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Comment by courtf | Hacker News Reader

> Physical and cultural evolution don't stop.

If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. This is basic. To the degree we evolve culturally, most of our culture comes to us in our eponymous "formative years." Leaving those behind tends to result in comparatively little change in culture over the remaining course of our lives.

> Selfish immaturity? It seems that you yourself is a reflection of culture.

I rest my case.

> One of our very first epic poems, the Epic of Gilgamesh basically railed against immortality and accepting one's fate.

This was not a call to try and live forever, this is a call to live boldly, take risks and not to fear death. Striving for immortality is the absolute opposite, the coward's response to the challenge made in the poem.

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That is not a law of physics or biology. People get heart implants, or even exercise and become stronger.

I rest my case.

Rest your case how? You didn't demonstrate that it is selfish and immature to desire to live, perhaps indefinitely.

I assure you that I do not make conscious decisions about whether I live a thousand years if I undertake a given activity. I am also pretty sure that I routinely undertaken relatively dangerous activities that would kill me.

I doubt most people who becomes immortal will become the sort of conscious decision makers deciding not to take risk lest they jeopardize their thousand years+ lifespan. That doesn't seem to jives with human nature.

> If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically.

you skipped some lessons in biology class; you're not doing any evolving over the course of _your_ life. regardless of how long or short it is.

Evolution, by definition, occurs over the course of generations. So angry and yet so wrong.

If a population lives forever, do you really think they'll continue having kids the entire time? Of course not.

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