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mazingerz88's avatar

If gaining immortality requires you to kill one mortal human being would you do it?

Asked by mazingerz88 (29260points) March 30th, 2019 from iPhone

Also would you know of any literary or cinematic work of fiction which tackled this scenario?

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22 Answers

zenvelo's avatar

Nope, not even close to being worth it. Why be immortal if you have to spend it in jail?

Immortality is no guarantee you are a buff 30 yr old forever. You might just be a cranky incontinent in bed for thousands of years.

flutherother's avatar

No, I wouldn’t. M R James wrote a short story “Lost Hearts” on this theme. There have also been TV adaptations.

ragingloli's avatar

That depends on what the magic behind that offer considers to be a human being.
I mean, if I earned a medical degree and then performed an abortion, would that count?

ragingloli's avatar

Also, it depends on the magic’s definition of death.
In the past, the definition of death was a stopped heart or stopped breathing.
So if I caused someone’s heart or breathing to stop, therefore “killing them”, and then revived them, would that still count?

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

People kill each other for less than $20 in the world. I wouldn’t.

janbb's avatar

I don’t want immortality so I wouldn’t even contemplate it.

Kropotkin's avatar

Sure. One could kill someone who arguably deserves death, or euthanise someone terminally ill.

Pinguidchance's avatar

That could be suicidal.

Dutchess_lll's avatar

No. Well maybe it would depend on who it is and how old I would be forever.

kritiper's avatar

It would depend on who I could kill. I know of two guys who are dead now that I could have killed. Easily!

seawulf575's avatar

Nah…I’d get too bored. And I would outlive all my friends and family and would have to replace them with new ones all the time. Too much headache. If I had to put up with an entitled millennial because that was all that was left, it would just be too much.

Zaku's avatar

Depends on all the rest of the details and background required to make the question intelligible. What kind of immortal? Does it come with other powers or authority or allegiances or enemies? What sort of person do I need to kill? How many other people are getting this deal? Who’s going to know about any of this? Why is this happening? Who is offering? Why do I believe them? What else is going on that my reality has changed such that this makes any sense? Et cetera…

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Can I kill myself to gain immortality in some strange causality loop?

josie's avatar

No
You kill somebody
You become immortal
You are convicted of murder
Capital punishment won’t work in your case
An entire new way of thinking about Life in prison

ragingloli's avatar

@josie
“You are convicted of murder”
Not if you are a colonial pig or a soldier.

josie's avatar

In that case I should be immortal

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