asaris

Until I die.

__________________
"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."

"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

kinsaj

Until I learn everything. The quest for knowledge is amazing.

__________________
boom

theguy420

Until my pack a day smoking habits catch up with me. Or I get hit by a bus...

__________________
You kids wouldn't wanna look like a couple of fairies now would ya?

d*d

whatever age I say now I bet I will change my mind as I start approaching it

The Magic

If I could live eternally (while retaining youth) I would do it. I love living -- I don't want to die.

I want to live to be as old as I can. The only reason I could think of to want to "stop" at 70 or 80 would be because I was paralyzed from neck down or if I had severe mental problems.

Mr. Skillman

According to Deathclock.com i'm scheduled to go out on 10 Thursday 2058. So.....i think that's a good time to go.

__________________
There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to pet wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.
-(Hagakure, book 2)

Grancey

I want to live to see tomorrow. I think that everyday. It's not good to think too much about when you might die.

__________________
Quiet, mild-mannered souls might just turn out to be roaring lions of two-fisted cool.

Suave

I want to live until I die.

fordluvr

Long enough so that I can see all of my kids happy in their adult lives and completely supporting themselves. If I can leave this world having somehow helped fill my spot on Earth with responsible citizens and community members, then I can die happily regardless of age.

Now, having said that . . . my grandmother was 90 and healthy when she passed away quietly in her sleep. So I figure if I can hang around that long it wil have been a pretty good run.

__________________
I trust no one. Not even myself.
-- Josef Stalin

Debil

I'm not sure about when exactly but I don't want to live my life being afraid of anything.
I don't want to live a life without meaning or some satisfaction. I do things that ruin a chance of having a long life but I'd rather worry about the quality of my life now. If risky lifestyle choices prevent me from being 80, 50, 30 - so be it.

anonymity_sucks

Agreed. If there was a way to live indefinitly (say with nanites as suggested in some books by L.E. Modesitt jr.) then I'd be all for it. Life is as eventful or as boring as you make it. And there is something said for truly having all the time in the world.

MSD

I'll figure that I'll stick around for a lifetime. If Cryogenic technology gets cheaper, I'll let them freeze me until a third-party candidate is elected president. This way, I'll be around in a thousand years to tell my great-great-great (etc.) grandkids to turn down "that crap that passes for music these days."

My only concern is that being frozen will lead to loss of memory and force me to start life when I'm elderly.

Also, I've asked friends (family probably wouldn't do it) to humanely kill me if I ever develop Alzheimer's disease or other memory loss to the point that I cannot recognize friends or family.

The Magic

Forever if I could.

Learn new careers. Live in different places. The worlds a huge place and there's a lot of things to do.

macsmith230

If I could live forever I would.
But, assuming I can't live forever, I want to live until I can't take care of myself any longer. I don't want to be the crazy old guy weaving in his car at 10 miles an hour. I don't want to crap my pants. I don't want to be the one that everyone in the family hates because he's crotchety and complains that nobody likes him (maybe I'm a little crotchety now, but you know what I mean).
I just don't want to be a burden on anybody, and I'd like to live until it becomes a bother to be alive anymore.

livingfossil

Forever is a long time. Maybe 2, 3 hundred years--until I couldn't remember my birthday, my first love's face, what my siblings were like: memory, unlike playgames of life, is not infinite. In the end, all that you've learned would collapse on you, leaving you a confused mess. 70 years of coherence is enough.

__________________
Never anything witty.

Bionic Monkey

Cryogenically, I would go for it if there were some way to have my loved ones join me. I think I could handle just about anything as long as I had those who meant the most to me.

In a purely immortal sense, I think I'd like to live about 500 years. That gives me long enough to see some truly amazing things happen, but any more than that seems like it would drag on and become tedious.

Zeraph

"I'd be willing to bet that before the 21st century is over, cryogenic freezing will be a possiblity for humans as well. "

This isn't necessarily one of those cases where science can improve that much. The reason those bacteria can survive it is because they are very simple life forms. How will we ever be able to freeze our brain and revive it when simply hitting your head (lightly), kills thousands of brain cells?

And if it ever does become a reality, while I admit it would be fun to jump ahead a 1000 yrs, I wouldn't take the chance that my soul could be trapped for an indefinite period of time. Especially if it is a self-sufficient (which it would be when your talking about over a 100 yrs) system orbiting the moon or something, what if a virus kills everyone on earth off, and your stuck frozen for 10,000 yrs? (or until a natural disaster or system failer kills you)

*shudder* while unlikely, I just couldn't take the chance.

Now as far as extended life goes, I think it is a real possibility and I would definetely go for some genetic improvements.

joeshoe

Depends if we get to keep our health/sanity with it. I'm pretty sure it depends on how comfortable life is. But at the current circumstances, maybe 150 to 200 years, seems like a good amount of time. Experience a technological revolution or two, see who's the next super power, etc

j0hnb

I would like to live as long as possible and still be healthy and sane... In my mind, the longer the better.

irateplatypus

a couple qualifers...

-i want to live as long as my mind is sharp. if i fall victim to severe alzheimers... that's when i want to punch out.

-i don't want to outlive my future wife by much provided we both live to 65 or so.

if those two conditions are satisfied... i think i would like to live for couple thousand years. i would want to die, but i'd love to have a lot of time to learn everything i can.

__________________
If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

Epiphanies

I would love to live to 120 or so, soley for the chance to see us go into space and colonize other planets. In fact, I seriously want to be one of the first people to colonize Mars. Depending on when that becomes a reality (most likely 30+ years from now) they're gonna need to see the effects of space travel and exposure to alien environments on older bodies. I'd donate my body for that cause in a heartbeat.

But to answer the original intent of the question, I would only want to live as long as I wasn't a burden on my family or society. Oh wait a minute, I guess I already qualify for that...

__________________
"You are my density...I mean, my destiny." -- George McFly

pinkie

I just want to grow old. I want grandchildren. I want to see my grandchildren have children. I want to hold hands in public with my husband when we're in our 80s. I want to celebrate 50+ years of being happily married. I want to welcome death as a new adventure, after I've had a full life.......

zen_tom

I'd like to live for as long as is (in)humanly possible. I don't relish the idea of not being around anymore.

FngKestrel

There's so much to do in this world, I'd want to live forever. Inspired by Neil Gaiman's character, Hob Gadling.

d*d

long enough to know the answer to that question