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Edited by Bolt: 8/20/2013 4:43:34 AM
20

If humans became immortal, would we eventually all think the same way?

Let's say humans find a way to become immortal. What effect would this have on our individuality? Consider: A huge part of what makes our personalities unique is the set of experiences we've each had. Even if we've each experienced something identically, the way we react to it will be dependent on other experiences, some of those undoubtedly being ones that not everyone has. While not all of our personality comes from our experiences (the way our individual brains are structured clearly plays a large part), if you think on it for a minute, you'll probably determine that the majority of what you feel makes you "you" are the things you've witnessed, and how you reacted to them. Now consider the hypothetical scenario. As humanity proceeds towards infinity, the number of experiences an individual has will grow proportionally. The amount of information available to each person will not only grow substantially, but the set of information possessed by each individual will become more similar. Ultimately, the experiences everyone has will become more similar as well. At the farthest end of this scenario (which would probably require us to find a way around the end of this universe) we may approach the point where every individual knows and has experienced virtually everything. The chronological differences of when individuals learned something would be miniscule compared to their overall lifespans as well, meaning the significance of those differences would also likely be small. And that's assuming we don't develop technology to link our minds together. Considering how lonely it can get being trapped in one's head, I'm sure some people will find this technology desirable at some point, thus combining all of human knowledge and experience into one entity. So I ask you this Flood (whose name is ironic in this scenario): if it would seem that the ultimate end of sentience is homogeneity, why is individuality valuable? Feel free to debate my thinking of why we reach that point as well, thus negating the question (or changing the way it's seen).

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  • I'd imagine it would still vary for a long time. The way we were raised and the order we experienced events would still come into play. Of course, eventually we'd all be insane babbling madmen, but that would take a pretty long time.

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