To Live Eternally In A Universe like Ours

[nimbus]

In that statement is the same argument as for living to the end of the Universe: the choice to see what's what before choosing that it's time to go.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Curiously, despite being mortal, I have experienced at least the sensation of immortality, and I found it rather unpleasant.

Be careful what you wish for.

Some time ago, Scientific American had an article that among other things, defined some of the challenges of living for a vast expanse of time. The one I found most striking was that however many atoms make up your brain (or whatever passes for such in that epoch) as long as the # of atoms is not infinite, you will eventually start rethinking the same thoughts as your brain will have exhausted all possible unique states.


And at that point, you aren't really alive anymore, you are just a repeat.

IIRC, one way around that is to "unthink." In other words, forget. You may not remember a previous state so, its occurrence will be unique to you at the time it is thunk.. Memory also "changes" and is effected by new states since it is all an interconnected system. So, you constantly generate "new" memories of past experiences that never actually occurred. An immortal being may, indeed, eventually never be susceptible to a truly original thought but, one may not be able to realize that. Though, I'm not about to tell them...

Heat death is the big killer. Thermal equilibrium is the great equalizer. But, strangely enough, particles still bounce around quite happily as long as nobody is watching.. Heisenburg would be proud. I wonder if we could develop a "Heisenberg Engine?" I'm sure that would be a big hit with immortals concerned with keeping their toes warm.

 

[trumptor]

I can see these immortal souls zipping around through the immense sea of darkness, looking for the escape doors that are also evaporating into the frigid nothingness as all else has. Black holes were easier to spot trillions of years ago, when matter getting sucked in by one was commonplace. But now, with the quiet calm of emptyness, not even a ripple in the fabric of spacetime can be seen for lightyears.

Damn them lucky souls that escaped the dreadful loneliness trillions of years ago. To be able to be reborn and enter a new universe! To witness the birth of trillions of points of light powering up in a universe racing outwards in all directions; to see all the new galaxies come to be; and the excitement of seeing the miraculous arrangement of particles that give the universe its first breath of life!

The silence is excruciatiing; the cold, crippling; and the stillness, eerie. How many billions of years has it been since a black hole has been spotted...What?!?! Can it be!?!?!






Hold the applause :lol:

 

[nimbus]

"Never memorize what you can look up."

 

[amshak]

Wonderfull, its like a fortune that everyone wishes for.
The star may die , Solar system may colapse, but the energy lasts forever.

 

[neilsox]

I'm 78 years old. I'm quite forgetful of things I should remember to do now or soon. Probably because I am bored with the routine everyday activity. I seem to be able to analyze, and learn new details better than most young folks. Apparently my memory storage is far from full, and my word retrieval and other details still works well. I agree it is hard to prophesy even a few decades in my future, if I have that long. I have a strong expectation of conscious after death = religion, so I rarely feel it is waste of effort to learn new analysis, except for things which will likely be obsolete in a decade or less. I think it is important for us old folks to find new interests to replace the sky diving, mountain climbing etc which have become completely impractical. Trillions of years from now most of the present will be a negligible option, so we will be bored, unless we can continue to stretch our intellect into new activities. Perhaps even longer, we will be able to find new and recycled thoughts which are satisfying, if we not too selective about what we want to think about and do. Neil

 

[origin]

I'm 78 years old. I'm quite forgetful of things I should remember to do now or soon. Probably because I am bored with the routine everyday activity. I seem to be able to analyze, and learn new details better than most young folks. Apparently my memory storage is far from full, and my word retrieval and other details still works well. Neil

You're my hero - and I am not kidding in the slightest. 78 and still learning, that is very cool. Once we stop learning we are as good as dead. My mom has alzhemers. What a cruel disease; if that happens to me I'm eating a bullet. I'm 55 and the thought of continuing to learn new things well into my 'golden years' is all I coud ask for.

 

[crazyeddie]

Live for eternity? Ugh....what a horrifying thought. Once you've done everything there is to do and thought everything there is to think, what's left?

Mind you, I think our lives are too short. I wouldn't mind living two or three times as long as our current human lifespan, as long as that time is spent in vigorous good physical health. And keeping youthful looks for most of that time would be very desirable, as well....who wouldn't want to stay looking young for most of your life? But I imagine that our minds would eventually become cluttered with memories and our early lives would pass into forgetfulness, which could be either a blessing or a curse, depending on whether you wish to keep those memories or not. Imagine having children, raising them, parting ways, and a hundred years later, forgetting that you ever had them! Unless we find a way of managing our memories, living forever would be something of a burden. Once people have centuries of life ahead of them to protect, they would probably become fearful hermits, afraid of taking any risks that could jeopardize losing it prematurely.

 

[nimbus]

Good thing those predictions are bunk.