If you could live forever, would you?

Question

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

Ah, one must read Isaac Asimov's "The Last Answer"! Yes, "Answer". His more famous short story is "The Last Question", but he wrote "The Last Answer" in 1980.

You can read it here:
https://www.highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/

I added the bold italics mark-up near the end because it is the answer to your question.

=====

The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov

Murray Templeton was forty-five years old, in the prime of life, and with all parts of his body in perfect working order except for certain key portions of his coronary arteries, but that was enough.

The pain had come suddenly, had mounted to an unbearable peak, and had then ebbed steadily. He could feel his breath slowing and a kind of gathering peace washing over him.

There is no pleasure like the absence of pain – immediately after pain. Murray felt an almost giddy lightness as though he were lifting in the air and hovering.

He opened his eyes and noted with distant amusement that the others in the room were still agitated. He had been in the laboratory when the pain had struck, quite without warning, and when he had staggered, he had heard surprised outcries from the others before everything vanished into overwhelming agony.

Now, with the pain gone, the others were still hovering, still anxious, still gathered about his fallen body –– Which, he suddenly realised, he was looking down on.

He was down there, sprawled, face contorted. He was up here, at peace and watching.

He thought: Miracle of miracles! The life-after-life nuts were right.

And although that was a humiliating way for an atheistic physicist to die, he felt only the mildest surprise, and no alteration of the peace in which he was immersed.

He thought: There should be some angel – or something – coming for me.

The Earthly scene was fading. Darkness was invading his consciousness and off in a distance, as a last glimmer of sight, there was a figure of light, vaguely human in form, and radiating warmth.

Murray thought: What a joke on me. I’m going to Heaven.

Even as he thought that, the light faded, but the warmth remained. There was no lessening of the peace even though in all the Universe only he remained – and the Voice.

The Voice said, “I have done this so often and yet I still have the capacity to be pleased at success.”

It was in Murray’s mind to say something, but he was not conscious of possessing a mouth, tongue, or vocal chords. Nevertheless, tried to make a sound. He tried, mouthlessly, to hum words or breathe them or just push them out by a contraction of – something.

And they came out. He heard his own voice, quite recognisable, and his own words, infinitely clear.

Murray said, “Is this Heaven?”

The Voice said, “This is no place as you understand place.”

Murray was embarrassed, but the next question had to be asked. “Pardon me if I sound like a jackass. Are you God?”

Without changing intonation or in any way marring the perfection of the sound, the Voice managed to sound amused. “It is strange that I am always asked that in, of course, an infinite number of ways. There is no answer I can give that you would comprehend. I am – which is all that I can say significantly and you may cover that with any word or concept you please.”

Murray said, “And what am I? A soul? Or am I only personified existence too?” He tried not to sound sarcastic, but it seemed to him that he had failed. He thought then, fleetingly, of adding a ‘Your Grace’ or ‘Holy One’ or something to counteract the sarcasm, and could not bring himself to do so even though for the first time in his existence he speculated on the possibility of being punished for his insolence – or sin? – with Hell, and what that might be like.

The Voice did not sound offended. “You are easy to explain – even to you. You may call yourself a soul if that pleases you, but what you are is a nexus of electromagnetic forces, so arranged that all the interconnections and interrelationships are exactly imitative of those of your brain in your Universe-existence – down to the smallest detail. Therefore you have your capacity for thought, your memories, your personality. It still seems to you that you are you.”

Murray found himself incredulous. “You mean the essence of my brain was permanent?”

“Not at all. There is nothing about you that is permanent except what I choose to make so. I formed the nexus. I constructed it while you had physical existence and adjusted it to the moment when the existence failed.”

The Voice seemed distinctly pleased with itself, and went on after a moment’s pause. “An intricate but entirely precise construction. I could, of course, do it for every human being on your world but I am pleased that I do not. There is pleasure in the selection.”

“You choose very few then?”

“Very few.”

“And what happens to the rest?”

“Oblivion! – Oh, of course, you imagine a Hell.”

Murray would have flushed if he had the capacity to do so. He said, “I do not. It is spoken of. Still, I would scarcely have thought I was virtuous enough to have attracted your attention as one of the Elect.”

“Virtuous? – Ah, I see what you mean. It is troublesome to have to force my thinking small enough to permeate yours. No, I have chosen you for your capacity for thought, as I choose others, in quadrillions, from all the intelligent species of the Universe.”

Murray found himself suddenly curious, the habit of a lifetime. He said, “Do you choose them all yourself or are there others like you?”

For a fleeting moment, Murray thought there was an impatient reaction to that, but when the Voice came, it was unmoved. “Whether or not there are others is irrelevant to you. This Universe is mine, and mine alone. It is my invention, my construction, intended for my purpose alone.”

“And yet with quadrillions of nexi you have formed, you spend time with me? Am I that important?”

The Voice said, “You are not important at all. I am also with others in a way which, to your perception, would seem simultaneous.”

“And yet you are one?”

Again amusement. The Voice said, “You seek to trap me into an inconsistency. If you were an amoeba who could consider individuality only in connection with single cells and if you were to ask a sperm whale, made up of thirty quadrillion cells, whether it was one or many, how could the sperm whale answer in a way that would be comprehensible to the amoeba?”

Murray said dryly, “I’ll think about it. It may become comprehensible.”

“Exactly. That is your function. You will think.”

“To what end? You already know everything, I suppose.”

The Voice said, “Even if I knew everything, I could not know that I know everything.”

Murray said, “That sounds like a bit of Eastern philosophy – something that sounds profound precisely because it has no meaning.”

The Voice said, “You have promise. You answer my paradox with a paradox – except that mine is not a paradox. Consider. I have existed eternally, but what does that mean? It means I cannot remember having come into existence. If I could, I would not have existed eternally. If I cannot remember having come into existence, then there is at least one thing – the nature of my coming into existence – that I do not know.

“Then, too, although what I know is infinite, it is also true that what there is to know is infinite, and how can I be sure that both infinities are equal? The infinity of potential knowledge may be infinitely greater than the infinity of my actual knowledge. Here is a simple example: If I knew every one of the even integers, I would know an infinite number of items, and yet I would still not know a single odd integer.”

Murray said, “But the odd integers can be derived. If you divide every even integer in the entire infinite series by two, you will get another infinite series which will contain within it the infinite series of odd integers.”

The Voice said, “You have the idea. I am pleased. It will be your task to find other such ways, far more difficult ones, from the known to the not-yet-known. You have your memories. You will remember all the data you have ever collected or learned, or that you have or will deduce from that data. If necessary, you will be allowed to learn what additional data you will consider relevant to the problems you set yourself.”

“Could you not do all that for yourself?”

The Voice said, “I can, but it is more interesting this way. I constructed the Universe in order to have more facts to deal with. I inserted the uncertainty principle, entropy, and other randomisation factors to make the whole not instantly obvious. It has worked well for it has amused me throughout its entire existence.

“I then allowed complexities that produced first life and then intelligence, and use it as a source for a research team, not because I need the aid, but because it would introduce a new random factor. I found I could not predict the next interesting piece of knowledge gained, where it would come from, by what means derived.”

Murray said, “Does that ever happen?”

“Certainly. A century doesn’t pass in which some interesting item doesn’t appear somewhere.”

“Something that you could have thought of yourself, but had not done so yet?”

“Yes.”

Murray said, “Do you actually think there’s a chance of my obliging you in this manner?”

“In the next century? Virtually none. In the long run, though, your success is certain, since you will be engaged eternally.”

Murray said, “I will be thinking through eternity? Forever?”

“Yes.”

“To what end?”

“I have told you. To find new knowledge.”

“But beyond that. For what purpose am I to find new knowledge?”

“It was what you did in your Universe-bound life. What was its purpose then?”

Murray said, “To gain new knowledge that only I could gain. To receive the praise of my fellows. To feel the satisfaction of accomplishment knowing that I had only a short time allotted me for the purpose. – Now I would gain only what you could gain yourself if you wished to take a small bit of trouble. You cannot praise me; you can only be amused. And there is no credit or satisfaction in accomplishment when I have all eternity to do it in.”

The Voice said, “And you do not find thought and discovery worthwhile in itself? You do not find it requiring no further purpose?”

“For a finite time, yes. Not for all eternity.”

“I see your point. Nevertheless, you have no choice.”

“You say I am to think. You cannot make me do so.”

The Voice said, “I do not wish to constrain you directly. I will not need to. Since you can do nothing but think, you will think. You do not know how not to think.”

“Then I will give myself a goal. I will invent a purpose.”

The Voice said tolerantly, “That you can certainly do.”

“I have already found a purpose.”

“May I know what it is?”

“You know already. I know we are not speaking in the ordinary fashion. You adjust my nexus is such a way that I believe I hear you and I believe I speak, but you transfer thoughts to me and from me directly. And when my nexus changes with my thoughts you are at once aware of them and do not need my voluntary transmission.”

The Voice said, “You are surprisingly correct. I am pleased. – But it also pleases me to have you tell me your thoughts voluntarily.”

“Then I will tell you. The purpose of my thinking will be to discover a way to disrupt this nexus of me that you have created. I do not want to think for no purpose but to amuse you. I do not want to think forever to amuse you. I do not want to exist forever to amuse you. All my thinking will be directed toward ending the nexus. That would amuse me.”

The Voice said, “I have no objection to that. Even concentrated thought on ending your own existence may, in spite of you, come up with something new and interesting. And, of course, if you succeed in this suicide attempt you will have accomplished nothing, for I would instantly reconstruct you and in such a way as to make your method of suicide impossible. And if you found another and still more subtle fashion of disrupting yourself, I would reconstruct you with that possibility eliminated, and so on. It could be an interesting game, but you will nevertheless exist eternally. It is my will.”

Murray felt a quaver but the words came out with a perfect calm. “Am I in Hell then, after all? You have implied there is none, but if this were Hell you would lie to us as part of the game of Hell.”

The Voice said, “In that case, of what use is it to assure you that you are not in Hell? Nevertheless, I assure you. There is here neither Heaven nor Hell. There is only myself.”

Murray said, “Consider, then, that my thoughts may be useless to you. If I come up with nothing useful, will it not be worth your while to – disassemble me and take no further trouble with me?”

“As a reward? You want Nirvana as the prize of failure and you intend to assure me failure? There is no bargain there. You will not fail. With all eternity before you, you cannot avoid having at least one interesting thought, however you try against it.”

“Then I will create another purpose for myself. I will not try to destroy myself. I will set as my goal the humiliation of you. I will think of something you have not only never thought of but never could think of. I will think of the last answer, beyond which there is no knowledge further.”

The Voice said, “You do not understand the nature of the infinite. There may be things I have not yet troubled to know. There cannot be anything I cannot know.”

Murray said thoughtfully, “You cannot know your beginning. You have said so. Therefore you cannot know your end. Very well, then. That will be my purpose and that will be the last answer. I will not destroy myself. I will destroy you – if you do not destroy me first.”

The Voice said, “Ah! You come to that in rather less than average time. I would have thought it would have taken you longer. There is not one of those I have with me in this existence of perfect and eternal thought that does not have the ambition of destroying me. It cannot be done.”

Murray said, “I have all eternity to think of a way of destroying you.”

The Voice said, equably, “Then try to think of it.” And it was gone.

But Murray had his purpose now and was content.

For what could any Entity, conscious of eternal existence, want – but an end?

For what else had the Voice been searching for countless billions of years? And for what other reason had intelligence been created and certain specimens salvaged and put to work, but to aid in that great search? And Murray intended that it would be he, and he alone, who would succeed.

Carefully, and with the thrill of purpose, Murray began to think.

He had plenty of time.

Realistic07 · Accepted Answer

This is a great question. To which my answer is no, I would not choose to live forever. Eternity, watching all of my loved ones pass away, my humanity slowly fading from me throughout the millennia’s, only to possibly left as the only person on the planet that will live forever, to watch humanity fade, and ultimately the planet destroyed only to live on drifting in endless solitude in the vast vacuum of space.

Don’t get me wrong I’m sure I will have done a lot of fun things on the way to that final end, But I just don’t want to have to do all that, and go through so much to meet an end that may never come. At that point life would be just A curse.

Well, that’s my opinion about the matter and fool. Hopefully, it answered your question. Like I said, it was a really good question.

SueShe · Accepted Answer

I pity every single person that answered with yes because they don't realize the consequences this decision would have. They can't even fathom how terrible this would be.

People always assume that they would be in good health but noting in your question states that you would be in a perfectly good health for all eternity.

Several factors are never considered when giving a positive answer.

1. All your family, all your original friends, all your acquaintances, all those that you have loved and cherished will be lost and you will feel the pain of losing a parent, a family member, a friend or anyone that you cared for. You would never get over that pain because it would be recurring millions upon millions of times and yet, each time it is different. Each new friend you make, each person you fall in love with, all the children that you eventually have, all of those will die and you are left alone, over and over again, ad vitam æternam. Also, you will age and not have your youth. Once you lived it, this never return.

2. You may be in poor health and just imagine the worst pain you ever had. Now multiply that pain by the value ∞ (infinity sign) and increase that pain to the level of the one a person that a terminal cancer and that no medication, no drugs can alleviate has. Now imagine that you live an infinite number of years with that pain and that what you wish most will never happen. You will never ever die. Not tomorrow, not in a million years, not even when the sun engulfs the earth and makes the planet inhabitable.

Would you want to live that kind of life?

KittyKat90210 · Accepted Answer

Maybe not forever, but I'd take a week from next Tuesday. Just because. LOL

My real answer is no. Living forever doesn't necessarily mean that the aging process stops. After some time it might become so much more difficult to live that you'd have little quality of life. All of the people you're close to would pass and you can start making new friends, but then they'll be gone someday too. It just seems like a lot of loss and heartache while aging well beyond what a human's lifespan is expected to be.

ohsheeT · Answer

everything on this Planet is made from energy
And energy never dies it keeps going and going and going. Our body might fall to the ground one day but our spirit our energy will remain forever

I've never read the Bible so I don't know but I do know that it says or I believe it says become one with self one with others and one with universe if you believe in God God is the universe or God is Jesus universe is our higher power

If we were created from God's image and from God then we are part of him and if our body is our Temple that is his church our church and we're supposed to be like him he wants us to create things to be the best we can be if you believe in heaven then do the right things learn as much as you possibly can stay out of the drama out of judgment stay away from people that do that because all they really do is hold you back and make you go the wrong directions
Become one with yourself love yourself and become one with others to come one with the universe and be good be the best you possibly can be learned as much as you possibly can and smile

Static_In_The_Attic · Answer

As forever that’s a long time & before I agree to the terms & conditions I would have to read all the fine print. Living forever would truly be something but if my body ages along with forever that would suck. On the flip side if I could freeze my current age & live forever that would be truly something as well. As for me I wouldn’t want to pay taxes forever or work forever so I’ll have my legal department negotiate the living forever contract before signing.

Miah06 · Answer

No. That would be terrible.

If you ever loss a loved one, you know that pain is hard.

Imagine having to watch everyone you love die.

Just to have to make no friends, who will eventually have to die as well.

Then you have to eventually decide is it worth the pain, or should do my best to never be attached. Which sounds like an even worse eternity.

molonski2 · Answer

The problem with the pretence of the question is..

1. Is it just me? And what age am I? Or do I just keep aging.

2 . So , health status = Forever?

If I have the context of how I'm going to live forever , and how it would work and assuming continued great health , and that others still pass , then Yes for sure.

strateguy632 · Answer

You mean, in a physical body so "hell no". Old people their body crumbled eyes fail, arthritis burns, by age 80 everybody is "incontinence " means "not contain".

Now if i could live like age 20 forever, that is tempting... but not with all the "nasty" people around me here in new york.

So i WILL live FOREVER in spirit, the way Christian teaches, and atheism rejects.

LiamJHayden · Answer

Only if it is akin to living in Heaven from the Bible. In this universe, no, because I'd have to watch everyone I love die, and eventually the planet will be destroyed and I will then get to float endlessly through space with only my memories. That sounds like Hell to me.

ihateTaylorSwift · Answer

I wouldn't wanna live forever
I'd rather just be
stuck in the past
frozen in time

without actually moving forward
but only reliving the same days

I know, sounds like hell
But I mean
In a sense
I wouldn't have to miss those memories anymore
just unable to make new ones

purplepoppy · Answer

I would want to know the conditions of my immortality. Would I stay young and healthy or end up a crippled wrinkled prune? What is meant by forever? Will I still exist when Earth is eventually sucked into a black hole

Account · Answer

Yes. I would want to exist with this vessel and the memory that I have. I do not like the possibilities of the other possibilities.

Likes2drive · Answer

Like The Highlander maybe since he doesn’t age and heals fast, you would just have to get used to close people in your life dying eventually and finding new ones. I probably would learn a lot and be the wisest person on earth. Pretty much how god does it I guess but doesn’t interact with anyone. So only under those circumstances would I choose to live forever

Garud · Answer

I would like to choose my time of death according to my wish rather than remain immortal. But I would also like to stop ageing further and be indestructible

Bricealan · Answer

If you lived forever, that implies good health and never getting old, but others would die, in front of your eyes, those you loved and that would be awful

ThatBaldGuyOvetThere · Answer

No. I would enjoy a very long life, but not immortality. Eventually, I would decide I've seen enough and wish for a peaceful end. In my short life, I feel I've aged a lifetime with things I've had to go through already. re-state//background_color_rgba (0, 0, 0, 0), font_color_rgb (77, 77, 77), justifyLeft

LeatherDame · Answer

I would skip aging but I’m not risk adverse enough to live forever, nor would I want to. I’ll eventually make a mistake that would cost me my life given an infinite timeline.

CupcakeTheDestroyer · Answer

Nope, I don’t need to be alive past the destruction of the earth in 5 billion years and have my life still be JUST beginning

D_Bone_Steak · Answer

I mean eventually, I'd get hit by a bus or run into wild monkey that is chimping out our something.

sage2021 · Answer

No, absolutely not. I've had just about enough of living in this world. Now I want to go to heaven where it's beautiful and I can't wait! 💟

andreasderjuengere · Answer

I would not. Sooner or later I will have pissed off someone enough to makan end of me ere-state//background_color_rgba (0, 0, 0, 0), font_color_rgb (77, 77, 77), justifyLeft

woahhh152 · Answer

Oh no! This world is an awful place. I wanna give my best and live my life till my last breath

WhitneySnow · Answer

Probably not. Definitely not if I couldn’t stay young forever. Or at least in the prime of my life.

Abbycado · Answer

I'd say yes right now, but once I got old, I would probably regret it.

TheSpaceGnome · Answer

Yes. I'm already attempting living far longer than most, extending that to forever would certainly be ideal.

lil_will_12 · Answer

Nah. The game of life would be no fun with cheats on🤷‍♂️

bolverk · Answer

No, while I'd like to live a long life, I would not want to live forever, I could not face endlessly loosing Loved ones.

Koneko911 · Answer

Hell no. My reward for life is I get to die eventually

exitseven · Answer

If I could have the ability to end my life when I wanted to I would.

9in_Serpent · Answer

I believe when we where all children we all believed we would live forever so its a very natural and common sense desire or thought

periodicelement · Answer

Yes, there is to much to experience in our short life

Graptemys79 · Answer

Absolutely not. You would watch everyone you loved die and be left alone.

jahaims · Answer

You would end up floating in space alone eventually

LosAngelesCeo · Answer

Would depend on quality of life. If I was only surviving and a burden on others due to health and old age... nahhh give me the red pill and let me go. :-)

Anonymous · Answer

Who wants to live forever when love must die?

David5668 · Answer

No, it’s not been that great for a lot of it, so why suffer an eternity.

Staximus · Answer

Yeah, but it would suck after the human race goes the way of the dodo

Wiredone · Answer

No I wouldn't want to live forever. When my time is up I'll be ready to go

Wise4myage · Answer

No thanks. I wouldn’t want to outlive all the people O knew.

Anonymous · Answer

"Forever" would have to mean... finishing up this current life until Jesus returns, and then being taken with other select people, off to New Jerusalem for eternity. Yes absolutely

dragoblack · Answer

You mean suffer a life long series of body issues and human societal stupidity? No thanks.

Deserter2 · Answer

If I get to stay young. We can't remember everything, we forget a lot too. So things would never truly get old.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

Maybe not forever, but maybe for a few thousand years. Imagine all the knowledge I would posses.

Enginn · Answer

Yes I would. Its always in one of my things to do list.

Queenofhypotheticals · Answer

No , earth is ghetto and a lot of people I want to meet/reconnect with are in heaven.

Anonymous · Answer

That depends. Forever at what age? Do I still age?

eagle1951 · Answer

if i could move around like in my younger days yeah

Kingofkings1992 · Answer

Definitely not. That sounds like a nightmare

MemeSupreme · Answer

no my battery ain't built like that

MisterWack · Answer

Live longer, yeah.

NewWaves · Answer

Heaven's forever. I'd like to live forever there.

Agape93 · Answer

Only if I could choose to end it

glennos89 · Answer

Not in this ruined society

Kelly6 · Answer

@jjmetalchick no too much stress

Massageman · Answer

I will, just not on Earth.

Yannae · Answer

Not if that's all I get

hotman5 · Answer

yes but only in paradise

ChicoFromThe305 · Answer

Nope.

Adel50 · Answer

No. I wouldn't.

animesenpai · Answer

Only if it's coupled either youth and vitality

DerekC321 · Answer

Not necessarily, but longer than we have

Peggy01 · Answer

If I still had my marbles sure.

BLP11520 · Answer

No , every person you know would die

If you could live forever, would you?

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