Man, the invulnerability is just gravy on the longevity. I'm all about maximizing the potential for the latter. Abusing the former just draws attention, and it's not like you can't be buried alive. Creative enemies can make eternal life a living hell.
But they die. If you've been alive for 1000 years, then being buried for 100 years is only a tenth your known existence. And of course, since you're invulnerable (we're assuming) it'd be pretty difficult to keep you down - eventually you'd be able to claw your way out of the dirt.
Not so sure how you'd bust out of concrete though. That would probably take longer. Still - you'd get out eventually.
Your response is "ha ha, they'll all be dead"?
What's the point of living forever if you spend all the chances to make the most of it imprisoned or worse?
Man, the invulnerability is just gravy on the longevity. I'm all about maximizing the potential for the latter. Abusing the former just draws attention, and it's not like you can't be buried alive. Creative enemies can make eternal life a living hell.
But they die. If you've been alive for 1000 years, then being buried for 100 years is only a tenth your known existence. And of course, since you're invulnerable (we're assuming) it'd be pretty difficult to keep you down - eventually you'd be able to claw your way out of the dirt.
Not so sure how you'd bust out of concrete though. That would probably take longer. Still - you'd get out eventually.
Your response is "ha ha, they'll all be dead"?
What's the point of living forever if you spend all the chances to make the most of it imprisoned or worse?
There's like 5 billion years of sunshine on Earth to go, so it's not exactly "all the chances" and it's probably not even most of them. I mean, how often over billions of years can you be buried in concrete? Eventually you'd get good at seeing it coming and avoiding it.
There's like 5 billion years of sunshine on Earth to go, so it's not exactly "all the chances" and it's probably not even most of them. I mean, how often over billions of years can you be buried in concrete? Eventually you'd get good at seeing it coming and avoiding it.
I'd rather not risk a lonely existence and the people I associate with just for a few instances of letting everyone else see how cool and invincible I am. You seem to be drastically undervaluing interactions with other people.
Just imagine saying, "ha ha, I'll be free in a few millennia!" as they pour the concrete over you. I think at that point, the joke is pretty much all over you.
There's like 5 billion years of sunshine on Earth to go, so it's not exactly "all the chances" and it's probably not even most of them. I mean, how often over billions of years can you be buried in concrete? Eventually you'd get good at seeing it coming and avoiding it.
I'd rather not risk a lonely existence and the people I associate with just for a few instances of letting everyone else see how cool and invincible I am. You seem to be drastically undervaluing interactions with other people.
Just imagine saying, "ha ha, I'll be free in a few millennia!" as they pour the concrete over you. I think at that point, the joke is pretty much all over you.
Well, not really. That's worst case scenario. Middle-case is, that if that happened to you then presumably by your good deeds and actions in the world you actually have friends and associates how would extricate you. It's not like I'm proposing "go power mad and destroy things" it's "save lives, stop violence" which means at the very least someone like the US would have an interest in keeping me unburied in concrete frequently so I can go back to non-lethal insurgent take downs.
The people who would have an interest in seeing you sealed away with no one knowing where you are buried/under the sea/whatever are the same people you'd probably be going all non-lethal on. They're also probably the people who would go after the people you're close to.
I'd rather not have to be concerned about that sort of thing. Longevity and immortality frees one's mind from so many concerns and fears. I don't see the logic in inviting new ones.
Acquiring power and influence and using them in a way that reflects your necessary long view seems far more reasonable. It's also far more likely to save comparatively more lives and stop more violence.
Elec, I think you're vastly underestimating what decades of sensory deprevation would do to you. People who spend days or weeks in such conditions go pretty crazy short term. I'd hate to think what years of such conditions would do to someones psyche.
After a while of being immortal you'd just become bitter towards humanity for everything they've done and possibly hate them. It'll take the true friendship of a real hero, the love of a beautiful woman, or little kids, to make you care for people again, and relearn to love.
At least this is what my JRPG experience tells me.
Elec, I think you're vastly underestimating what decades of sensory deprevation would do to you. People who spend days or weeks in such conditions go pretty crazy short term. I'd hate to think what years of such conditions would do to someones psyche.
Actually I'm taking the relative amounts of time each experience represents, compared to the time someone has and assuming that what tends to get you is how you place that experience. If you're immortal, you have essentially infinite time.
Honestly, I think immortality would bring out the incredibly lazy side in me. Think of it this way: A lot of what we do in life is based on the fact that we're on a time limit. Get a better job before you're 30, move out before you're 25, things like that. It's all based on the idea that we have a biological clock that's ticking, and we can't waste it. So, when you remove that clock, the attitude, at least for me, would be something along the lines of, "There's no rush, so why bother?" It'd become like, why go to school, why work at ALL, why do anything, if you have all the time in the world to do it at your leisure? My life would move at a snail's pace.
Highlander's been mentioned a few times here, and that movie raised a good point about immortality: Relationships. It would be a really lonely life, because everyone you knew and loved, you'd inevitably see die. I could see it reaching a point where you just go, why bother interacting with anyone at all? People would seem transient and temporary for you. Basically, I see it being a slow, lonely life.
( You know, maybe I'd spice things up by driving around in a car at night blasting Queen's "Gimme the Prize," and declaring to no one in particular that I know the names of people on the radio, in my low, gravelly voice:P)
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
edited March 2008
People being the way they are, it's pretty likely that if word got out about your condition you'd have a religion springing up around you whether you wanted it or not, a la Forrest Gump.
I don't know if I really agree with the "it would be lonely" statement because other people would age and die. I mean, a lot of life is what you make of it, so there's no particular reason that you wouldn't come to necessarily be a lot more compassionate then those around you because you recognize that people do live transient lives and you have to value that limited time you may have with them.
First and foremost you'd need funding. Going around and learning how to be a kung-fu chef or even just sitting on your duff for a few centuries is pretty darn expensive. How do you make money? Work a regular job for several years? Become a government specialist and use your immortality to take down the enemies of the free world? Whatever you do you'll need money.
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TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
First and foremost you'd need funding. Going around and learning how to be a kung-fu chef or even just sitting on your duff for a few centuries is pretty darn expensive. How do you make money? Work a regular job for several years? Become a government specialist and use your immortality to take down the enemies of the free world? Whatever you do you'll need money.
Eventually you'd know psychology well enough that people would give you what you want.
I once knew a guy that I swear was a step shy of hypnosis. Poker shark, could pick up most any girl, had a drug dealer paying his rent because he though they were such good friends and he was just down on his luck.
Dude went to jail once on drug charges, got out in a really short time, less than half the sentence. Then he went back for trying to swipe a urine sample at his P.O.'s office.
Anyway, any person could accumulate wealth over time if they were motivated. Unless you gained immortality as a single mom with a gimp leg in bumfuck Texas who works at Waffle House.
A lot of what we do in life is based on the fact that we're on a time limit.
I don't know that I agree with that... I think there's a lot of simple, biological and social impulses out there keeping us productive. Being conscious of a time limit is pretty minor (I suspect) compared to feeling worthless and nonproductive.
I think the time limits in life are mostly sourced from social obligation. Once you have your basic needs squared away, what time limit does nature have besides that and mortality?
If I were immortal, I would first gather the investment it takes to become self sufficient so I have no social obligations. Then I can spend a lot of time traveling and talking to people, it'll probably take a while before I get bored of that.
It is really calming to realize all your obligations with time limits are actually towards other people and not some law of nature. Money is the same, just some agreement with other people, it isn't substantial in itself.
There's like 5 billion years of sunshine on Earth to go, so it's not exactly "all the chances" and it's probably not even most of them. I mean, how often over billions of years can you be buried in concrete? Eventually you'd get good at seeing it coming and avoiding it.
I'd rather not risk a lonely existence and the people I associate with just for a few instances of letting everyone else see how cool and invincible I am. You seem to be drastically undervaluing interactions with other people.
Just imagine saying, "ha ha, I'll be free in a few millennia!" as they pour the concrete over you. I think at that point, the joke is pretty much all over you.
"At last, after 10,000 years, I'm FREE. And it's time to conquer EARTH."
> >
I'm unoriginal. I have nothing new to add ... directly.
I'd be Kane. Sit in the shadows for a couple of hundreds years, developing technology to conquer the world with. Then take over, naturally.
A lot of what we do in life is based on the fact that we're on a time limit.
I don't know that I agree with that... I think there's a lot of simple, biological and social impulses out there keeping us productive. Being conscious of a time limit is pretty minor (I suspect) compared to feeling worthless and nonproductive.
Which are all based on the fact that we have a ticking clock for life. If you want to do something, then you immediately become aware of the need to move your life along in order to achieve that goal - most noticeable with a career. You want to end up at point X in it - which means you need to be aware that you want to get to point X before you're really aging. And that doesn't take so long - I'm 22 now, and the years are definitely going just that little bit faster every year.
First and foremost you'd need funding. Going around and learning how to be a kung-fu chef or even just sitting on your duff for a few centuries is pretty darn expensive. How do you make money? Work a regular job for several years? Become a government specialist and use your immortality to take down the enemies of the free world? Whatever you do you'll need money.
1. Put money in a trust where it will accrue interest/ or a managed invest portfolio. Have yourself cryogenically frozen for a while.
2. Get a water proof flashlight, a rock, a bag and do salvage/recovery/treasure hunt around shipwrecks.
3. be a drug mule. it doesn't matter if the rubber breaks. Hell, you don't feel much in the way of pain, just implant the shit in your abdomen.
4. Steal stuff or become a pirate. By yourself, if you were immortal(and immoral) it would be pretty easy to take over a cargo vessel by yourself.
5. Get a bunch of fake ids, and donate a lot of blood.
First and foremost you'd need funding. Going around and learning how to be a kung-fu chef or even just sitting on your duff for a few centuries is pretty darn expensive. How do you make money? Work a regular job for several years? Become a government specialist and use your immortality to take down the enemies of the free world? Whatever you do you'll need money.
5. Get a bunch of fake ids, and donate a lot of blood.
Actually, speaking of this immortality what are we thinking in terms of invulnerability here? Like if I go stand at the center of a nuclear explosion will I reform myself or what's the deal?
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SirUltimosDon't talk, Rusty. Just paint.Registered Userregular
edited March 2008
I know how to take care of the concrete problem. Have dynamite strapped to yourself at all times and a detonator that you can always, like in your mouth or something. Concrete hardens and KABOOM! you're free and look badass while doing it.
If you worked for a government agency you could get them to implant a transmitter in you or perhaps flood your system with some sort of easy to find isotope, then they could bust you out of the concrete.
I know how to take care of the concrete problem. Have dynamite strapped to yourself at all times and a detonator that you can always, like in your mouth or something. Concrete hardens and KABOOM! you're free and look badass while doing it.
really that's a good tactic for all times. unfortunately, when you get mobbed by the enemy, and detonate your bomb to take out the first wave of men who have you held down, you're shit out of luck.
i've been thinking of doing a comic about a guy whose only power is invulnerability for a while now, mostly concerning the social/psychological consequences of it. i'd imagine trying to act like a superhero without any offensive powers would be frustrating.
i've been thinking of doing a comic about a guy whose only power is invulnerability for a while now, mostly concerning the social/psychological consequences of it. i'd imagine trying to act like a superhero without any offensive powers would be frustrating.
I think that invulnerability is intimidating as hell.
I know how to take care of the concrete problem. Have dynamite strapped to yourself at all times and a detonator that you can always, like in your mouth or something. Concrete hardens and KABOOM! you're free and look badass while doing it.
really that's a good tactic for all times. unfortunately, when you get mobbed by the enemy, and detonate your bomb to take out the first wave of men who have you held down, you're shit out of luck.
i've been thinking of doing a comic about a guy whose only power is invulnerability for a while now, mostly concerning the social/psychological consequences of it. i'd imagine trying to act like a superhero without any offensive powers would be frustrating.
Then again, any examination of that idea is interesting to me. There was a manga I briefly looked at once that had the interesting idea of an immortal swordsman who got progressively shittier as he slacked off and stopped practicing. Eventually he gets poor enough at swordfighting that his enemies just slow him down by cutting his hamstrings and run off to do their things.
Personally, I'd have to try to take over the world as an immortal, just to see if I could.
i've been thinking of doing a comic about a guy whose only power is invulnerability for a while now, mostly concerning the social/psychological consequences of it. i'd imagine trying to act like a superhero without any offensive powers would be frustrating.
I've had this discussion with a friend, and we agreed that for maximum hilarity, he has to be a member of a high-powered group like the X-Men or even the Justice League. Everyone's using superspeed or the power of flight to take off to some emergency, and there he is jogging along "Guuuuys! Come on! You could at least let me ride in your invisible jet!"
Doubly hilarious is if he still feels pain as if he weren't invulnerable.
Edit:
We also decided that his only tactical purpose - and thus his superhero code name - would be Decoy.
I know how to take care of the concrete problem. Have dynamite strapped to yourself at all times and a detonator that you can always, like in your mouth or something. Concrete hardens and KABOOM! you're free and look badass while doing it.
really that's a good tactic for all times. unfortunately, when you get mobbed by the enemy, and detonate your bomb to take out the first wave of men who have you held down, you're shit out of luck.
i've been thinking of doing a comic about a guy whose only power is invulnerability for a while now, mostly concerning the social/psychological consequences of it. i'd imagine trying to act like a superhero without any offensive powers would be frustrating.
Then again, any examination of that idea is interesting to me. There was a manga I briefly looked at once that had the interesting idea of an immortal swordsman who got progressively shittier as he slacked off and stopped practicing. Eventually he gets poor enough at swordfighting that his enemies just slow him down by cutting his hamstrings and run off to do their things.
Personally, I'd have to try to take over the world as an immortal, just to see if I could.
OH FUCK this comic looks AWESOME
it's even better if I get to read it instead of doing it
I would totally go the, learn all possible martials, plus sciences cause they are cool route.
As for money to take care of that. I'd probably just indenture myself to whoever my master was at the time, and if that didn't provide everything I needed, flesh the rest of it out with high risk, recovery/cleanup jobs or something.
It would be awesome to become a master solid snake sneak-king, who can pick any lock in the world and talk his way out of any sticky situation with his infinite trivia knowledge. Then you can sneak into all the forbidden places in the world and videotape/bug the shit out of them. It would suck if you get caught though, but if you're known to be an immortal escape artist, they might prefer your money over locking you up.
I would totally go the, learn all possible martials, plus sciences cause they are cool route.
As for money to take care of that. I'd probably just indenture myself to whoever my master was at the time, and if that didn't provide everything I needed, flesh the rest of it out with high risk, recovery/cleanup jobs or something.
Deep sea diving for rare types of seafood is retardedly good money I hear.
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Your response is "ha ha, they'll all be dead"?
What's the point of living forever if you spend all the chances to make the most of it imprisoned or worse?
I'd rather not risk a lonely existence and the people I associate with just for a few instances of letting everyone else see how cool and invincible I am. You seem to be drastically undervaluing interactions with other people.
Just imagine saying, "ha ha, I'll be free in a few millennia!" as they pour the concrete over you. I think at that point, the joke is pretty much all over you.
I'd rather not have to be concerned about that sort of thing. Longevity and immortality frees one's mind from so many concerns and fears. I don't see the logic in inviting new ones.
Acquiring power and influence and using them in a way that reflects your necessary long view seems far more reasonable. It's also far more likely to save comparatively more lives and stop more violence.
At least this is what my JRPG experience tells me.
Actually I'm taking the relative amounts of time each experience represents, compared to the time someone has and assuming that what tends to get you is how you place that experience. If you're immortal, you have essentially infinite time.
Highlander's been mentioned a few times here, and that movie raised a good point about immortality: Relationships. It would be a really lonely life, because everyone you knew and loved, you'd inevitably see die. I could see it reaching a point where you just go, why bother interacting with anyone at all? People would seem transient and temporary for you. Basically, I see it being a slow, lonely life.
( You know, maybe I'd spice things up by driving around in a car at night blasting Queen's "Gimme the Prize," and declaring to no one in particular that I know the names of people on the radio, in my low, gravelly voice:P)
Eventually you'd know psychology well enough that people would give you what you want.
I once knew a guy that I swear was a step shy of hypnosis. Poker shark, could pick up most any girl, had a drug dealer paying his rent because he though they were such good friends and he was just down on his luck.
Dude went to jail once on drug charges, got out in a really short time, less than half the sentence. Then he went back for trying to swipe a urine sample at his P.O.'s office.
Anyway, any person could accumulate wealth over time if they were motivated. Unless you gained immortality as a single mom with a gimp leg in bumfuck Texas who works at Waffle House.
I don't know that I agree with that... I think there's a lot of simple, biological and social impulses out there keeping us productive. Being conscious of a time limit is pretty minor (I suspect) compared to feeling worthless and nonproductive.
If I were immortal, I would first gather the investment it takes to become self sufficient so I have no social obligations. Then I can spend a lot of time traveling and talking to people, it'll probably take a while before I get bored of that.
It is really calming to realize all your obligations with time limits are actually towards other people and not some law of nature. Money is the same, just some agreement with other people, it isn't substantial in itself.
"At last, after 10,000 years, I'm FREE. And it's time to conquer EARTH."
> >
I'm unoriginal. I have nothing new to add ... directly.
I'd be Kane. Sit in the shadows for a couple of hundreds years, developing technology to conquer the world with. Then take over, naturally.
1. Put money in a trust where it will accrue interest/ or a managed invest portfolio. Have yourself cryogenically frozen for a while.
2. Get a water proof flashlight, a rock, a bag and do salvage/recovery/treasure hunt around shipwrecks.
3. be a drug mule. it doesn't matter if the rubber breaks. Hell, you don't feel much in the way of pain, just implant the shit in your abdomen.
4. Steal stuff or become a pirate. By yourself, if you were immortal(and immoral) it would be pretty easy to take over a cargo vessel by yourself.
5. Get a bunch of fake ids, and donate a lot of blood.
really that's a good tactic for all times. unfortunately, when you get mobbed by the enemy, and detonate your bomb to take out the first wave of men who have you held down, you're shit out of luck.
i've been thinking of doing a comic about a guy whose only power is invulnerability for a while now, mostly concerning the social/psychological consequences of it. i'd imagine trying to act like a superhero without any offensive powers would be frustrating.
I think it's more likely largely informed by our biology and our culture than any sort personal insight into our existential nature.
I think that invulnerability is intimidating as hell.
Especially if you work on a good creepy laugh.
I'm sorry to say... It's being done.
Then again, any examination of that idea is interesting to me. There was a manga I briefly looked at once that had the interesting idea of an immortal swordsman who got progressively shittier as he slacked off and stopped practicing. Eventually he gets poor enough at swordfighting that his enemies just slow him down by cutting his hamstrings and run off to do their things.
Personally, I'd have to try to take over the world as an immortal, just to see if I could.
Doubly hilarious is if he still feels pain as if he weren't invulnerable.
Edit:
We also decided that his only tactical purpose - and thus his superhero code name - would be Decoy.
OH FUCK this comic looks AWESOME
it's even better if I get to read it instead of doing it
man that dude made a mech suit out of people
that is fucked up.
As for money to take care of that. I'd probably just indenture myself to whoever my master was at the time, and if that didn't provide everything I needed, flesh the rest of it out with high risk, recovery/cleanup jobs or something.