Henrietta Lacks, "immortal" woman and posthumous hero

[SapphirePhoenix]

The Gas read my mind. I was listening to this about the same time as his post.
I wouldn't take immortality, even though I don't want to die (mainly my consciousness snuffed out). Everyone I love or will love would die eventually. Self-growth and travelling, etc. can only take you so far (after 100 years, you'd probably be tired of it) and then you'll want to share your experiences and life with someone else.
Also, who said that immortality meant having disposable income and the freedom to do whatever you wanted?

[MarsKitten]

You'd have to have the right mindset for immortality otherwise suicide would become popular past a certain age. Me, I'm VERY certain i would be happy so long as books were written to read.

Other people's fantasies are very entertaining to me.

[Saint of Killers]

Also, who said that immortality meant having disposable income and the freedom to do whatever you wanted?

If you invested properly you wouldn't have to work for more than a normal lifetime or so (or less, depending on how much you made).

Of course, that's is assuming you're the only one because I'd imagine things might be a little different if the entire planet was immortal.

[rezo]

Knowing that someday you will die makes life worth living. If I knew I had forever (which is a concept I don't really think any of us can fully realize) to get around to doing something I'd never get out of bed.

Without the inevitable death there is no meaning to life.

I think you've been taken in by writers who were feeling bitter about not getting to be immortal.

[AstroBlue]

I always thought that cancer was an, if not the agent of genetic mutation inherrant in evolution.

Nah, cancer is a mutation in a gene that either promotes cell division or regulates cell death. So basically a healthy cell will become unspecialised from this mutation, more stem cell like, and just divide and divide and divide and divide.

A cancerous mutation will not be passed on, because it will only be present in the cancer cells, and not in the DNA of your sperm or eggs. Some cancers are have inhereted risk, but this is because you're inhereting a gene that if mutated will lead to cancer, not the actual cancerous mutation itself.

And because the majority of cancers generally appear in old age after you've finished reproducing, they will have little effect on natural selection.

[Fe 26]

Agreed, Immortality is the most fascinating thing in the world to me. The warping of the mind, the fact that over time you'd be able to conceive the motives of everyone around you, if you were an observer.

I'd love the be immortal, I'd spend my eternity traveling the world, expanding my knowledge beyond measurable belief, and one day take hold of the world and using my knowledge lead it in a new direction.

-_' what are you, 8? You aren't very observant to your own mind. Life would be just like it is now. You'd remember 80, just like you remember being 5.

[Fe 26]

Knowing that someday you will die makes life worth living. If I knew I had forever (which is a concept I don't really think any of us can fully realize) to get around to doing something I'd never get out of bed.

Without the inevitable death there is no meaning to life.

Josh, you'd still need to consume food and music.

[Port]

No.

Yes.

[kingoffighters]

If you invested properly you wouldn't have to work for more than a normal lifetime or so (or less, depending on how much you made).

Of course, that's is assuming you're the only one because I'd imagine things might be a little different if the entire planet was immortal.

This is true, there is no age limit to Social Security, so as long as USA and Social Security is around, you are all set or until 2035

[Saint of Killers]

You don't even need SS, if you save up a couple mil (in today's money) and invest it properly you can live off $75,000-100,000 a year or so (once again, in today's money; you're living off the interest but leaving enough in every year to beat inflation) forever barring some total economic collapse or nuclear war or some shit (which is of course a possibility at some point in the future). And that's only if you want to live very comfortably, you could do it for less of course and be fine.