The False Horror of Immortality

[@HelloFutureMe]

Would you become immortal? CORRECTION: in Altered Carbon, everyone has stacks, but only the meths can afford lots of new cloned bodies regularly. Minor detail, but still. If you want to see more of my work like this, your support on Patreon is so so important www.patreon.com/hellofutureme thank you if you already do! Stay nerdy! ~ Tim

[@pyeitme508]

Yep cool man!

[@jessetorres8738]

Imagine someone who is immortal lives to see the death of everyone else on Earth & even the point where life is no longer possible yet they still can't die. That would be terrifying on multiple levels, especially since they would be able to see the death of the universe itself, but wouldn't happen for billions of years.

[@99mage99]

35:30 is that wild Joe Scott I hear?!

[@DragonJack505]

Please keep including KZbinrs reading excerpts, it was something to hear TaleFoundry on this channel.

[@ethanotoroculus1060]

I would take immortality without a second thought. I think people undersell how much the progression of time across different eras factors into the discussion, given the fact that the world is constantly changing at such a rapid pace and has been for all of time I think there would be plenty to occupy yourself with. Even without a hard deadline the fact that change comes as intensely upon everything around you alone would give you plenty of incentive to keep yourself going. If anything it might give you more since you'd be further incentivised to seize each opporunity with the awareness of seeing things shift drastically so much. I think in so much as you can cope well with an ever-changing world, you can cope well with an immortal life.

[@Turnil321]

I really like that sandman episode where he gives a normal person Immortality to see if it would be a curse and that person just really likes being immortal.

[@matthewmuir8884]

For me, the part that I liked about that was that, even at his lowest point, he never felt like he had nothing to live for.

[@seeleunit2000]

That's rather interesting.

[@sciencefantastic]

Yes yes I love that story. He enjoys living so much even when he loses everything.

[@Icameron259]

Let's be honest, I think this would be most of us if we retained our youth like that character did.

[@SzaposJogdan2733]

What is the episode called?

[@calebchristensen900]

This reminds me of a quote from a dnd game I was in: “Wishing for a prolonged life isn’t wrong or evil. Isn’t it normal to want to extend your time so that you can enjoy the happiness, love, and experiences life can give you? If it wasn’t, why do children wish to stay awake a bit longer, or when it’s time to leave a festival, they look at your with doe eyes, asking for, ‘just a little longer?’ Where the evil lies, is in what are you willing to do in order to prolong it. That. That is what makes it evil.”

[@RoseBaggins]

This

[@pessien8474]

When you turn your desires into a high, then clearly, the problem lies with YOU, not the desire itself. There are problems, sure, obviously, but everything has problems.

[@typolet6883]

Who are you playing dnd with? That is some philosopher or writer level stuff my guy, go you!

[@calebchristensen900]

@@typolet6883 I pulled it out of thin air really. I was the “fatherly(more like depressed dad)” cleric of the group. I was using to as a moment to rein in some pc’s that were beginning to take some actions without looking at the consequences. Another from the game I really loved was, “even the brightest lights can cast the largest shadows. And those shadows may originate even in the smallest silhouettes.” The utmost favorite though had to be, “I’m not healing you from your own stupidity.”

[@daxisperry7644]

That is some profound stuff right there.

[@fatwe1992]

I hate to admit this but, my desire for immortality stems entirely from fomo. Theres just so much i wanna see, so much I don't want to miss!

[@GeorgeTheIdiotINC]

I think it is the same for everyone, people want to live longer because we want more time to experience things. that could be spending time with people or that could be developing new skills or hell traveling through the stars it doesn't really matter the fact is the only reason anyone wants to be here for longer is to experience more things. Honestly I don't think that there is anything wrong with that, as long as you don't spend more time worried about what your going to miss than you do enjoying what you can now

[@lordofcheeze2512]

I think mine, as a 23yro guy, is more the fear of such drastic/unknowable change. You don’t return from it, you can’t (usually) decide when it happens, you don’t even know what happens after. All the unknowns and permanence just freaks me out. Fomo does play a part tho lol

[@dariusgunter5344]

Mine too its normal, I dont want to miss the colonisation of the universe or how humanity ends, Id like to die someday but when I wnat to not because I have to

[@CorbiniteVids]

Same here. I absolutely do want to die someday and I don't want an eternal afterlife to follow. I want that finality, and release, and quiet. But I also desperately want it to feel earned after I've done everything I want to do, and the thought of not being able to is really scary

[@DemonLogic555]

Personally, from a philosophical standpoint, I believe that life is simply superior than death. I want to learn and experience everything, with the added benefit of becoming smarter and wiser. Not being alive means missing out on all the fun, interesting, amazing, and cool shit in the universe.

[@NadirEatsRocks]

I don't want to live forever, but... it would be nice to live longer. That "300 years and then reconsider" vial sounds pretty damn awesome to me

[@Broockle]

dat Vulcan life span pls

[@seeleunit2000]

You know, being able to live longer and being healthy wouldn't be so bad. It's not forever, but it would allow you or anyone else to live the best life you could.

[@kintamas4425]

Have you heard of Nick Bostrom’s fable of the dragon tyrant? CGP Grey has a good narration video of it.

[@Broockle]

@@kintamas4425 yes

[@danybey1920]

I would like to live long enough to better myself and actually make a change in the world. I think most human lifespans aren't enough to make the change and ensure that it last for a suitable amount of time. As far as bettering myself, well whether that means finding peace with the idea of death and God, perhaps even losing my religion but finding something I'd consider "more" or just being able to forgive myself for unspeakable mistakes I've made, I'd take it all as long as I can die satisfied.

[@keiththorpe9571]

"I grabbed a pile of dust, and holding it up, foolishly asked for as many birthdays as the grains of dust...I forgot to ask that they be years of youth." Ovid: Metamorphoses

[@TheArtofKAS]

Great, now I have to go read that book again😂

[@ishmamahmed9306]

Extended lifespan by definition requires slowed ageing, and therefore an extension of youthful years (if one is making the wish in their youth). The only way one can be elderly and still have extremely extended lifespans is with necromancy e.g. turning the wisher into a lich, zombie, animated skeleton/mummy, or a ghost/shade.

[@AsobiMedio]

@@ishmamahmed9306 Pretty much. Age itself doesn't kill you, its the failings of your fragile body that does it. You could live for centuries if you had nanobots cleaning up the accumulated waste and fixing the damaged DNA from the mitosis process. Or even just flushing out the damaged DNA and repleneshing your body's supply of stem cells so that they can do that job themselves.

[@soccerandtrack10]

The stars are the grains of sand. You can see how many hes holding too maybe,if you try to think of all the stars in 1/1000? Of the milky way...

[@soccerandtrack10]

​@@ishmamahmed9306why your immortal matters.

[@AnotherZenThought]

I love the hidden Lord of the Rings reference "butter scraped over too much bread" was how Bilbo said he felt after the One Ring had preserved his youth far longer than was natural.

[@Jesse_359]

I honestly think that real humans would run into very much the same problem, due to mental issues. Our brains and the methods by which we learn and remember never evolved with immortality in mind. I think we would discover that they degrade quite badly with time, even if we remained perfectly healthy. There are serious mathematical problems with how you encode data, and it has real physical limits that can't be extended or exceeded without swapping your brain out for something else.

[@jrgrimm6091]

​@@Jesse_359 I'm writing a character with this premise. The character sells his soul to a demon to live longer. But he doesn't complete the contract to become a demon and lives for five hundred years so his brain basically begins to replace and destroy itself to take in new information.

[@Chuck-PK]

"Speak for yourself sir, I plan to live forever." - William T. Riker

[@lemoniscate]

^ there’s way too many things I want to do to be able to fit it all into one lifetime, let alone a decaying one where I’ll be less capable as I age

[@Dan-uf2vh]

Wasn't that Arthas from Warcraft? I remember Riker rejected Q's offer.

[@CrashSable]

@@Dan-uf2vh Q didn't just offer immortality. He said he planned to live (as a human) forever, not to be a god forever and certainly not to be something he couldn't identify as William T. Riker anymore

[@JohnnyBravo-tn6kc]

​@@Dan-uf2vhThe Riker quote is from the end of the movie Generations as he and Picard stand in the ruined Ready Room of the Enterprise.

[@strider8662]

"We may never know, Uther. I intent to live forever"

[@user-jg5xo7bd9c]

As a young, disabled person (in my 20s, physical mobility issues, and cognitive impairments) this take on immortality and youth and the fear of disability is so interesting to me. It does kind of feel like people are uncomfortable around me or deny my experience as a young, disabled person due to their fears being reflected from my mere existence. It really does feel like I'm trapped in the body of an elderly person and I often see people my age going out to parties or going on hikes or other "normal" activities and I feel a bit jealous and mourn my own life because it feels like mine is already over. (I do want to add that in my opinion, because there's a subconscious, and sometimes conscious fear that non-disabled people have of becoming disabled themselves one day, I think there's some cognitive dissonance that leads to ableism and a rejection of accessibility resources. Being disabled sucks, but it would suck a whole lot less if we could accept that disability is often just a part of life.) I will say though, I often get lost in fiction; video games, books, anime, movies, etc. and it feels like I've lived hundreds of lifetimes by doing this and in some way it's my form of not quite immortality, but vicariously living so many lifetimes through the eyes of so many people I feel like it in a sense. Great video, as always!

[@WolfRaven119]

I feel kinship with you and your experiences.

[@FatherDraven]

This resonates with me a lot. I broke my spine in my early twenties And I'm so glad to finally be pushing 40 and getting crows feet and a receding hairline. I've actually looked several times to see if I could find a way to force my hair to go permanently gray all at once so people would stop expecting me to do young able-bodied person stuff.

[@myboatforacar]

Yeah, it's like I like to say. Every one of us is just one bad day from being disabled. A stroke, a car accident, a fall off a ladder. That's all it takes. Idk, I have an invisible disability so I feel kinship as well. I hope other people smarten up. 🫂

[@Rithmy]

I definitly agree that this fear of becoming disabled, which i see basically as a fear of losing "power", is at the core of it. Same story with ageism. On the other hand, when i look at homophobic tendencies, i know for myself that it also goes the other way around. I was afraid of being or "becoming" gay because i was homophobic. Unlearning my homophobic socialisation also took away the fear of being or "becoming" gay. Also it helped getting knowledge in how homosexuality even works and that you can't randomly become gay because of some strange things (hence the ""). So i would say that going against ableism, lookism and ageism etc. also helps everyone.

[@user-jg5xo7bd9c]

@myboatforacar I like to say that if you live long enough, you're going to become disabled. That's not the worst thing in the world though! I'm also queer and while the bigotry did make it difficult, I don't hate that aspect of myself, it's just a part of who I am. I like to remind people that a disability is not defining, but rather a part of you, and it's not shameful or bad, just another aspect that will shape how you perceive the world and how you will be perceived. Kind of like being gay or trans! It shapes you, but it's just another piece of the puzzle that makes up who a person is. Having an invisible illness is tough! The worst (at least for me) is the way people can become very hostile or confrontational when I am using accessibility gear, but because I'm young and appear healthy, I'm often told to stop taking resources from those who need it. I wish you all the best! It's tough but I know you're killing it!

[@MillieBee11]

"I only rage because I am unfinished with this world as too many die already unfinished with theirs." You got me good with this ending. Actual tears. I think it's so easy to moralise on death, to portray it as something good and needed and natural, when you and your loved ones are not the ones dying.

[@Jesse_359]

"Everyone leaves unfinished business. That's what dying is." - Amos Burton, The Expanse

[@hovienko]

that's just fomo...

[@hieracium3317]

I think that ultimately people don't want to live forever, they want to choose when to go. Unforced by disease or circumstance.

[@marmyeater]

So, everyone thinks the same thing? No deviation from what you've said is allowed? Edit: I don't know why you guys keep thinking you can change my mind. Speaking of: has it crossed what little could be considered of your minds that the OP you're all white knighting for hasn't contradicted me and supported you? You keep telling me YOU know what was meant, and I keep telling you what I know was meant, and he or she stays silent (probably knowing I'm right, but not sure how to word it after all your shenanigans). Just stop, because it's sad and pathetic that you keep trying at this point.

[@CaptainRx-ss3rt]

​@@marmyeater Oh, I didn't realize expressing an opinion was like declaring a universal mandate. Thanks for clarifying that for everyone.

[@marmyeater]

​@@CaptainRx-ss3rtOP is the one that phrased it as an absolute. If you are offended about it being called out that's your problem

[@xShadowChrisx]

You don't want to die now. Most people have never wanted to die. It just happens. Even when you're old, you don't want to die, you just miss the people you've lost. If people didn't want to live forever, most of them wouldn't cope with the idea of death by believing in a religion that gives them an eternal afterlife. Wanting an eternal afterlife is literally no different than wanting to live forever. It's the same thing.

[@whatever2045]

Living forever is the greatest curse of them all when you think about it. After the heat death of the universe you are still left alone... forever.

[@juliegolick]

I really liked the approach in The Good Place (spoilers): you go through a period of self-improvement tailored just for you, and then you reach The Good Place, an afterlife where you can see everyone, do everything, and stay as long as you like. There's a door that you can choose to walk through to end your existence (or move on to whatever is next), but you don't need to go through it until you're ready. You can choose when to walk through the door, and choose to do everything you want before that time. I'd really like an "immortality" like that, I think.

[@TheLogicMouse]

And even more-so, the fact that heaven was HELL before that door. That the difference comes down to having the choice. Damn I loved that show!

[@jacobodom8401]

That’s a nice afterlife concept - but we live in the natural world. We have resources, and future generations to consider. Immortality is an extremely selfish concept. We come from the Earth and we return to the Earth. Without Mortality we can’t have change, it’s a necessary part of life.

[@betatester03]

@@jacobodom8401 I disagree. In the past, I believed as you do, but I don't think mortality *is* required for change; it denies the fact that people can grow and change, even (especially) later in life. The idea that a person develops a cognitive state that eventually calcifies permanently, requiring that they be physically replaced with a whole new person to make room for new ideas because their belief system is too rigid to update isn't realistic, fortunately. There are definitely people who do spiral into the cognitive abyss that swallows up all of us who fail to develop critical thinking skills, but they're a possibility, not an inevitability.

[@ashurean]

I'm a big fan of reincarnation. Coming back over and over with completely different capacities and types of consciousness, having forgotten everything that came before, but still being impacted by it.

[@emotionalsupportgoblin]

I was going to write the same thing, but you worded it so eloquently I can't match it

[@gljames24]

When I was 7 I literally told my mother I didn't want to die, but I also didn't want to grow old. My subsequent childhood wasn't the best and I always feel like I'm missing out. I'm always seeking a stability I don't think I'll ever find.

[@evannibbe9375]

My Lord provides life, where he will provide you with honor even for providing a cup of cold water for the children who belong to him, and you can love others and provide for their needs, and just trust that he will repay you when he resurrects you.

[@juliagoetia]

@@evannibbe9375 You're a cultist and the religion you serve exists only to acquire power, assert its dominance and suppress humanity.

[@LumiKat117]

The most depressing thing is that my Grandmother passed away the very morning that this video was posted. Complications from Dementia. The section about "The Dying of the Light" left me in tears, because that's what she experienced these last couple years of her life... I couldn't bring myself to watch this video until last night, and then I finished it this morning.

[@drgnlady13]

My condolences on your loss

[@meemo32086]

I've lost my gramma too! It happened years ago but I still miss her. So sorry for you loss.

[@lorierush6561]

Condolences 🙏

[@danielbricker7204]

My grandmother died last year or so and it didnt really hit me untill my birthday that just passed and th birthday card didnt come. the call never came in and i can still hear her voice in my mind saying hello. each loss is unique but knowing other understand how i feel makes it a bit easier

[@ArtanisTheEvil]

feel you bro.... I feel you so so much....

[@emilyrln]

In defense of those alchemists, mercury is extremely cool and if I didn't know better I would absolutely mess around with it 😂

[@StygianEmperor]

_LIQUID METAL_

[@frankherbert3005]

I broke an old thermometer and played with the mercury without gloves… no health repercussions more than 30 years later… still, admittedly, that was absolutely stupid!

[@jan_harald]

@@frankherbert3005 tbh, I think most of the danger is just breathing in the vapours (or eating it, lol), human skin can be surprisingly good at doing its job, most of the time

[@BulborbPlays]

@@jan_harald While the vapor or ingestation are bad for elemental Mercury, the real threat is when Mercury reacts to form a salt. At that point it readily absorbs through skin and can kill you if you aren't careful with it. Chemists are trained to treat all Mercury as a salt because if it is it can be highly lethal.

[@emilyrln]

@@frankherbert3005 ah, that sounds like fun!!

[@ChloeBarney-c9k]

I am losing my grandmother this week. When I began watching this video, she was still vibrant, but she had a stroke and since then it took me the whole weekend to try to get through this I’ve watched her decline in this way. I’m not sure when but she will be gone this week. I have followed this channel for very long time, and I have enjoyed every single one of these videos. But this one has made me cry thank you for giving me a distraction when I needed it when the sadness of my own thoughts was too much.

[@Oldmeme592]

He would probably say "you're welcome"

[@dminard1]

One of the things that strike me as I age is how my relationship with time changes. As a child a day was a substantial length of time. Today a week feels about the same length. I think I simply summerize common experiences and so my memories are so much more abbreviated. I believe that in the course of centuries I may view months or even years in the same way. I imagine a centuries old vampire planning to do an important, immediate thing for decades. New technologies are almost immediately replaced by the next and social trends like slang are barely learned before they are decades out of date. It's almost like a black hole where the closer you go the more things slow down.

[@colefasan9849]

I’ve thought the same, but I’ve never looked at it as my experiences being repeated for years. I’ve assumed it was because as I age each day, week, month, or even year, is just a smaller percentage of my life than it used to be.

[@RG_Eph]

@@colefasan9849damn I’m high and that is depressing as fuck. Damn.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

After I graduated high school, I loafed around for two years. The time flew by. But then I went to college and the four years felt like it took forever. The experience of time has nothing to do with age and instead has to do with what you are doing. A child is having new experiences all the time; an adult is stuck in the monotony of their day job School is usually something new each day, at least partially so, so it feels longer. When I was a poolboy, time went faster than when I was in college because it was just the same thing every day

[@pyropulseIXXI]

@@colefasan9849you don’t compare your existence to previous ages tho so this is stupid. You simply don’t do new things as you get older, which is why time flies by. If you were to return to college, or be forced into a high school like environment, I guarantee you’ll think 4 years will be a long time again. When I do a lot, time feels like it goes slower, but when I do the same thing, months can fly by

[@colefasan9849]

@@pyropulseIXXI I agree with your point, but the years now seem to fly by. I’m not saying that repetitiveness or new experiences dictate my perception if time (although monotony definitely impacts it), but that when I was four years old a year was a quarter of my life so it felt much longer whereas now I’ve lived enough years that any individual year now feels lessened

[@withlovelaura__]

I’m here for the background goat ambiance

[@HelloFutureMe]

man, the number of times I had to stop recording because they decided to start talking ~ Tim

[@Benjamin_Haverkamp]

Lol

[@SonnyModi-gm7bk]

​@@HelloFutureMe i don't know why , but the intro felt like watching the intro to The Ancient Aliens

[@LucarioNinja92]

This is fascinating....but I regret watching this before I go to sleep because now I'm having an existential crisis

[@ProclaimingProductions]

Ditto

[@carimeslockdownedtree2654]

The funny thing about KZbin's new search in comments thingy is reading something like this, which wouldn't normally be funny, now having *existential crisis* bolded in blue with a little search icon next to it. Come on, youtube!

[@bluehairedemon]

we are not just scared of dying, we are scared of time, how it can never be stopped, and we can never go back. change is scary, and everything changes all the time

[@robpage6768]

I think too often we personalise immortality. What would I do, what would I make, what I achieve. What if YOU didn't? Isn't there joy enough in guaranteeing that you'll be there to see what we all do tomorrow? Would I be immortal if I could? Certainly. But not to write a Hamlet or climb an everest. I'd do it because tomorrow things will happen, and I'd quite like to see what they are.

[@86fifty]

Sounds a lot like a Terry Pratchett sort of line :) I'm right there with you - life remains interesting because there's always something new to see!

[@carbonbeaker409]

Unfortunately many people don't find joy in small things like that, and small things in general.

[@dravex9697]

This right here. No one should need an excuse to live for as long as they please.

[@gage7575]

Same. Most of my fear of death comes from the knowledge that time will pass infinitely after my own nonexistence.

[@extrantice]

this! absolutely, this!

[@Cinderbloom]

One thing that always sticks with me... Is how able bodied the conversation seems. How the concept of being able to take so much meaning from the world, even if you are physically incapable of climbing that mountain, is real for some of us. I think that's why they look down on us.

[@colleennewholy9026]

I liked how a Chinese Gacha game called Honkai Star Rail kinda tackled disability and immortality. As a spoiler, there's a group of Immortals that made a deal with a Godlike being and obtained Immortality... And the price is HEAVY. If you're born lucky, you can live to be 10,000+ years... But. If you've got a genetic illness, a higher chance for acquired illness like cancers and acquired injuries impacted by genetic changes... Now you're trapped with those disabilities. People who are born deaf, blind, without a limb or the like... can't ever really repair those issues. A woman who was born blind, told the MC. Of over her many centuries of life, she's attempted almost everything. To regain and retain her sight But duento the deal made with the God, her body will. Forever. Revert to her "natural" blind state her body rejects cybernetics, her body rejects even her own healthy implanted eye tissue And for her. It creates a source of hatred towards her Peoples ancestors. For choosing a form of "perfect" immortality, that is in fact. Not perfect.

[@jmgajda8071]

When I revisit something I love I don't go in looking for the same experience, but rather to notice or feel what I didn't before. By focusing on how I've changed since the last time or discovering something I failed to notice 20x before I find a new joy in it.

[@Cosmoproto]

Like rereading a book after more experience and new perspectives.

[@Americanbadashh]

This!

[@wolfgirl535]

Doing that with music has been really fun, listening to songs I loved as a teenager but with the knowledge of an adult. It always impresses me how much more I GET something now. And makes me excited for how much more I will come to understand years tomorrow.

[@Taneth]

_The Man From Earth_ was immortal only because he could heal from any injury, overcome any sickness. He remembered his origins only as a vague story from a place that doesn't exist anymore, watched people make the same mistakes over and over, from one generation to the next. And then he forges a new identity and starts again, just like he's always done.

[@emdeo]

and what an amazing story it was, too

[@TheCrathes]

I love that movie

[@Karlswebb]

At a certain point you'll have changed so much as to be effectively a completely different person. We change within our own lives quite fast.

[@agamerdoesthings9317]

"Not all who wander are lost." -J.R.R Tolkien And I plan to wander forever.

[@FirstLast-wk3kc]

Gilgamesh is story about the mortality and it's the ancientest story we know. Upd: Apparently, i was wrong there are a few Akkadian things more ancient, but Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest Epic story we know of yet still. Very cool.

[@parisulki729]

There are no ancienter stories than that?

[@HelloFutureMe]

It was originally in the script but sadly didn't make the final cut! :( ~ Tim

[@FirstLast-wk3kc]

@@parisulki729 There's no written one older. At least which we found.

[@FirstLast-wk3kc]

@@HelloFutureMe sadge

[@ofrund]

​@@parisulki729None that still survive

[@aquamarinerose5405]

This kinda misses the point, but Frankenstein's failure wasn't his pursuit of resurrecting the dead, but the fact that he then proceeded to abandon his creation / "Child" as soon as it came to be alive.

[@Hypogean7]

Also how the Monster was so brutally unnatural, Frankenstein cursed it to be an outcast forever.

[@aquamarinerose5405]

@@Hypogean7 That's a fair point.

[@lorierush6561]

Victor and his creation are both monsters.

[@AmaryInkawult]

​@@lorierush6561difference being that one didn't have a choice

[@lorierush6561]

@@AmaryInkawult true that

[@firecross625]

I haven't gotten through much of the video, but I'm truly sorry about the loss of your grandfather. My granddad died two years prior, just a few days after christmas in 2017, and to this day my most vivid memory is screaming in my car in a random strip mall parking lot after I left the hospital where I was too late to say goodbye. He was, and still is, my hero, and I don't wish that pain on anyone.

[@espysyn]

My grandmother had Alzheimer's. I vividly remember, near the end, her looking up to me during one of my visits "you look just like my granddaughter." I had to leave the room so I could cry for about an hour. Your story with your grandfather reminded me of that, the feeling of being helpless in their fight and so you don't want to watch it, you don't want to be there. For some people, it is good to be there, for others it is better to not. You will always think to yourself about the opposite though. I tried to be there until the end, but after that day I couldn't.. I think I visited one more time, then a month or two later I got the news. I've slammed my brain into the dirt with me telling myself that I should have visited more, but there is a part of me that knows it would have been worse if I was.

[@savvy76]

I had the same experience with my granpa, but his perception of reality made us no comfort to him. In his final months he hated us, I went from being his favorite "sixteenhundrend times special" grandkid to this mockery of his dead daughter. He was vile in his final months and I felt the need to be there with him through it. It was selfish to stay with him and it's selfish now to think back and wish my most vivid memories weren't of him yelling and cursing at us. Alzheimers is such an evil disease, I wouldn't wish it on my most hated enemy.

[@borkabrak]

My father also died slowly, and I had to watch. I also failed to visit nearly as much as I should have. I know what that burr on the soul feels like. You're not alone.

[@Someone-lg6di]

Lost mine to cancer when I was in middle school. The best way to make their day is to not care about their defects or what they lost due to disease

[@stella9414]

This video especially reminded me on Ghost in The Shell as it poses many similar questions. “All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.”

[@CritterKeeper01]

Thank you for not buying into this idea that immortality must be inherently bad! I get so tired of writers thinking we'll get bored, or heartbroken, or tired of life. I think the sort of person who makes a good immortal is the sort of person who can enjoy their everyday life. "Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon."

[@bluupadoop]

I'm curious what you would do with your potential immortality? I personally would absolutely abhor an immortal existence.

[@NinaFelwitch]

​@@bluupadooplearn every language. Learn to play every instrument. Visit every part of this planet. Watch every good tv show and movie. Read all of Wikipedia. There is so much to do and to see. Enough for a thousand lifetimes.

[@CritterKeeper01]

@bluupadoop I'd never run out of things to do and places to go! By the time you've lived in and gotten to really experience half a dozen places, the first has already changed enough to be worth revisiting, let alone seeing the whole world. There are so many things to learn how to do or how they work. Instruments to learn how to play, learn how to build a house from the ground up, how to do blacksmithing and fletching and programming and....all sorts of skills not even invented yet, and skills that are dying out I could help preserve. If you're immortal, there's no rush to do it all at once. You can have one hobby at a time, one career, one place to live, for however long it interests you. Don't get me wrong, I want to live indefinitely, not forever, but at least as long as there are people of some sort, there will be things to do, friends and loves and challenges and experiences. Only someone lacking imagination would get bored in a few centuries.

[@bluupadoop]

@@CritterKeeper01 it's kinda nice to hear such an optimistic view of immortality. I hope you can keep your optimism, and if I ever get offered the curse of immortality, I'll gladly point the offerer in your direction. And trust me, it's not a lack of imagination or a fear of boredom that makes me call immortality a curse, but more power to you for your optimism.

[@CritterKeeper01]

@@bluupadoop Thank you! I honestly think it's not for everyone.

[@AstolfoGayming]

The kind of immortality achieved at the end of the TV series "The Good Place" is exactly what I would want. You live on, eternally, in the body that you want, experiencing and achieving all that you desire, and when you feel that you can achieve or experience no more, you can decide to seize your existence. It has all the upsides of immortality with none of the existential horror sides of it.

[@kenpanderz]

the ability to selectively forget things, a form of "little death", would better than an all-or-nothing solution. its like restoring a painting intead of making a new one and replacing it wholesale. sure, alot of the new parts are not the original, and some of the older parts have to be removed in one way or another to make room or the new, but that doesnt necessarily make the art less valuable or less worth keeping around. ones memories could be the same way. after all, if someone should have the right to choose to stop their conscious existence, they should also have the right to forget exactly what they want to forget if given the ability

[@CulixIII]

@@kenpanderz Following along with "The Good Place" for something in that vein, the characters get rebooted many times, with two of them getting back all memories from across all of those experiences. The thought of being able to selectively keep one's full continuum of possible memories around, but selecting which to "toggle" on or off -- be it for the long haul, a temporary revisit, or exploring a mosaic of "first times" -- is a bit brain-melting, but fascinating to consider.

[@miniwhiffy3465]

@@kenpanderzI’d love that even without immortality I can replay games I loved blind over again

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

(small correction, you probably meant to write "cease" instead of "seize")

[@MichelangeloVA]

Seemingly seized your existence (hasn't been confirmed and left for interpretation) but even then horror from that version of the afterlife essentially came from the factors of 1) No God and 2) your still the same as you were as a human. I gotta agree with the critique on how the show handled the concept of death and afterlife being to humanistic.

[@haley_th]

The story about your grandfather is a lot like when my grandmother began losing her autonomy to her Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She was the person who got me into arts and crafts as a child, and I now have two art degrees. She was the only grandparent I was ever close with and I miss her every day.

[@haley_th]

I was so scared of the day she would finally forget me that I only visited her a few times. It’s hard. It’s so hard to not only see someone you love losing themselves but also wonder if you’re seeing a mirror into your future.

[@FatherDraven]

The key I have found is to always be ready to die, but still trying not to.

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

Yeah. I don't expect to be wealthy, but I wouldn't turn my nose up at a fortune if one came my way, kinda thing.

[@FatherDraven]

@@eyesofthecervino3366 Were a fortune to fall into my hands it would swiftly be put to use destroying the idea of fortunes in ways that would greatly reduce my chances of seeing eternity. Haha

[@Jules-kp7rw]

I like that idea. Thanks for sharing it.

[@Walker733]

Yup

[@Jan12700]

Doctor Who and Frieren are two of my favorite shows because of their dealing with the consequences of beeing somewhat Immortal.

[@HelloFutureMe]

Wait for another video later this year 😉 ~ Tim

[@Broockle]

Frieren has been on my backlog for a while now. Should get to it. Favorite immortal story for me is prbly Dark Souls tho.

[@5quirr31]

​@Broockle started frieren today and It is living up to the hype so well for me

[@jamesalexander8193]

Doctor who has quite a few immortal or long lived characters. The doctor The master is different by his sheer will to survive even passed timelord death, he does so many evil things to add more time to himself. Davros and the cybermen with cybernetics keeping the body or just brain going no matter the cost. Captain Jack but he still ages but comes back fully healed. Owen a walking corpse who can't eat or drink because he is dead and can't heal, he has no living cells so all injuries are permanent. And who can forget the family of blood "we wanted to live forever so the doctor made sure that we did" thrown into a black hole so time dilation from gravity to make a crushing eternity of pain, trapped in a mirror, wrapped in chains so strong death can not free you and frozen in time but fully aware dress as a scarecrow in a field

[@harrybudgeiv349]

​@@Broockle Frieren is worth it. I would put it at the top of the log and finish it within a week or two. It's only 28 or 29 episodes right now

[@pithepieoverlord4861]

I have already had panic attacks because of the idea of death and this has done nothing but further my anxieties Great video!

[@CasualFox12495]

Anyone else remember Final Fantasy X? A dead world dying constantly under rule of the dead mandating the reduction of life and promoting the ability to ignore the constant reality of imminent death. A spiral of decay.

[@caitycat66]

“People die, and Yuna dances.”

[@moosesues8887]

What was with games around this era having a huge theme around water

[@halzyen]

@@moosesues8887 I think they were developing the technology to make it look good

[@TJ-vo3rv]

Re: Spiral of Decay. The world was called "Spira" for a reason.

[@spudthepug]

I see some parallels to that in FFXIV.

[@Azerinth]

I'm surprised Gilgamesh's pursuit of immortality in the face of his friend Enkidu's death didn't make it into this video, it was a lingering illness of a very strong and active man that spurred it after all. The oldest story in the world is one of trying to avoid that slow creeping death.

[@Someone-lg6di]

Cut

[@kidlewinter5027]

I was thinking about that too

[@kyoyaootori1104]

In the end he was unable to obtain it, laughed about his arrogance, and went back to rule as a wiser king and died like any other man.

[@evannibbe9375]

Chapter 1 of the Epic of Gilgamesh provides a clear moral basis for Gilgamesh dying, that he was a cruel and evil man who raped every girl in his village, where the greatest cruelty of ancient Assyria was the failure of the men of Assyria to kill this evil man Gilgamesh, that they made him a hero instead.

[@anusaukko6792]

@@evannibbe9375 then shit happened, he went on a few journeys, and became a wise and benevolent king having learned from his mistakes and life to rule his people fairly until his death.

[@Lordblow1]

Dude, I was not expecting to cry watching this. What happened to your grandfather. While not the same as what happened to mine it is so painfully the same none the less. Seeing him slowly be unable to do more and more of the things he liked. Seeing him get stuck in a bed in a care home for the last year of his life. All because of a badly treated broken hip and a foot that got infected due to improper care. How no matter how hard he tried to walk again he couldn't. The worst of it is, I couldn't even visit a lot of the time. half a day's travel is just too much when you have so many other responsibilities. God how often grandmother cries when we were with her while she sat alone at home. The pain she felt when grandpa withered. How she went that 2 hour trip every day of every month of the whole 2 years. How tired it made her how hurt by the anger my grandpa felt that neither could do anything about it all. How often I had to console my younger sister on the phone while she was in another country for an exchange year and how she feared she would never see grandpa again in the flesh. I will never forget how she weeped when we told her that grandpa passed away 3 months before she would ome home. How strong she was giving a speech at the funeral over internet. I am not entirely sure why I wanted to share this. But I just needed to after this 49:15.

[@me0101001000]

I think immortality has to have a "why" associated with it. As a scientist, if I had the opportunity to live forever and dedicate my life to the pursuit of knowledge, I think I would take that opportunity. My will to live is driven heavily by wonder and curiosity. Not even for my own sake, but to inform those around me. In fact, two of the most important questions I ask myself every single day are, "What did you learn today? How have you applied something you learned today?" So with that, living forever and becoming a researcher until time's end would honestly bring me endless joy. I'd never have to ask, "what happens next?" Now, from a narrative point of view, it would be interesting to make a person age only when they have not learned something in a given time period. My grandfather once said something to me that roughly translates to, "the moment you stop learning is the moment you start aging."

[@trubleSum1]

No, sorry. I think you've missed the point entirely.

[@Avienne557]

Pretty cool idea

[@me0101001000]

​@@trubleSum1 I did not miss the point. Frankly, there is not a single point to this video, but many points proposed which you can latch onto. Return to section 5: Do Not Go Gently Into That Goodnight. He talks about immortality as an opportunity to explore the endless complexity of human relationships. That extends not just to people, but other things as well. The atoms that make up every morsel of matter, the stars that lie scattered in space, and everything in between.

[@Nostripe361]

⁠@@me0101001000to me the scary part of immortality is the decay/monotony of time. I could only see immortality being good if either you have the option to turn it off when you are done or some mission or goal to work towards to. I once thought a cool story would be a world where aging is done by experience rather than time. Like you don’t grow up till your mind/soul has reached a point for the body to follow. Would be cool to see if this world would become great or a dystopian story

[@travislyonsgary]

In a similar form I think thr keys are essentially a sense of continuity, dissonance avoidance, and proccessing. It all seems tp me like you can categorize how those fit into how our brains model things to understand our fear and how we could do alternatives. Continuity is a emergently created illusion by our mind, a model of what we think the world is that may or may not align to it. That model being updated is expensive so we both trim down what we peecieve if it's similar to older experiences resulting in nostalgia and a lessened reaction to similar new experiences and resist or have pain for updating our models in the case of loss or change like with spaces falling to ruin. We get dissonance from that difference as it's expensive to alter our model, both in actually changing by accepting how many new perceptions are fully novel or in how many old changes are obsolete. And so, to my mind so long as you could add in new branches of emergent functions to maintain continuity and coincidingly add on new perspective or perceptual elements ibto that system then you could faciliate intuitive continual novelty in experience.

[@stephenwilliams163]

When I got sober I was shocked at how much time was actually in a day. I had to find some way to fill that time or I would destroy myself. I took up various forms of art and now I wish I had eternity to continue creating beautiful things.

[@Nupetiet]

Congratulations on knocking down one of the strongest monsters ever set against us. Sometimes we have to fight it over and over, but now you know that you can fight and win.

[@edwardblake8575]

I doubt your obsession with your own creations would last for an eternity, but you're in luck not ever to experience that

[@Casual-Yohoho-Enjoyer]

Can kinda relate. One of my biggest fears is that I won't live long enough to make all I want to make, all I could and should make. There's so many ideas in my head and only one me with a single life. I'd give quite a lot for a few more lifetimes of making art.

[@joyc.e.7511]

@@Casual-Yohoho-Enjoyer those are my thoughts as well. I've finally started to take my writing more seriously and actually try to get it out there because I'm now hyper aware that I will die someday and it'd pain me greatly if all my stories died with me.

[@littlefox_100]

Congratulations!

[@kelliedoherty6563]

Go on making me cry at the end of it missing my own father who passed away in 2022. Love this analysis.

[@paranoidpagan5243]

When I am old and grey, just before I start to lose myself, I want to make a last trip into the woods and leave this world peacefully, that's how I want to go

[@qntkka]

That sounds cool .

[@primarybufferpanel9939]

I would too if my life insurance policy didn't go to my dependents.

[@Tekyng_of_Baregan]

That is a good way to say goodbye

[@Helperbot-2000]

Funnily, my dad technically went into the woods and died peacefully, he died on his morning walk, seemingly while taking a break

[@williamproffitt4920]

Won't be any woods left by then

[@andrewjazdzyk1215]

"Mice share 85% of our genetics" As someone who is a bit of a genomicist I'll have you know that there's a huge leap between even 2% shared, as it's way more complicated than just similarity in regions. Though yes, mice are used as a model organism for a reason. Also, we've known the mechanisms for aging for years.

[@jwilson544]

Hell, we share 60% of our genetics with bananas and look how different we are from that. I have no doubt in my mind that we will eventually find some form of immortality. Maybe even in my lifetime. But the type of immortality we seek and the cost of seeking it is atrocious. And those who are actively seeking it today are just as unworthy of it as the delirious kings/emperors of old.

[@pendragonV2]

"bro the mice utopia experiment is the perfect representation of human societal collapse"

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

We are pretty similar on a cellular level.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

@@jwilson544 I think it would be pretty ironic if we figured out how to revive people from their organs, but people in cryonics ❄ turned out to be unsaveable. 🤷

[@arcanealchemist3190]

well, no. we don't understand the mechanisms of aging. we have started to understand, but it is more complex than any one explanation, and which of the different causes of age are significant and which are insignificant are things we don't understand at all.

[@MissKellyBean]

I'm so glad that you addressed "how much of this is cope?" I've always thought that about these stories. We'll never know what it's like to be immortal... until we do.

[@ts25679]

I'm already there. At 38. There is a world of wonder, possibility and emotion out there I can never be a part of. I don't know who I am, who I was, without my ADHD meds I can't even think straight, but I can't get the help I need because I don't matter

[@evilcoffeemug5605]

A probably too naive 25 year old here. I'm not going to deny your feelings but I do hope you get help. I got help when I didn't believe I deserved it. Goodluck my friend

[@moffinbont1713]

Sometimes the hardest thing we ever do is Redefine ourselves.

[@constancegoldwing5867]

You matter.

[@TheLogicMouse]

You absolutely matter. If you can't get the help you need right now, it's because our modern society fucking sucks. You deserve help

[@ts25679]

I have been clinically depressed since the age of 11 and have reached out for help from all quarters for 27 years. The only clinicians who've understood me or I've had a report with were through a work scheme and ultimately restricted from going into anything outside of work, the rest show incredible apathy, only throwing meds and bills at me. I'm not sure if they're simply incapable or really just don't give a shit about their patients.

[@kaikalter]

Always a good day when a new Hello Future Me video drops

[@douglasyoung927]

This video goes HARD! Theres so much content worth contemplating here, and a lot of the writing is in pros. Beautifully done. Thank you.

[@representativejoints1188]

One of the greater philosophers of our time, Timothy Hickson. Perhaps not of the mind, but because of his humanity. Beautiful and ugly work there Tim. Even the work with your friends. Like I said, your humanity is showing. It's glorious.

[@ethanglaeser9239]

One of my favorite philosophical lines is from The Princess Bride when he says "Life is change, your Highness". Time is the rate of change, and all things experience it. I also love the line from How I Met Your Mother when Ted says that "over time we become doppelgangers of ourselves". Even if we live for an eternity, that is not a single life of a single entity, but infinite lives of infinite entities. Nothing lives forever because change comes for everything. It isn't that stories must end, it is simply that they do.

[@juliegolick]

Isn't the line from Princess Bride "Life is pain, Highness"?

[@raptorboss6688]

"change is nature Dad. And it starts when we decide." -remi ratatouille

[@WeaponizedAutism7]

Blud got the quote wrong

[@ethanglaeser9239]

@@juliegolick Oh you're right, I don't know why I remembered it that way. 😂

[@NobodyC13]

"Let's go in the garden You'll find something waiting Right there where you left it lying upside down When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded The underside is lighter when you turn it around Everything stays right where you left it Everything stays But it still changes Ever so slightly, daily and nightly In little ways, when everything stays"

[@xwraiths]

This is such a real trip through my mind's explorations on the beauty and horror of both loss and death and immortality and detachment that it's unreal. I had to watch it in two parts because it triggered my memories of my grandmother, one of my most inspiring figures in my life, who thrived in art and history and beauty and never stopped moving and traveling alone until her late eighties, but as I saw her slowly fading, furious that she could no longer knit or do her own chores, could not read her beloved books, no longer listen to the great operas or classic films, and could no longer see the world, assisted or otherwise; furious that age had taken her many joys in life one by one. I am only thirty four, but have written short stories and years long role-playing campaigns analyzing the nature these many topics, trying to make sense of my fear and grief, and yes, that little hope for immortality: to be granted time sufficient to see everything there is to be seen and learn everything there is to be learned. I see no evil in this, no inherent moral decay. Evil comes from desensitizing to what must be done to maintain immortality, ex. vampirism, not immortality in itself. Gods can be moral, angels as much so, even demons in the nuanced modern moralities of The Good Place or Good Omens. Per Nietzsche and his contemporaries, the de-shackling from time and freedom of immortality can even free us to become even more human, more moral, no longer tied to the economic, emotional, and manipulative abuse of others to ensure our own survival. This video deeply pained me, and profoundly understood me. And I am grateful for that, from the other side of the world.

[@michaelogrady232]

Tolkien nails it in the tale of the fall of Numenor. The more material comforts the people obtained, the more they lusted after immortality. The immortal elves, on the other hand, would eventually grow weary of the world. Great insight into human nature.

[@FunkyAbigail]

I was thinking of the fall of Numenor the entire video. The Elves didn't grow weary of the world per say, more that since their fates were tied so directly with the world, the natural decay of the world was taking them with it (which was why the Valar called the Elves to live in Valinor - the Undying Lands). The men of Numenor didn't realize this only saw "immortality == awesomesauce!", not realizing the "doom of man" (mortality) was a gift from Eru and that their fates were not tied to the world, sparing them from that decay, and thus their mortality brings vitality. Epic insight insight into human nature.

[@michaelogrady232]

@@FunkyAbigail Good points! And so obvious in our world today.

[@sskpsp]

Tolkien believed in a very Christian conception of the world. There are other cultural understandings though. For example, in the Indian understanding, the more attached you become to the material world, the more you are disappointed with the impermanence of material things, so you eventually seek a higher truth and existence. Eventually you can obtain enlightenment, which is beyond life and death. But this is possible within several decades, not hundreds or thousands of years. Which is why we have had wise old enlightened folks over in India for a while now

[@StinkerTheFirst]

Except the elves created the Great Rings specifically to avoid "diminishing", and when that was no longer an option, they departed to Valinor, the Undying Lands, as the Valar called them to do.

[@Hypogean7]

@@StinkerTheFirst Same thing in the end. The elves only had small pockets of eternity, and they knew that if they clung to them by not destroying the One Ring, then everything would be lost anyway.

[@Merdragoon]

I think this conversation is why a lot of people are gravitating to the story of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. It takes Immortality into a different way, as a way to remind people they should be allowed to slow down and apperciate things even in the ever rush to accomplish things before we can't do them anymore. It's not actually about death and decay (though it does begin with a death in some cases) it actually shows that conversaion from a being that was always long lived, 1000s even and it's her trying to understand humanity, and to grow to love it and appericate it. It's not about "What immortality will do to a person" but about how the immortal can live to appericate the smaller things and how the mortal can take appeication of that and how Empathy is important to connect to people even when you are immortal or at least close to it. It takes a conversation in a very different way. I'm not saying to read it to talk about it, but maybe read it as a way to just to see if there's more to the conversation as well and expand out.

[@jacobsomebody9266]

100% and I love to see it :)

[@KleptomaniacJames]

But often we relegate immortality to these sort of unrealistic scenarios. In no world will I be the first and only immortal. I am not special in that way, if I am to be immortal, it shall be after the wealthiest and many of the others like me have already become so. I will not be alone without peers, but rather one among many. In that way, I don't think the solitude of an immortal is a particularly useful avenue to tread if we are considering seriously this prospect.

[@Merdragoon]

@@KleptomaniacJames But Ferne isn't the only immortal? Demons are also Immortal and there are other Elves, though not that many. And the story it's not about solitude in the way you're thinking. It's about how sometime you just ignore the simple things only to realize that you missed out on those connections and sometimes if you connect with people you have a fuller experience. A very different message than what you're talking about.

[@KleptomaniacJames]

@@Merdragoon except it isn't, because those who matter to freiren are mortal. It doesn't matter that there are gods and elves and what not, her friends were not immortal, and they die of old age.

[@rustgrime9897]

​@@KleptomaniacJames I think what people miss about Frieren is that it just uses immortality as a tool to explore how mindfulness of our lives is what matters. In the end, it treats mortality and immortality the same: regardless if you live 80 or 1000+ years, if you treasure the people around you and live your life mindfully, then that is a life lived well. Himmel's life was a blip in her eyes but he is the most content person in that whole show. And similarly, instead of going "immortality actually sucks", the show imparts that as long as Frieren learns to value her time with her friends then that was a friendship worth building even if she'll all outlive them.

[@therealjibrano]

this video perfectly encapsulates everything i am. an immortal fire, raging against the dying light. im very glad i found this video, ill def be watching it a few times. spoke to me deeply

[@charlespentrose7834]

I don't mind getting older, and there's even one aspect of it I'm looking forward to. What I resent is my body wearing out, my mind becoming weaker. Death doesn't scare me near so much as the idea that my body will deteriorate and I will become less and less able to so the things I enjoy.

[@mattd5240]

The purpose of immortality shouldn't be to cure death, but to get rid of deterioration. Everyone should eventually die, but just not be left to rot during their Twilight years.

[@golwenlothlindel]

@@mattd5240this is what I find heartwarming about the doomed quest of the historical alchemists. They didn't find immortality, and they probably would not have wanted it if they had: any realistic immortality would mean a dependence on an ever-increasing amount of bizarre substances, culminating in a kind of undeath. And besides that, the march of history would have TERRIFIED these people. Someone who lived from 1550 to 1850 would have seen the entire world order collapse and reform around them. Our minds are not meant to deal with seeing changes on that level. But what they did find was chemistry: a way to make life better while we're here. A way to cure diseases and prevent their spread, prevent famines, help people in pain, and give people greater control over how their bodies change.

[@JackTheDead]

Tis not the fear of death that brings the search of eternity, but the love of life and fear of unknown and becoming the unknown person, not the fear of death that drives us, but love of what we have.

[@sariusskelrets2610]

Reminds me of that quote I read somewhere: "We do not want immortality because we are afraid of death, we want immortality because we want control over our lives". Or in other words: "Why am I alive? Why would I want to be dead? Being alive is FUN! All my friends are here!"

[@Kermunist]

You don't love life if you can't even accept the fundamentals of it - beginning and ending.

[@sariusskelrets2610]

@@Kermunist Some love being being alive and want to be alive because they enjoy it. In my experience, I enjoy being alive at all. I enjoy it so much I wish I could enjoy it longer and use that time to help others to enjoy theirs more. This is why I consider preposterous that some would dare to claim such horrors as "fundamental": Said horrors are as "fundamental" as oppression and abuse: they are objectively bad but after being on their receiving end long enough without managing to get rid of them, you start to believe you cannot ever get rid of them, so you try to delude yourself to think it's a good thing despite how much suffering it brings to you and to all those you hold dear. Death isn't needed to enjoy life. Life is needed to enjoy life.

[@Kermunist]

@@sariusskelrets2610 Life would lose meaning if it was endless. Your perspective would solidify and become dominant, as it does with the elderly. No new insights, no new perspectives. Furthermore, repetition would lose meaning, our dopamine pathways reward novelty. If, hypothetically, I was offered a pill for immorality, I know I would reject it. If I had eternity, I would accomplish nothing because there's always tomorrow. I would say I know death better than most, and love my fate all the more for it - to be born, to live, to die.

[@sariusskelrets2610]

@@Kermunist How can you know? There is no IRL example of someone living that long, why why do you believe that it is guaranteed to be that way? You're trying to tell me that something won't be fun before anyone ever tried it. I am trying to tell you that the best idea is to see how it is by ourselves so the matter can be settled and those who end up enjoying it can enjoy it. Your arguments revolve around your belief of how it would be, and from that belief you try to tell others "don't bother trying, it won't be fun for you because I don't think it'll be fun for me." There are as many tastes as there are people, so how can you do such a broad generalization? Life is its own meaning, no matter how short or long it is. Death is only something that makes you unable to enjoy life forevermore. You talk about repetition, so you clearly hasn't seen the last few centuries. Some who took the train to visit the old west assisted to the moon landing. There is so much change, so many new things that we can't even stay up to date on everything in the age of information. Things won't be samey at all. Before trying to tell me that "longer" means "boring", remember that there are enough movies to last you literal centuries. That's before the series, the games, the hobbies, the sheer mass of stuff compared to how much one can remember etc. Anyone who like to try new things would enjoy being able to enjoy more things. I can't help but notice that my motivation would only grow if I had more time. Having limited time only ends in me lamenting how much there is to do and how little I could accomplish and not beginning projects because why bother? There won't be enough time to finish everything I want to do and the new things I want to do are piling up faster than I ever could do them all. You might love your eventual fate, but please do not try to force everyone else to suffer the same fate because you believe that you know what's best for them.

[@Amethyst_Topaz]

You got me to cry! I am obligated to thank you for this reminder of my own humanity, that I am still alive, this proof of my soul.

[@GlacianChill]

Thanks for the existential crisis at 4am in Aotearoa! But thank you for the great work you do, Kia Kaha Tim

[@yvonnesun641]

same

[@TLhikan]

“In 17776, humans immune to aging play football forever” Me, squinting at the picture: “Wait a second…”

[@iblitz95]

Yeah, I think he used the wrong football.

[@Stranger00100]

​@@iblitz95 There is a wrong football? The picture just looks like normal football to me.

[@HelloFutureMe]

😂 i do want to clarify it was intentional ~ Tim

[@Appletank8]

In 17776, the meaning of football gets very confused

[@DavidOfTimes]

Absolutely moving and beautiful. I thank you dearly for this experience.

[@Mark_o_Helm]

I think "Frieren beyond journeys end" depicts almost immortality really good.

[@thatguyp4411]

I was unexpectedly touched by your introduction. Two of my most beloved stories, Dark Souls and Zima Blue, being summed up so beautifully concise. I also lost my grandfather back around the same time. I wish he were still here.

[@somebodyunimportant243]

this video is incredible the raw honest admission of being afraid of death is something so many people reject yet something i feel every day keep making content like this

[@Jules-kp7rw]

I think the vast majority of people are afraid of death. Admitting it is different, of course.

[@riverofpower5659]

I really liked that Sandman quote about having a thousand "tiny deaths" before realizing that you have nothing left that's keeping you alive. Not alive in the physical sense, but spiritually. You'll get to a point when you want to die and that's ok. It's not always about losing the will to live over sadness or despair, sometimes it's just because you've reached a point of content with yourself and the world around you. There's nothing keeping you tied to the physical world any longer and you can freely leave in peace. At least that's the way I like to interpret it.

[@kadeosborne3937]

Reminds me of how the Ancient's lived in Final Fantasy 14, they were naturally immortal but could choose to willingly "disperse" their aether (soul) back into the planets life-stream to be reincarnated whenever they felt that they had fulfilled whatever purpose they had chosen to pursue during life.

[@Helperbot-2000]

@@kadeosborne3937 sounds great!

[@Avramcharles]

Beautiful video. Thank you for the personal story with your grandfather and the vulnerable reflections you shared. Your grandfather sounded like a great man.

[@OhNoBohNo]

It occurs to me that part of the tragedy of forgetting the things we've done with age is not just the accomplishments themselves but the JOURNEYS. The memories and moments of Experience and Community, gone. I can show myself the art I made, the awards I received, and it's all fresh and new... Fresh... New... I am not able to make that art I did, or commit myself to re-achieving that trophy. So I must only make new art and get new successes, hope they do not fade as fast, but preserve the feeling while it is there.

[@hakenbacker]

Hey man its nice to watch an actual argument for and against death being discussed. I find so many sci-fi shows and video analysis essays just sees immortality and just consider the cons without considering how it could be things other than a lack of death that could be the reason for dystopias and stuff. I also liked how you consider the non-human perspectives with Zima Blue, something I think most people forget about and just think of 21st century human capitalism and all its woes as a forever thing.

[@Nebukanezzer]

People love to write stories where immortality is filled with negatives as a coping mechanism to make them not feel as bad that they don't and will never have it. Though, if you're young enough today, who knows. Maybe science will find a way to keep you young.

[@warlynx5644]

@@NebukanezzerI wouldn’t be surprised if it got discovered before I was 30, but I know for certain it will be something hoarded and guarded away from the “commonfolk”.

[@Nebukanezzer]

​@@warlynx5644they will make way more money by not doing that. Billionaires are damaged and miserable wretches anyway, though, they aren't going to want to be the only ones living forever. They are like vampires. They need to feed on real people.

[@moe3235]

Immortality is our duty, our next step. We'll deal with it when we get there. Everything else is just growing pains

[@MaesterTori]

This was like a long-form poem. Beautiful, but also quietly devastating.

[@mikeowens40]

Tale Foundry reading the Zima Blue excerpt was spot on

[@Ary-Ve]

I've been struggling with the same thoughts for some time now. The video meant alot, thank you.❤

[@LujeAldwald]

Tim back to make me cry with eloquent words of our shared experiences and joys of finding ourselves and the bittersweetness of having to say goodbye to who we were, I'm at work damnit

[@oliviapenelopehope4497]

I am not dead yet as my body forces me onwards. I fight it every step of the way, mocking and belittling the progress my body has made. I continue because I am pulled by forces outside my control. I do not wish to have this curse follow me, but I must live with it, as must we all.

[@ElonlFFF]

Story of your grandfather was so relatable, both in how the age took away his enjoyment of life and how hard and scary it was to see it

[@Constantinople12]

this video made me cry at 25 minutes in. you made me think of playing ck2 for the first time, 2020 summers, reading rangers apprentice at the same time as my friends, making a dnd campaign on the ferry to france

[@Flaming_Pulsar]

I wanted to thank you for speaking so openly and emotionally about the loss of your grandfather. The way you talk about him and about seeing him in his final moments is relatable on so many levels. I also lost my grandfather several years ago and it is truly painful to see someone you love so dearly to through this decay (and, in my grandpa's case, while the diagnosis of cancer had happened a few years prior, the time between is resurgence, which lead to him being bedridden, and his passing was only a few short weeks). I also wanted to thank you for giving me this time to process the grief of that loss, if only a little. I've lost a few family members now, and I've always struggled to actually feel the grief of those losses. I often just feel numb and simply move on with my life without properly taking the time. But when you talked about your grandfather, it reminded me so much of my own that I just started crying while thinking of the wonderful times we had together. And the times that we can't get back... And just all the things that have happened in my life since and how I'll never be able to share them with him. As I write this, I still have a lump in my throat as I continue to reminisce, and again, I wanted to just thank you for allowing me to unlock these memories and these feelings that have been lost in my mind for so many years.

[@ryoumisakiGP]

When he said "Sei-ath" at 4:16, I could only imagine the bar scene in Inglourious Basterds with the three fingers up

[@transhumanisttv1771]

I'm a scientist whose life is dedicated to curing aging (and all diseases). I saw the title-"The False Horror of Immortality"-and expected to hate-watch/monitor more opportunistic, ignorant, shallow transhumanism-bashing. It's actually extraordinarily thoughtful, well-researched, asks the right questions, and doesn't come to any sort of immediately debunkable idiot conclusion. THIS IS GREAT, in other words, and worth watching-and it packs an emotional punch that you won't expect if you think it' going to be anti-anti-aging. This is a complex, heartfelt masterpiece of evangelism for curing aging (almost certainly not the creator's intention, but still praiseworthy!) Those of us working to defeat aging aren't driven by some vast empty megalomaniacal all-grabbiness. It is enough to visit a cancer ward (aging is the major risk factor for cancer by far), or to see your grandfather decaying.

[@LaManchalandsDonQuixote]

I like the whole concept of transhumanism a lot. I used to hate it but slowly realised that I didn't really understand it and my hate was senseless. Not anymore tho.

[@AnonymousAnarchist2]

When I read the title, "the false horror of immortality" I knew immediatly that it was a song against the vapid discorse in pop culture about immortality. Because its never immortality that is the issue. In any such media. All the horror stories the horror is not the immortal. Its something far more terrifying. No. To live until the last star becomes a dim faint glow is in indeed a beautiful thing to behold But only if we have the means to extend and intertwine our time into an infinity. The false horror of immortiality is because the true horror comes from classist divisions and the reconition that we are not 3 dimentional beings. We exisit through time as well, every year that 4th dimention grows. Thats the horror. The creeping horror. that we would build for ourselfs a fishbowl and call it immortality and godly

[@edwardblake8575]

No you're not, you're just ortified of death and loss, especially the loss of ego Nothing praiseworthy about that

[@Helperbot-2000]

Daniil dankovsky much? :P

[@hi-i-am-atan]

@@edwardblake8575 how goes your surgery to convert yourself into a doormat, sir

[@silthalis3193]

"In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone, I remember. And they all live again. Soldiers live. And wonder why.” Glen Cook its a line from one of the black company books, the end of the series the last line is, "Its immortality of sorts."

[@TheHonourableFool]

I can't say I agree with your final conclusion, but I take a very naturalistic view point of life and death. All the same, this was a beautiful and touching piece! Several times I had to pause it to soak in what was being said, and I loved the way you laid out your arguments. This is one I'll think about for a while.

[@jedroberts10]

Dude, I was just wanting to have a video to watch while doing Saturday chores. You didn’t have to give me an existential crisis

[@moffinbont1713]

Have the crisis early, makes going into old age/disability easier.

[@gregorymeyer1798]

You have my (and my fiancees deepest sympathies for everything you and your family went thru, I lost my wife (10 years ago this September when she was 34), and I lost my dad just 3 years after... Loss of a loved one can extremely difficult and I hope you continue to take things one day at a time. Thank you for sharing that part of you.

[@bigmclargehuge8219]

Knowledge is the reason I would want to live forever. There's so much I want to learn and understand, but I get hit with this. There's so much, I don't know where to start cause any choice is a conscious choice to give up on something else. But by not making a choice, it's still a choice

[@mischake]

Fear of death, terrified of ceasing to exist... and how my life will decline over time and that's just my fate... literally most pressing on me of late, even said the exect same things the other day to my best friend. 35 now and life goes so fast, a year is nothing! that's so messed up

[@kadeosborne3937]

I'm 23 and even I feel like I don't have enough time for crying out loud lol.

[@Helperbot-2000]

@@kadeosborne3937 same here, and im just 20... or was it 21? Its already difficult to feep track

[@LucasSchimmel]

Immortality is one of those concepts that really show how limited humans are with envisioning the future. Aging is cured, diseases eliminated, but somehow everything else stays exactly the same. Still a huge disparity between the rich and the poor, the understanding of human psychology isn't improved one bit, so everyone still has the same drives that the society of the author has. Nothing changes, just that one thing. I mean, the belief that society will change because of a huge development of medicine but remain static in every other aspect is very silly. We haven't developed immortality but just stretching a good 20 year at the end of human lives already forced us to change so much, not to mention unrelated developments that made us more equal and more capable of accessing the best society has to offer. There was a time an infection spelt death, now every poorer people in middle income countries have access to universal healthcare that can make them live to a couple years to the richest countries. But no, it's all billionaires in cloudy gardens, and genetically engineered babies like GATTACA, nothing else is possible. Do immortal billionaires live in bunkers afraid some poor guy will just make a improvised E device just for the laugh and take them out? Is it a necessity it will be unequal, it's a technology that doesn't even exist, how can we speculate on its distribution? The world is forever maculated by the flaws of the writer's society. No scientist could ever develop a pill that changes your brain chemistry to make you feel less sad or whatever. No one can pick up a new hobby, only the things immediately available to the author. What the author can consume is, what he cannot is not a thing that could possibly ever be. No one is able to move on, to love again, to meet new people. I mean, imagine you're a immortal born in the Roman republic, look at how many events that would have shaped so many people, at some point you were presented to an entire new world, there's so much you could do and you didn't even know what was possible.

[@poncho3326]

Every generation feels like they're living the end of history. In a way fear of Immortality is often fear of what the future hold. People sometimes posits that the elderly often view death without as much fear and anxiety, since they are already living in a world that is not their own, that is alien to them. It always struck me as odd that so many people would describe that fate as inevitable, when it's demonstrably not the case, there are plenty of old people who do not want death at all, who have learned to connect with this changing world and find joy and meaning in it, like they did with the world of their youth. Additionnaly, this state of mind among the elderly is also a result of how our society treats them, how we glorify youth and work as the pinnacle of human experience. We could make life a lot easier and enjoyable for our elderly if we truly wanted to. Decay is many flavor of awful, but it doesn't have to be boring. To look forward to the future, one must have some appreciation of the present. At the end of the day Immortality and how people approach it is often a glass half full or half empty situation.

[@louzo5175]

Amazing

[@louzo5175]

​​@@O.W.L.E. only if the proces of gaining imortality is really hard to achieve Theres lots o ways it could go, maybe youll need thouthands of computers and milliona of terrabites of just storage, for you to upload yourself Because brains usualy store THAT amount of data and cant be mapped easyly Or maybe the elixer is one of dragons heart, that cannot be aquared by a peasant, unless he slays it or he buys it

[@chillinchum]

Essentially you are saying, Lucas, is that many writers lack imagination. Which is rather, um, how do I put it, alarming? Maybe that's too strong, but writing at its core is just recording down the results of imagination.

[@LucasSchimmel]

@@chillinchum No, not necessarily. Yes, it's exceedingly difficult to imagine a world so completely unlike our own that we can barely guess how it's like, even our best fantasy stories are basically just taking current problems and anxieties and sprinkling fairy dust on them. Besides, if you make something like, it becomes so experimental that it isn't marketable. Writers write what they know, readers want something that is at least passably familiar even if in novel forms.

[@David-l6c3w]

For me living forever means wanting to see how the rest of the story of humanity, the world, and the universe unfolds.

[@ayarezk8684]

I am so so sorry for your grandpa 😔 I couldn't hold my tears by the end of his story. He still lives in you, obviously as a gentle soul ❤

[@vanTersec]

Tim has been at the top of his game latelly. Thanks for the anxiety, btw.

[@ShadowWizard123]

You are such a good writer. I keep coming back to this video and it's simply amazing. Thank you.

[@why2goatdagame]

I am not afraid of death. I am not afraid of Boredom. I am afraid that I will not have the ability to fully enjoy what I already have as it slips away. Access to doing such that I would want to enjoy & the money to afford such that is needed to do so. It is not life or death that is a fear, but the Quality of All 4 All in between the moments & of the Moments that we continually have denied capacity for. This is The EverMore.

[@igothesilversmith]

The last stretch of this video was surprisingly vulnerable. Im sure eveyone, myself included, who watched this feels honoured that you shared your story and feelings. Thank you Tim

[@Senf71]

no the end of the video was disapointing. He clearly knows there is work being done to cure old age, but he did not bring the video back around to end on the hope that it might happen soon and be available to everyone. He is killing people by not talking about this and letting people stay in the pro aging trance.

[@samwinter9860]

This was an amazing watch, it really made me think about a topic i had put little thought into before. I have watched this multiple times and really think you should keep up the good work :)

[@Infinite_Mortis]

Thank you so much for this video. I’ve been wanting to hear your take on immortality

[@yasminceleste3844]

What an outstanding video. I was grasped from start to end. Truly a work of art, gathering these pieces together.

[@illizcit1]

What a beautifully human video to discover you on. Looking forward to going through your catalog!

[@pikmaniac2643]

While generally butchered in execution, the Fire Emblem games tend to tackle another aspect of immortality's bane, and it's one that tends to be quite common in fantasy stories with long-lived races: the loneliness of watching those you care about come and go, and the growing difficulty with becoming attached to someone new, knowing their life to you is fleeting.

[@finaldusk1821]

One of the characters in question, Nyx from Fates, has an added layer of complexity from accidentally inflicting immortality upon herself. Trapped in the form of a child that doesn't reflect the elderly woman within and grappling with severe body dissociation, she rationalises this as karma for the many lives she ended in the accident, one that was largely caused by her own hubris. Compared to the Manaketes (Fire Emblem's dragon elves for those unfamiliar) who naturally live absurdly long and are relatively at peace with it since it's all they've ever grown to expect, Nyx's expectations were for a comparatively short run to that fatal finish line, something which many would argue makes us 'human', only to carelessly throw it away and adjusting very poorly as a result. She feared almost inevitably outliving everyone she might care about, was embittered by a constant struggle to get others to take her seriously despite her childish appearance, and believed that she was neither capable nor deserving of genuine social connections. Nyx spends most of her personal story in-game seeking a way to restore her mortality and ironically her elderly body too, never succeeding at either, and with her newfound friends' help eventually learns that the best way to 'atone' for her past atrocity isn't to continue punishing herself for eternity but instead to use her boundless wisdom and empathy to help others for however long she may live. For someone who appears at first glance to be a walking trope, Nyx is such a nuanced and interesting character and surprisingly well executed for a tertiary character (especially by Fates' standard)!

[@Jan12700]

Doctor Who amd Frieren did the same

[@Someone-lg6di]

Found fire emblem with awakening and was so suprised by how good game was. Never upgraded from 2ds so was never able to experience the newer ones​@finaldusk1821

[@henryaudobooks9678]

I always felt like that was a pretty dumb plot point even when it makes for good shows. like I’m on dog number four or five of my life.(I had two at the same time a couple years back) still able to play with my dog without falling apart, at the thought of the ones outlived. in fact, I rarely think about them at all they’re dead now so why bother? that’s how most people are with pets. That’s how most people are with even other people who die so why would you go into stupid melodramatic angst about something so simple.(like I get it. It’s because it makes for fun story drama, but it’s stupid.)

[@thekaxmax]

It's handleable--humans know that dogs have shorter lives than theirs, and adopt them into their families anyway, and can deal with replacing them.

[@yurkdawg]

When I was 29 going on 30 I had a similar mid-life crisis. I am 46 now - I promise you, the feeling doesn't last forever (I only had a full on "crisis" that one time.) It's almost like the stages of grief: the last step is "acceptance."

[@archive881]

Thank you for writing this 🥲

[@erilinapolly]

Tim. Just thank you. People definitely didn't talk about that much, and I'm so happy that the humans' perspective on death and immortality is changing these days

[@chandlerlund5712]

If I was offered immortality, I would take it

[@lavenderflowersfall280]

Ohhh. Are you rich

[@blodiaaa6990]

Same

[@xShadowChrisx]

@@lavenderflowersfall280 if you're immortal getting rich is easy.

[@zawwin1846]

Make sure you get perpetual youth and invulnerability. Last time some one took eternal life without those, it didn’t turn out very well.

[@ethanotoroculus1060]

Hard agree. Seems overhated. We can find ways to pass the time.