[BaculumMeumEst]

that proof assumes the desire to live will remain constant over time but it will not. parts of the human body will decay and over time the will to live will drop.

death is inevitable. by artificially extending your lifespan, you're not becoming immortal. you're taking an event that typically comes as a natural part of life and is out of your control and forcing yourself to choose when it happens. you will have to choose at what point your agony is so unbearable that you no longer want to live.

people who are unlucky already have to live that hell in modern times. i don't think people chasing this fever dream have experienced the joy of seeing it play out.

[Dylan16807]

If you can't picture yourself giving up an anti-aging treatment without "unbearable agony" forcing your hand, that's your psychological hangup, not everyone else's.

A normal person can just decide they're 200 and not really enjoying much anymore and have that be the end of it.

[jack_pp]

Even then, maybe first see a therapist, try some psychedelics or whatever. If you've tried everything and somehow still see no point in living then yeah.. go ahead.

I've been depressed a couple of times in my life and saw no point in going further or living but I've talked myself out of it by simply saying, hey, if I do this relatively small thing and then do this thing that gives me pleasure then that's better than literal death. I find it hard to believe a person has experienced everything there is to experience in 200 or even 1000 years. Our set of experiences is what it is because of the short time that we have but it doesn't mean it can't evolve to accommodate a lifespan of 10x or 100x.

[BaculumMeumEst]

i'm arguing against the idea of achieving "immortality", not against anti-aging treatments. slowing the progression of aging but maintaining the same trajectory of life and death is a desirable thing. trying to avoid death is not.

[jack_pp]

> parts of the human body will decay and over time the will to live will drop.

parts of the human body also evolve and strengthen over time, unfortunately evolution also made them decay after some point, that's what we're trying to fix.

> you're taking an event that typically comes as a natural part of life and is out of your control..

this whole paragraph could apply to any physical problem. You were born with XYZ health problem? just accept your fate, it's natural. You got bit by a dog? Natural, just accept your fate. You got an infection? why even bother taking antibiotics, you're just forcing yourself to live longer

[db48x]

Your lifespan has already been artificially extended. It’s nearly twice the maximum of 10,000 years ago when most people were nomadic, and about 20–25% longer than that of the ancient Greeks, who retired from their militia at 65 only if they made it that long.

And most of that life is spent in healthy youth and middle age, not in continual decline. Today we expect to become elderly in our 70s or 80s, and then die. The Greeks became elderly in their 60s or even earlier. Is it so hard to believe that in another 100 years people could be living to their 90s or 100s before age catches up with them?

[BaculumMeumEst]

i agree with everything you said. what i don't agree with is that you can prove by induction that you want to live for eternity.

[ptsneves]

The choice of death is a very good point. One would argue that the difference between a natural death and a death sentence is the knowledge and control of your life’s termination.

If people decide to end themselves that is suicide, and if someone else decides it then that is murder. All these are morally and ethically much more complicated than just dying agentlessly.