So is there anything worse than death/dying?

[Haphazard]

Isn't the obvious answer to this eternal life without eternal youth?

[Fluffywolf]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Isn't the obvious answer to this eternal life without eternal youth?

Not really, old age will eventually wear down the brain, self awareness leaving alltogether. Which is the same as death, by my standards.

[jenocyde]

Death is fine. Dying is not. The process of dying is one that I dread. I don't know if a long slow painful death is worse than one that happens instantaneously. In a long one, you suffer physically. In a short one, you are unprepared (not like it matters when you're dead, but the thought of it bothers me.) Either way, there is nothing worse in my eyes than dying. But I'm ok with being dead.

[Sentura]

Originally Posted by jenocyde

Death is fine. Dying is not. The process of dying is one that I dread. I don't know if a long slow painful death is worse than one that happens instantaneously. In a long one, you suffer physically. In a short one, you are unprepared (not like it matters when you're dead, but the thought of it bothers me.) Either way, there is nothing worse in my eyes than dying. But I'm ok with being dead.

i agree. i can imagine exactly how unpleasant it would be to suddenly not be able to breathe anymore.

also, boredom. i would pick death over boredom, even though i seldom experience it these days.

[marmalade.sunrise]

I can think of several fates worse than death which include, but are not limited to, having 75% of your body burned to the point that you're almost constantly in pain and being kept alive only on machines and morphine, being raped and tortured repeatedly over a long period of time, and being so old that everyone that you once loved is dead or has moved away and you're physically and mentally declining and left to rot in a nursing home where you aren't being properly cared for. I think I'd take death over those, but yeah, otherwise death is pretty bad - or rather, dying. It's the dying that scares me, not the death.

[Into It]

Originally Posted by Fluffywolf

For me, no.

Death for me is to cease existing. Anything existing is better than death.

Now, I have never been tortured so this is hypothetical. But I think I would be able to take any form of non lethal torture without wishing to die. I would even prefer eternal suffering over the notion of not existing.

So, If you were say...on fire...and the flames could not be extinguished...this would be a preferable state to those awful many years before you were born? You really thought they were that bad? Or am I misunderstanding you?

In response to the OP, off the top of my head, I can think of one thing worse than death/dying, and that's death dying.

The inability to rest...it's a horrific thought. That's why the universe is so wonderful...It is inclined to produce various forms of consciousness, various eyes with which to view itself, and it expands infinitely (I believe this is the most likely theory), and consciousness itself may never perish, while the individual vehicles may.

In Plato's "Apology of Socrates," Socrates says that he would not ask for any punishment other than death, because was not guilty of the crimes of which he was accused, and it would be senseless to ask for an evil when death may not be an evil at all. He said to ask any kind of person from anywhere to recount his most peaceful times, and nights of wonderful, deep sleep would be counted highly among them. For this reason, if death is simply oblivion, then compared to the how we live, death would be "an unspeakable gain."

If you think about this a lot and would like some good reading on it, I recommend "The Last Days of Socrates" by Plato. There are interesting words on death by one of our great thinkers, as he sits in his cell after condemnation and speaks with his closest friends.

[Into It]

Originally Posted by Haphazard

Isn't the obvious answer to this eternal life without eternal youth?

Even eternal life WITH eternal youth is a horrific prospect. Within a hundred trillion years or so, you will have learned all that you can learn... within the next 2^100,000,000,000,000 years or so, you will become bored. After that...I dread the thought.

[Sentura]

Originally Posted by Into It

Even eternal life WITH eternal youth is a horrific prospect. Within a hundred trillion years or so, you will have learned all that you can learn... within the next 2^100,000,000,000,000 years or so, you will become bored. After that...I dread the thought.

you really don't understand the concept of infinity, do you?

[Into It]

Originally Posted by Sentura

you really don't understand the concept of infinity, do you?

Maybe I don't. Explain it to me, please.

But keep in mind, if motion exists in infinity, then time can be measured.

[kyuuei]

Originally Posted by Nadir

Why is there a presupposition that death is something bad? I'll humor you, though. I think pain is worse. At least from a biological perspective, pain is a feast for your nervous system, and it doesn't even feel any good. You don't need to worry about any of that once you die.

An interesting mindset, and one totally opposite of my own.

I don't know if I agree with it, I think that pain is a temporary thing.. and I don't think temporary things need permanent solutions, when speaking on the subject of mortality and pain. Pain is a part of life, and disliking the experiences of life would suggest one to assume death is better.

When I die, I will die. I do not hope for it, pray for it, or seek it actively. I do this all for life, and my on-going quest of life keeps me from slowing down to experience the aspect of death. I'll ponder on it when I am well and ready to... When I am in pain, when I am distressed, starving, poor, and broken.. death is the last thing that enters my mind. It is survival, life, and the ability to be breathing long enough to fix the pain that presents itself. Death is not a fix for pain, death is a fix for life, imo. Pleasure is the opposite of pain.. so I would seek pleasure when I am in pain.