were able to live to...say...500 years old, then why wouldn't their brain be able to stay sharp for that period of time as well so long as their body holds up?

Part of the problem is that even if we manage to slow or prevent ageing, the brain still maintains a limited capacity. The older you go, the more you begin to forget of the past.

More scarily, you naturally view time as going faster as you age. The older you get, the smaller a fraction a year or a month or such is of your life; when you're 10, a year is a tenth of your life. But when you're 50, it's a fiftieth. The older you get, the less stake you'll put into units of time until you eventually reach the point where a year can blaze past without you even caring.

 

[Holdek]

I've been thinking about death quite a bit lately, more than I should actually, but anyways, I'd like it to be like how they describe it in The Sopranos, "You probably won't even hear when it happens, right?" I'm not saying I want to get shot in the back of the head unawares, but I don't want know that I'm dying when it happens.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I believe the afterlife as described by Swedenborg (1688-1772) is a possibility, but nonexistence after death won't be bad (or good) because you aren't around to experience the lack of experience.

The only reason to be afraid of death is if there's something horrible after, like hell or reincarnation into crappy lives. Otherwise, it's either bliss or you simply aren't even aware, not even of not existing.

How one dies is another matter.

 

[Backwards Harvester]

I can't say I'm looking forward to my own demise, and I'll probably be lucky if I see nothing, not even blackness. (which is something) But If I wake up in a place that's hotter than the earth's core, or dark and full of terrifying eldritch abominations, or possibly even freezing cold, or just some gloomy realm where you wander aimlessly with no purpose. A guy like me? deserving a good afterlife?..... Yeah right.
But that being said. Who wants to live forever? You'll witness the destruction of all life on the earth when the sun begins it's death cycle and barbecues the planet. Even if we move earth outward using the gravity of another object. You'll get to see the earth die a slower death by cold, rather than heat. And even that will seem warm as the universe goes through the degenerate era. the black hole era, and finly the Dark Era, for eternity. Think. You're drifting through the void, but you know you are. you can see the darkness, you can feel the the cold. And before any of this happens billions of years beforehand, you will witness everyone you ever loved, knew or care about die.
Suppose the atheist death is the final outcome.... Well. There's not much to look forward to.... But there's nothing to dread either. It's not black or white or even gray. it's just nothing, A permanent state of neutrality and nothingness where consciousness is forever erased. There's no joy in that.... But there's no torment either.
I will say this much, It would be wrong to say " Nobody wants to die."

 

[OtterParty]

I can't say I'm looking forward to my own demise, and I'll probably be lucky if I see nothing, not even blackness. (which is something) But If I wake up in a place that's hotter than the earth's core, or dark and full of terrifying eldritch abominations, or possibly even freezing cold, or just some gloomy realm where you wander aimlessly with no purpose. A guy like me? deserving a good afterlife?..... Yeah right.
But that being said. Who wants to live forever? You'll witness the destruction of all life on the earth when the sun begins it's death cycle and barbecues the planet. Even if we move earth outward using the gravity of another object. You'll get to see the earth die a slower death by cold, rather than heat. And even that will seem warm as the universe goes through the degenerate era. the black hole era, and finly the Dark Era, for eternity. Think. You're drifting through the void, but you know you are. you can see the darkness, you can feel the the cold. And before any of this happens billions of years beforehand, you will witness everyone you ever loved, knew or care about die.
Suppose the atheist death is the final outcome.... Well. There's not much to look forward to.... But there's nothing to dread either. It's not black or white or even gray. it's just nothing, A permanent state of neutrality and nothingness where consciousness is forever erased. There's no joy in that.... But there's no torment either.
I will say this much, It would be wrong to say " Nobody wants to die."

die peppy

 

[Backwards Harvester]

die peppy

That's really mature.... Nice.

 

[Niachu]

Read the rules, guys.

 

[Linako 2.0]

It's just this event, you know?

 

[BT 075]

That's really mature.... Nice.

 

[Slowboat to China]

I do believe in an afterlife; I'm Catholic, and it's part of the package. It didn't hurt that I did once see what seemed to be a ghost. (Long story short: yes, I checked for reflections and other sources of illusion, no I wasn't on anything, and it wasn't horror movie-type shit.) I somehow doubt that Heaven and/or Hell are what they're like in popular culture, though. God knows what he's doing, so if I make it into Heaven, I trust that it won't be to just go insane from boredom five hundred years later.

From a practical standpoint, I can see why the idea of an afterlife is so important to people. It enables us to compartmentalize our griefs and fears: the death of a loved one stings a lot less if you think of them as waiting for you in a better place. It helps you pick yourself up and get on with things, rather than be paralyzed by fear of the empty eternity.

Speaking of fear: I definitely fear death. I fear the idea of leaving my work unfinished or causing my family pain by leaving them. Oddly enough, my cat is one of the main sources of my anxiety; it's just him and me, and I work from home, so if I died at home I probably wouldn't be found until he'd starved. I'm seriously contemplating buying one of those automatic feeders, just in case.

Then there's the audit factor. By the Christian viewpoint I can gain forgiveness while on Earth (and if you're Catholic enough to believe in purgatory, afterwards) but nobody likes reaching that godly sin audit and being faced with how bad you really are. I'd prefer to keep it a long way off, especially when there's still some sinning left to do. As St. Augustine said: "O Lord, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet."

Edited to fix clunky phrasing and mispellings.

 

[Linako 2.0]

 

[ToroidalBoat]

You're drifting through the void, but you know you are. you can see the darkness, you can feel the the cold. And before any of this happens billions of years beforehand, you will witness everyone you ever loved, knew or care about die.

That assumes that you're living forever in this universe. The afterlife, at least as most religions perceive it, is a nice place that doesn't get old like that. And in the physical realm, there could be other uinverses. Even in this universe, the Dark Era may not last forever. For example, as someone on /sci/ put it (paraphrasing another source), there could be a new big bang in "10^{10^{56}} years" due to "spontaneous entropy decrease through quantum tunneling".

 

[Zeorus]

The religious tradition I was brought up in does believe in an afterlife (the teachings surrounding it are actually quite detailed), but I'm still figuring out whether I believe in it. I'm inclined to believe that there is an afterlife but from a philosophical/epistemological standpoint I think it's very difficult to know anything about it. The other alternatives (nothingness or a cycle of reincarnation) don't really jive with my religious or philosophical beliefs.

 

[A-Stump]

I would just like to say that the Christian belief in Heaven doesn't exist until the second coming of Christ. The Bible states that the bodies of the dead will be remade anew and all souls will be judged and either made full or extinguished. It's what I have never understood about the Christians who have claimed to die and 'seen the pearly gates' so to speak. In their own misunderstood mythology, their bodies lay around and their souls are disconnected until all are judged. Telling them this leads nowhere but more whitewashing.

 

[Ariel]

One of my favourite paintings has hell in it:

 

[Backwards Harvester]

Might be the city of Dis in that picture above...
but concerning death it self. I know I'm not going to live forever.... And I'm kind of okay with that. Life changes, sometimes for better, others not so much. But death is a fact that remains the same for all of us.

 

[StallChaser]

Being dead is to not exist. You know that time between the Big Bang and the day you're born. Being dead is exactly like that, just on the other end.

 

[Watcher]

It's what I have never understood about the Christians who have claimed to die and 'seen the pearly gates' so to speak. In their own misunderstood mythology, their bodies lay around and their souls are disconnected until all are judged. Telling them this leads nowhere but more whitewashing.

People also seem to ignore the fact we can induce a near death experience, pearly gates and all, in a laboratory setting. Which indicates it's not a supernatural experience at all.

That and how not everyone gets them, and some of them aren't even things like heaven.