The Girl Who Does Not Age
 

I just saw this on the news.

Check out the story: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/St...7880954&page=1 and tell me what you think. (Who knows if she's immortal or not? But she certainly isn't growing.. )

What would you do if you were immortal? What would be the pros and cons?

--I remember reading Tuck Everlasting in fourth grade, and the teacher asked us why the Tucks weren't truly happy about being immortal.

She looked at all of the students, until she called on me.

It's weird, but my brain began working and thinking in a way it never had, and the first thing I blurted out was, "There's no point to living forever."

Now I'm not so sure.. :P Being immortal would be so awesome, right??

Pros: You'd live forever... Thats about it really

Cons: All of your loved ones would die around you till life became pointless to you.

There is no point to living forever. Unless you need more than one lifetime to acomplish a goal of yours.

Really, those who believe in the afterlife would rather die than live forever. It really just depends on how you look at it, and how you think.

It seems pretty bizarre if you ask me.

The story about the girl? Or immortality?

Personally, I think it must be sad for the parents to see their daughter like that. I mean, that's the point of being a parent isn't it? Seeing your children progress through life, changing, and growing.

There's no way she's immortal o_O'
There has to be some sort of growth if she managed to have an intellect of a toddler.
That poor girl.

A bit on a tangent but here's an interesting bit of info: The reason why humans age is because the DNA in out cells start to break down over time and cannot reproduce. The reason why they break down is because they react with oxygen and oxydize (sp?). So one of the ways to stop the cells from breaking down, and consequently live forever, is to avoid contact with oxygen- that is, to not breathe. = D What irony, heh?

Back on topic, however, I would like to be immortal. Sure it will be sad when all my loved ones pass away, but this can happen even if you are not immortal. And people do get over the sadness. I think it will be plenty interesting to observe the world change and explore all the things that I can't do in one lifetime

I'm actually terrified by the though of death, that's why = /

I'd love to be immortal actually.
I'd love to look and see and watch how the world changes..
and see if there would be a global warming.. or an
apocalypse.. It'd be an interesting journey.

Pros: Living forever immortally.
Stabbing yourself and not dying. :DD
Falling from buildings and not dying. Cooolz. Lol.

Cons: You'll never be with your loved one's the whole way.
You'll never be able to see what death is like.
You'll never see heaven or hell.

I think the only con is living to see the end of the world. I wouldn't want to live forever, but, more like, have the ability to live for at least 200 yrs.

I wouldn't mind living forever, but I would like the choice of being able to choose when I want to die when I've had enough. I certainly wouldn't want to live forever, like, even when acolapsye arrives and the entire earth is destroyed and I'll still be floating around somewhere in space, unable to die. That would be just too much >_>;

/sign

Very well said.

I only want to be immortal if my beloved ones are immortal too...but believing in afterlife is a nice believe :3

I think if anyone were immortal they would be the richest person in the world, who pretty much owns every thing and has more control than leaders of other countries.

I pity her.

I wouldn't want to live forever. I mean, you see your loved ones pass away. Like Tolkien's Elves you see the world grow older and older and you gradually become more and more tired, but cannot die. I guess being immortal is fun only for the first 100-150 years. Then it becomes awful. And damn lonely.

I think that she doesn't age physically, but on the inside she must be getting older.

I felt bad though, it just struck a nerve.

pros: you could outlive everyone, and actually see the future, see what's going to happen, and new tech. getting hurt, falling wont hurt you

cons: you're going to be alone, anyone that you love or have ever love is going to die...you can't truly be happy.

They mentioned that it may be a rare genetic mutation. That has to be heartbreaking, though...
To see your own child in a stroller while other girls her age are driving the mall. It also has to be a major financial burden on the parents. Well, at least her genes may help others who don't have the chance to live a full life.

Who waaa~nts to liii~ve foreveee~r? *turns up the volume* ;)

Well, I know I wouldn't want to. Age a bit slower than the rest of us? Sure, I think all those dreams I would like to see come to life would actually need me to live for a century or two. But after that, what's left? Lots of problems:

1. Just as others have mentioned above, there's the fact that you will loose a whole lot of beloved people over time. Imagine a lover growing old in front of your eyes - or, even worse, watching your own children die of old age.
2. How many old (60+) people do you know who can handle computers, MP3 players, cellphones or the like? Technology is developing at a frightening speed, and one day you'll simply no longer be able to adapt to all those new things that others are growing up with.
3. People get tired of living, some earlier, some later. But eventually you would grow tired, too - and then you'd wish for a nice and quiet death.
4. And even if you did not grow tired, surely your brain would after a while. Can you imagine dealing with a millennium of memories? If that's no reason for getting crazy, what is?

By the way, I'm not sure whether there's really a reason to pity that girl. If her brain capacity is still that of a toddler, she's not yet able to even realise that she's "different", and in that case (to herself) she's probably just a 3-year-old enjoying her life.

Her sisters already said that they don't feel any different than other people with a "little" sister, and as for her parents - well, if I knew my daughter was able to live a happy life, I wouldn't feel bad about her not aging. As long as she's otherwise healthy?
(And I'm not sure she's sick - people with a disturbance of growth always tend to look a bit off the norm, simply because their bodies don't develop normally.)

no ignorance is bliss

About the article i think is sad, and personally i wouldn't like to look like that. Poor girl i hope things get better. I wouldn't like to live forever mabe some more time to explore things and see how the world will change, and to do some things people can do just in a life. But personally if i had the oportunity i think i will say no, but it depends. Also if i were inmortal i will like to choose the age i want to look like. =) And i will like better if the people that i love live forever too, but that's too much, thought.

The article is absolutely heartbreaking to say the least.
I may not have many maternal instincts, but I don't think I would be able to stand it if my nephew or niece didn't grow up and only stayed the age they were at.

About immortality, however...if I kept my youthfulness, I definitely wouldn't mind. :P And having a friend or two to be immortal with me would be positively great as well. :]

Hey, I remember Tuck Everlasting! That was a good book. But no, there really isn't a point to living forever. I mean, your family and friends will die, and even if you keep making new ones, they'll all still die. Plus, once you're immortal, you've done everything there is to do. There would be nothing left but boredom and loneliness. :(

I was watching this show the other day with my mom. As for being immortal, that would suck pretty hard. Can you imagine how fucked up your psychology would be and how much you would have to be willing to change. I suppose that would be the assumption that you were still human and not a god/goddess/superior being.

For instance, what if it was the instance of Tuck everlasting where they stopped aging at 19? Chances are you couldn't hide immortality from the government, or you'd be running forever(which would make it even worse) and if that was the case, there's a good chance you'd be drafted for every war that had a draft. Can you imagine having to participate in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and so on?

Or what about adopting to society? Seniors have to deal with such a dramatic societal change from when they grew up, but can you imagine if you were 200 or 300 or even older how hard it would be to deal with societal changes?

After so long you would not want to live, you would not want to adapt and you would not want to even try to socialize being afraid of making a connection and then you outliving them because its inevitable you would.