Be not afraid of death. Not at all. :hatsoff:
Painless or painful death
- Thread starter Gordar
- Start date
Man that is a tough question, its so extreme. I wouldn't want to live for a thousand years with or without pain for the last 10, but only 50 is a bit of a bum deal 
I guess it gets down to the quality over quantity. Better to live one day as a lion, than for a hundred years as a mouse
I guess it gets down to the quality over quantity. Better to live one day as a lion, than for a hundred years as a mouse 
I pick 1000 years and die a painful death. I like to see the world change around me.
Even if the final 10 years of my life were agony I still think 990 years of life would outweigh the 50 years of “happiness” I’d get with the other option. There’d be sufficient time to spend all day, every day on FreeOnes and die with 20 million posts and 4 million negative reputation points.
Although either 50 years or 1000, I'm sure by the end you'll still be wondering where all the time went. I feel that overall this question is too easy – not in a sense that it doesn’t require some thought to answer, but it doesn’t take into account that life is far more complicated than just those two options alone. It leaves out all of the choices we make and all of the actions positive and negative that makes the existence of the individual worthwhile... or not. For example, how do we know the person living only 50 years wasn't manic depressive, and suicidal for the majority of their life? It would seem that even if their death is painless their life wasn't.
Gordar your last two threads have been on the subject of pain and death, are we all doing your sociology homework for you or something?
Although either 50 years or 1000, I'm sure by the end you'll still be wondering where all the time went. I feel that overall this question is too easy – not in a sense that it doesn’t require some thought to answer, but it doesn’t take into account that life is far more complicated than just those two options alone. It leaves out all of the choices we make and all of the actions positive and negative that makes the existence of the individual worthwhile... or not. For example, how do we know the person living only 50 years wasn't manic depressive, and suicidal for the majority of their life? It would seem that even if their death is painless their life wasn't.
Gordar your last two threads have been on the subject of pain and death, are we all doing your sociology homework for you or something?
I think it's the English translation that's incorrect. Since it's the motto of the province of Zeeland. In dutch it's 'ik worstel en kom boven' the literal translation would be 'I struggle and come above', but a better translation would be 'I struggle and emerge on top'.
Yet, if you look it up on google, you get the the english translation I initially gave. I decided to copy that one instead.
So no, not improper Latin but improper English...
& BB, no, it's just that the human psyche is interesting, but sadly, death plays an important role in the human psyche (& luckily I haven't had to do any homework for quite a few years (which I usually didn't make anyway...) & even if it were, I think it'd fall in the spychology instead of sociology department...).
Anyway, to both me and my friend it was quite obvious that I meant a short but painless (both mental & physical) life or a life with only 2 certainties, you'd live long and you'd spend your last few years in pain. But then again, my friend knows me a little bit better than you do, so maybe I should have explained it a bit further. Would you risk the uncertainty even though it might be an agony? Or would you play it safe, maybe losing a very long life in Utopia?
& BB, no, it's just that the human psyche is interesting, but sadly, death plays an important role in the human psyche (& luckily I haven't had to do any homework for quite a few years (which I usually didn't make anyway...) & even if it were, I think it'd fall in the psychology instead of sociology department...).
My mistake. I in fact just picked an ..ology at random. But yes of course it would fall under the banner of psychology.
I think it's the English translation that's incorrect. Since it's the motto of the province of Zeeland. In dutch it's 'ik worstel en kom boven' the literal translation would be 'I struggle and come above', but a better translation would be 'I struggle and emerge on top'.
Yet, if you look it up on google, you get the the english translation I initially gave. I decided to copy that one instead.
So no, not improper Latin but improper English...
all appologies :hatsoff:
i had never heard the english motto
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
Who is to say that there can be a death that isn't painful? Even if we die in our sleep, how does anybody know that it's peaceful? It could, perhaps, be the most excrutiatingly painful experience imaginable - not counting having to sit through the Sex & The City movie of course. BING!!!
not to mention the pain it causes your family and the psychological effects o you, never seeing another day
Considering that this is a hypothetical question about the human psyche and which choice people would make if they coould choose (whether it's a genie, Jehova, someone from the distant future, Odin, Xpxl the alien, Urghhl the Holy Tree or someone else giving you the choice is not important), I don't think this is of much importance. Maybe someone can't die without pain in a normal situation (nobody has ever come back to tell us...), but someone can't become 1000 years old in a normal situation either...
I see a problem here... Since I do not believe in any form of afterlife (I sometimes hope I'm wrong, but that's an entirely different story) I based my question on this. So dead means no more thought, no more feelings, no more anything, just eternal nothingness of which you're not even aware. I believe death is like a dreamless sleep. When sleeping you eventually wake up & notice it's morning (& sometimes you have the feeling you just went to bed 5 min earlier), but when you're dead you simply never wake up.
I understand the part about your family being hurt and it might make the choice more difficult, but it still essentially comes down to 2 options either you're hurt because you see them die or they're hurt because they see you die.
I'm not sure I understand the second part of the quote though... Never seeing another day implies some kind of awareness after death & if you believe in something like that, I do hope you also believe in some sort of afterlife. Since I do not know how you envision your afterlife I cannot give a decent answer. Of course I could be misinterpreting that part of the quote...
yeah i started thinking like that too after i read Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (see signature)
I had go with 1000...you always have the option to commit suicide once the pain is unbearable, right Gordar?
Well, that would defeat the purpose of the thread & question a bit...
I agree that this is a bit of a black&white question & that real life isn't like that, but for the sake of the question, no, you wouldn't be able to commit suicide, but aside from the last 10 years, you don't know if there'll be any pain either (unless you're a psychic/fortune teller)...
