this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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I'll start off with one, Being upset about a breakup that happened hundreds of years ago.

Edit 1:

  • Heath death of the universe, Death of the sun, etc, does not count. I feel like focusing on this is an overused point.

Edit 2:

  • Loneliness does not count. I feel like we all know immortality means you'll miss people and lose them.
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Without getting into the heat death of the universe and all that, I can think of something that happens much, much sooner. I'm only middle aged and I already don't like where the world is going. Can you imagine being centuries, or eons past the era you identified with? Can you imagine how insufferable young people and old people alike would seem when you have centuries worth of life experience and wisdom? Can you imagine a horde of little edge lords on the internet confidently yet incorrectly telling you about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when you were there when it was signed?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Having to constantly find new hiding places for the blood chalice, and keeping up with all the latest scanning methods so you can develop countermeasures. Your secret is never truly safe.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

If other people are also immortal, the awkwardness of all of them eventually becoming your exes

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I don’t think you’d remember a break up from hundreds of years ago, let alone be upset about it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Vampires are always like this in stories. I feel like reality might be more like ergo proxy. Where what is a relationship that tastes 10 or 200 years compared to thousands?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago

Probably, but it depends on the person. I stopped caring about some relationships that ended after a year, but I'm still thinking about others decades later.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Idk id be super depressed if I was able to experience my family, friends, family's children, and so on die.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The Sun will eventually fry all life on Earth and boil off the water & atmosphere. Eventually the Sun will die out completely, leaving you on a cold, dark rock.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Once with no atmosphere and the sun going nova, there's a chance of the rock getting obliterated. With a nice boost you might fly off to another planet eventually. Might not be inhabited or even inhabitable, but hey.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

LoL investing and compounding! I literally have all the time in the world.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The eventual heat death of the universe would be painful

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

i think that experiencing all the things & people i care about would be the worst of it.

either that or seeing us repeat history over and over again as a society complete with all of the indifferent cruelties it entails and studying it, but ignoring it anyways

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'll say no one can truly know. Unless you are yourself immortal

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Boredom after some period of time, you will have some everything there is to do.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You get to pursue all of the really niche crafts. Things like clock making and random complicated stuff like that.

I don't think one could ever be bored with enough curiosity, and the means to pursue it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

That's really a valid point.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

One of my books features an immortal protagonist and I've as such thought about this quite a bit. More than the answers already provided here, what I found interesting as a writer was the balance I needed to find between making an immortal detached from mortal values while still being engaging to mortal readers.

Said as a pithy question, if you can outlive everyone's decisions and mistakes, what would it take to make you do anything at all?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Government Bureaucracy.

Renewing a driver's licence or passport. The individual looking at your application will see the date of birth and raise a red flag.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Getting imprisoned for thousands of years unable to get out.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

As we get older, our perception of time speeds up. An immortal would easily lose track of time after just two human lifetimes, causing an immortal to suffer from dementia-like symptoms where they expect one date but find themselves habitually late. And since time doesn't mean the same thing as us to an immortal, they would eventually become disconnected from the world around them and be unable to reintegrate. They wouldn't be able to maintain friendships, relationships, mortgages, payments, etc. They would be surrounded by people but forever alone.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Being eaten by sea anemones, tuna, sharks, swordfish, sea turtles, penguins, and other jellyfish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii#Predation

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Based on your question, you might dig the book β€œBoat of a Million Years.” The author put quite a bit of thought into just that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just depression in general. I don't want to live one lifetime, let alone never being able to die.

If you're immortal in a body that isn't broken then that might be a different story, but you'd still grow to love people only to have to lose them and go through that pain over and over.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Highlander does a good job at highlighting this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Everyone else in your life that isn't immoral (if you're the only one who is) dies eventually, so every time you make a friend or start a family, you do so knowing that you will have to watch them all die someday.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Not being able to kill yourself.

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