How long do you want to live?
 

How long do you want to live?
If the technology were to become a serious possiblitiy for humans, would you consider cryogenic freezing?

My great-grandmother, now 101, is a huge inspiration to me. Its unbelievable how healthy she is at her age. She even lives on the second story of her appartment building, which has no elevators, and climbs the stairs multiple times a day. I guess it's hard to say now, but I really hope I live that long and am in that good of shape.

Although, i've heard a lot about cryogenic freezing lately. Apparently they have been able to freeze bacteria and other small forms of live and been able to bring them back to life, and with great success. I'd be willing to bet that before the 21st century is over, cryogenic freezing will be a possiblity for humans as well.

Chances are I will feel differantly when the time comes, but if I were in my 70s or 80s and diagnosed with a terminal illness, I would seriously consider cryogenic freezing..even if there was only the slightest possiblity I will survive when re-animated in XX number of years.

Think about it. Either die then for sure, or have a slight chance of living again in tens or hundreds of years in the future? Although you'd be alone in the world, not knowing a single person, but I think to me it would be worth it. I'd love more than anything to see the future, and to live during the 22nd (or beyond) century.

Am I crazy for saying i'd submit myself as a test subject to this?
I'm curious to know others thoughts about this, and how long you'd like to live otherwise.

Nah, you're not crazy. I think about it a lot too. Watching Futurama will do that to a person...

Seriously, the thought is very interesting, I'd be alone so that would suck, but I get to "time travel" and see the future..sort of...I'd do it if I can afford it, I heard its really expensive. As for the delaying death issue, I don't see a point, you'll die anyway so just play along...

55....no later

That got me thinking a little bit. I have no intention in delaying death, I actually look foward to it...in a sense...a non-morbid type of way. I will enjoy my time here on Earth, but I do greatly anticipate what the after life is like. I have no idea what it is, but I do definitly believe there is one, and am extremely curious as to what it is like. I recently watched a show about after-life experiences, where people have pretty much been dead, seen something, but came back. I believe them all.

I don't fear death at all. The only part of dieing that i'm afraid of is actually dieing. I'd want it to be as painless and quick as possbile. If I were to freeze myself, it wouldn't be to escape death, it would be to see the future, like you said.

As long as I were healthy and sane I'd live for as long as possible.

As for cryogenics, I'm not a fan of it. I've seen far too many movies on the subject and the idea of coming back as someone else but looking exactly like you...I believe there's more to a person than just the physical embodiment - something that probably can't be frozen and regenerated at the every whim of someone who isn't in the mood for death.

Everyone dies, I won't be a 95 year old man spending obscene amounts of money to stave off death for a little while I sit in bed fearing a lack of tommorow whilst watching The Price is Right. I'll die when I die.

As long until I am diagnosed with a horrible condition like Alzeheimers.

I'll be happy to make my eighties/nineties and anything greater is a bonus.

I don't think about how long I want to live.
There's more to this universe than human life.
I figure I'm a part of the universe - nothing is going to change that.

If I ever make a 4 second pass in the 1/4 mile, I'm calling it quits.

I never thought I'd make it past 30, but here I am. I would like to live long enough to enjoy retirement, grandkids, and be considered a dirty old man. I just hope the quality of life stays there as well.

i'd rather pass on than be hospitalized or stuck in bed all the time, so however long it takes my body to decay that much, i'd like to check out just before that.

As long as I am healthy, active, and mentally alert. I never want to the clasic old senile old man, bent over a walker, muttering to myself and not being able to complete a sentence intelegently. Oh, wait, I'm only 23 and don't have an intelegent thought in my head. Crap, it's going to be a long life:lol:

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm shooting for 250.

i just want to live healthy

Well I'm 23 and I've had enough.. check please?

"How long to you want to live"......Well the answer to that would be if i found a way to become virtualy ageless and the key to immortality of course i would live as long as i found some petty amusment in this world of course....i beleive immortality to be perfectly plausable and possible to acheive although i much doubt it will be discovered in this life time in less there is a odd type of anomaly. Of course there is other ways to preserve "yourself" and dont get me wrong its not the body im talking about its the brain/mind. I mean.... It is possible to record brain patterns and get data from this...supposidly....just imagen if someone scaned a brain and saved this and then injected this data and wouldnt want to go in to any details of how i think this might be done but i think it perfectly possible that you could send "yourself" or at least your essence in to anouther body... to extend life or thus simularly wait and come back somehow in the future.... How knows.... ;) btw i wouldnt get frozen and put on ice if i had the chance....like i said since there is probably much better ways that no one has even thought of.

Well, I don't believe in any kind of immaterial soul or an after life. And while I certainly don't fear death, I do enjoy life, and would like to keep it up for as long as possible.
I don't believe that I will live long enough to see the major technological developments to improve human longevity, but hopefully I will turn out to be wrong in this belief! :)
I would have no qualms about using synthetic neural implants, brain transplants(!), computer back up, or anything of this sort. I would leap on such an opportunity.

I have a list of goals to complete, as soon as I complete them all I'll go down...

I want to live as long as I am able to function with no or minimal help from others. If I lose that ability, I would rather cease to exist than to depend on others to continue to survive.

Sounds morbid, but it's how I really feel.

I've always thought 50 was too old... I've even considered jumiong out of a plane w/o a parachaut at that age.

After a little thought, though, I wouldn't want to do that to my loved ones.

I want to live as long as my quality of life is good. I don't want to out live my son though.

I'd like to live as long as happily possible. IE, if i become a vegetable at age 45, i want someone in my family to assist me in my own death. Same deal if this happens at 99. As long as i've got a reason to keep going, i would like the ability to do so.

I don't really fear death, I want to live each day to the fullest. I fear dying in pain, and taking to long to die, IE of old age. Being dead doesn't scare me, dying does.

With that said, 65 sounds like a good time to punch out.

I would love to live to be 1000 years old and beyond. It would change the very way we live. People wouldn't have to worry about rushing into relationships or how soon we should graduate from school. We could learn the way learning is fun and absorb everything through experience. We could simply walk away and start a completely different path in life and see where it goes. Of course this all depend on being able to be healthy. Anyone ever read the book "time enough for love." It is about an old man who sets up an account for his future relatives that pays them to marry people who are known to have long lives. death will come, certainly... why rush. Its not going anywhere.

I want to live until I decide that I don't want to live anymore, and I'm sure of it.

We had a very good discussion of this in my elementary class after we read the book "Tuck Everlasting."

I want to live until it's my time to go, whenever that may be. My only wish is that I don't go in a lot of pain. If I don't get to live my life till old age then, so be it. As long as my family is well taken care of I will be happy.

actually in retro-spect it might not be all that expensive... spend the rest of your saving in saving bonds.. have them expire about when you think you might come to. Instant tons of money. ;)

Long enough to change the world.

I'd like to live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up to at least have a decent memory of me. I never knew my grandparents, so this is kind of important to me.

That is so true it is scary. It is so tough to bury your children.

Let me live until I have little quality of life
Let me be a burden on no one
Let me be alert, moblie and free
Until the Earth is done with me

I think around 40 if I dont have a kid, 50 if I do... I dont wanna get to old and bother anyone, or not be able to do what I want.

Those numbers were written into my book the minute I was born.

Why sweat it?

I want to live as long as I can with the one person I am in love with, and just enough money to live comfortably.

and enjoyment of what your doing?

for me i would have to say the same thing as you but also have a job, no matter how old i get, and enjoy doing it.

15 more mintues.

Forever.

Fuck dying. You all can die, I wanna live. Even if all my immediate relatives are gone and I don't know a soul, I'd still want to live.

Just because everything else dies doesn't mean I have to! If there's a way around it, then good for me! :D

I want to die before I get too old to take of myself or be a burden to others.

Anything less that triple digits is a waste. Just think of the life experience.

I think I will have pretty much had my fill of the spectacle (in the pro-situ sense of the word) by the time I reach 80 or so.

I would love to be cryogenically frozen if that ever becomes a completely feasible possibility, I would most definitely consider it.

That line in Demolition Man(yes, that awful Sly Stallone/Wesley Snipes movie) freaked me out though. Sly's character was frozen and he was revived and then said that he had been conscious the whole time. While that seems totally ridiculous, its also one of those things that no one can possibly know for sure, until they've actually done it to someone and questioned them. And even then, a freak accident could make you the exception. I know how crazy it is to worry about that situation, but stranger things have happened.

forever or not at all :)

By that logic, since you cannot live forever, you are required to kill yourself right now. :lol:

Hah. Believe me, it's around 40 that life actually gets interesting, even without kids. Yeah, the bod isn't what it was, but past 40, if you've been open to learning and growing, you pretty much know yourself. And with that info in hand, you can do things you wouldn't have dreamed of at 25.

For me personally, I'd like to stay around for as long as it all _stays_ interesting. I'm willing to accept that there may someday be things I can no longer do; that's okay, as long as I can do other things that are equally worthwhile, or at least be of value in some capacity to others. If my body ever breaks down to the point where life is little more than simple existence, then it's time to go.

till another clinton becomes president.

If my retirement funds don't start to improve, I can't afford to live past the age of retirement -- I'll be around as long as I can afford to be....

Damn young whippersnappers - 40 IS NOT OLD! Not even close to being old.... Jiminy -- life doesn't start to get interesting until 35 - :D

I'm only 21, there are so many things in life I have yet to experience, honestly...im extremely afriad to die....I can't imagine not being able to get to experience so many things i desire to. Perhaps im unrealistic but I can at least say Im by no means ready to think about death, i'd be happy to at least live 70-80 years......

Till I've lived the life I have wanted to live.

Don't know when that will be, but when the time comes I know I'll be happy with dieing any time after that

40 is just the beginning! Life gets better with each passing year.

I plan to live as long as I am intended. I will not be frozen; however, I will have my loved ones "pull the plug" as I don't want to be alive if I'm not truly living.

You'll change your mind on this number...trust me.

i wish i were never born... then i'd not anywhere to complain and no one would miss my absense.

long enough to see scotland win a football tournament

long enough to outlive everyone i hate and urinate on their graves

Depends on when you ask me. Somedays I feel like I've lived to long already. I'm not abig fan of this planet, and looking forward to seeing what is in the next life. Don't really think about it much though. Death is pretty meaningless when it happens to you. It's only when someone else dies it really hurts.

i don't care if i die, but i'm not going to do anything to hurry it up (or on some days slow it down)

Fuck getting old and being fucked up for a long time. And life here aint all that. Things get played out. If there is life after death then it's prolly better than life here I figure.

do you believe in god?:-p

Well as far as cryogenic freezing goes for humans... it's not gonna happen. Human cells are too weak. As the water in your body freezes it forms ice crystals that are very, very sharp and they kind of tear up all the cells. Walt Disney isn't coming back, sorry.

As fair as the question goes hypothetically, sure I'd be frozen if the people that I really cared about had already passed on.

As far as living forever, I'd love to if the woman I love could live forever with me , but again that can't happen.

Becoming immortal in the sense of not ageing to death or being susceptible to deseases, sure I'd do it, so long as my girlfriend can become that way to.

Am I afraid of death? no. Am I afraid of dying? no. Even if it's long and painful? still no, but I'd rather it not be that way. Pain is only temporary and I'd be dead afterwards and be beyond caring how I died, so I figure why worry about it before I die either.

I would like to think that we will be able to extend human life beyond natural limits in my lifetime, but if we don't, I think I would be satisfied at 70, but wouldn't really mind living to be a centenarian.

I want to die when I am no longer needed by anyone or anything. That is just a waste of lifes resources.

this is why i promote the development of gene theropy. live long enough for that, you can possibly be living forever :D not that i'd really want that (maybe :P ) ....

or maybe get a spaceship and do it like "Speaker for the Dead". travel around and outlive everyone :D

outliving everyone is highly over rated, and tends to be very painful. Trust me on that one.

easy answer
 

if I become rich and famous kill me at the height of my career I do not want to become another wacko jacko

if I have a family after my youngest child turns 25 so I know I will be able to support them until they can fully support themselves

I would like to live as long as possible. i dont believe in a afterlife, so when i die, im gone, conciousness lost forever, it would be interesting to see the possiblities of the brain, or the brain with technology, to see how much memory it could hold, how much experiance, how many skills you could gain. If people where to live forever, would technology and human advancement speed up? People with the good ideas can keep working on them forever, until perfected, nothing lost to poor understanding of others, if the brain could take it. This of course means living in a state that i have a active mind, and be able to communicate, and do things as others do. A old man muttering in a home for millions of years aint what im thinking of :)
Im not scared of death, but its a end, its all she wrote etc, why have nothing when you can have something

I figure 84 is a respectable age. Just old enough so people wouldn't say "he was so young" and young enough so I hope I won't be wearing diapers.

call me crazy... but the thought of living forever or even for a few hundred years might not be practical. Dont get me wrong.. .would LOVE to live forever, The first example that came to mind was our brains over time with all the crap (eg wars, violence, loss, mental problems, etc) has to cope with slowly changes the chemistry in our brains and we become more twisted, neurotic, paranoid, anxious. Im personally speaking from someone who has nervous, anxious, depressed disorder.

Our bodies have built in code to be programmed to deteriorate over time.. oh unless we can change a few genetic detials. On a few documentaries i remember vaguely them talking about how our bodies are preprogrammed so if we can stop this.. maybe we will live forever.?

What is most annoying about life though is the thought of anyone of us can die at any time from an accident, or by violence... or cancer... or something else... So all these years so far of hard work towards my own goals as an artist, has gone,... what if i dont reach that peak or goal because of some terrorist killing me.. or some desease... or a random heart attack.. and in turn.. its not like next life i can just hope back down here... and carry on or remember what i was doing...

On a lighter note... would be nice to live for oneday in Kylie Monogues body... heheh
I would givemyself a nice body rub all day.. .eat lots of chocolate.. and head to some huge party gang bang. LOL... (Kylie if you reading this... my appologies) :P

I just want to be able to live long enough to do the things that I would like to do. I want to be able to live my life to the fullest. Anything can happen, so as long as I had fun with the years I am given, I will pass happy.

Ditto Esoteric. Never ever want to be a burden in anyway to my family. Quality of life to me is HUGE!

How long do I want to live?

I'll do my time as it comes. And to tell you the truth, it really isn't my decision.

Frozen in time? Be careful what you wish for. You don't know what's waiting for you 50 or 100 years from now.

Maybe I'll be lucky and make it into my 80's. The last 3 generations of my lineage have died of various forms of cancer. All of them. Mostly in their 50's and 60's. The last was my mother 3 years ago. My father 2 years before. Now it is me and my two siblings left.

How long do I want to live? I'm living right now.

Want to live? I haven't lived in 10 years. How long do I want to stick with the dog and pony show? Not much, but dying's a bitch.

as long as i'm still rocking it. when i went canoeing this summer, we met a group of folks heading out...average age was probably mid 60s. if i reach that age and am still heading out in to the wilds...i'll be happy to keep on aging.

When the time comes that instead of putting on my chonies I put on a diaper.....and my hard-on has release valve.....just make it quick and painless please.

The day I become decrepid or senile, that's when I want to go...

i just want to live as long as i am able to move around and take care of myself. i don't want to become bed-ridden or anything similiar.

there is too much uneasyness in the worl and i'm afraid of another world war in the future. i don't want to live to see that.

I plan to live forever, and so far, so good.

Of course, that's only if the aging process can be slowed or something, or if I don't get a lot worse than I am when I'm 70 or so. Otherwise, 400 would be pretty good. Realistically, I'd like over 100. See at least the year 2100.

Reminds me of middle school, where my social studies teacher opened the class with "If the Devil came to you and said I'll let you live for ten million hours, or your regular life span, your choice" and then people try to figure out whether ten million hours is longer than a normal lifespan, and it turns out to be over a thousand years, "and by that time you're all... bleh. So the moral of the story is, DON'T MAKE DEALS WITH THE DEVIL"

I want to live to one second after I satisfy myself for my search of knowledge. Just one perfect second of life.

I would choose to be immortal. Knowing that I would live forever would allow the distance needed to accept the inevitablity of the passing of friends. I've moved around all my life, and had many great friends become only memories. Yet to see the way everything turns out would be amazing. Also knowing that you will won't die also allows you the comfort of knowing that you won't one day be 80 and regret yourlife you can no longer change with each passing moment.

I want to live as long as I am pain free, and somebody loves me. Unfortunately people outlive there usefullness , even in their own families. Some of my cousins never brought their children to visit their great grandmother, even though she was quite sane and mobile right up until she had the stroke that killed her.
Can you imagine family occassions, where dinner includes great great great great grandparents. No neither can I ?

Well it would get to a point where everyone would just need to stop breeding.

I want to live to be 75 at this point with that number possibly moving 5 years ahead for every decade I get closer to that age.

Until the only thing I'm useful for is fertilizer.

Until I die.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

I want to live until I die.

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'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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

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

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.