Posted in 2006, NaNoWriMo, Writing

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6 responses to “Live forever, a novel by Kathleen Bright for NaNoWriMo (work in progress)”

1. on 06 Nov 2006 at 1:25am   Soulfull

   HI Kathleen,
   First time here, but I'm also participating in the NaNoWriMo! I've had a slow start, but hey we both made the first step… we started! :) I missed out on the NaBloPoMo as well, but dang it, I will be there next year!

2. on 06 Nov 2006 at 1:29am   Robert

   I've been thinking about how you would exist if you were immortal. I'm guessing that even through massive advances in medical science, the human body can only last so long before it breaks down. Will we be able to grow our own replacement body, purchase one online, or simply have a mechanical exoskeleton to live in. In fact, with our increasing reliance of being interconnected, could we happily survive without any physical being beyond a brain.

   I do wonder if you would drive yourself mad if your life no longer had a beginning, middle and an eventual end. Of course, as the years, decades, centuries progress, the probability of something happening which would end your life increases.

3. on 06 Nov 2006 at 2:09am   Kathleen

   Soulfull, thank you for commenting! Excellent to have a fellow NaNo writer on board.

   Have been reading your blogs, I love your writing style – very engaging.

   Do you know what you're writing about yet? Want to share or is it a secret? Either way is fine, I've been on both sides of that debate.

   Oh, and how did you find my blog?

   Kx

4. on 06 Nov 2006 at 2:09am   Kathleen

   Robert, I've been reading a lot about living forever, for all of, ooh, four hours?! Lots of interesting stuff out there, some of it in respectable media, even! Just Google 'live forever' and you'll get to it too.

   I hadn't considered replacing the human body. (All the articles I read spoke about repairing the body, although one did include tiny robots – nanobots – which would repair cells from *within* the body!).

   Will have to think about that more. Definitely be including it in the story. Thanks a lot for your thoughts; very helpful.

   Oh, and one of the articles I read raised the thought about the risk of something happening increasing as you live longer, definitely one to consider. Cheers!

   Kx

5. on 06 Nov 2006 at 2:20am   IanW

   One of the things I've often thought of, if I were going to live forever (and I do plan to), is that I could afford to spend several lifetimes learning all the skills I'd need; I'd start off with languages, learning every language currently spoken around the world, and progress through medicine, various sciences, and more practical things like engineering, woodwork, farming, and so on.

   I'd also have to be considerate of how I'd live in future; I'd want to start collecting items that may become valuable, so that I always have a stash of things to sell, although that wouldn't be useful until quite some time later.

   Interesting questions: how do you know you are immortal? And what does being immortal mean?

   As Robert implied, the state of being immortal is not necessarily the same as being *unable* to die; does it mean that you can only die if someone shoots you through the heart, for instance; or can you die from a disease like the Black Plague? So would you only know you were immortal when you kept on aging and just had been lucky enough not to offend anyone or catch something?

   Does being immortal mean that you cannot die by any means, in which case, what happens if you have your head cut off; with no oxygen going to your brain, would it die as a normal, mortal brain would? if not, how is it functioning? Or does immortal mean impervious to harm, like Superman, who physically cannot be cut, shot, or whatever?

   Anyway, I'll stop there for now :-)

   I think you've chosen a wonderful topic, and I desperately want you to write this so that I can read it!

   Ian

6. on 11 Nov 2006 at 10:59pm   IanW

   Another thing I've been thinking about, is related to the long term effects of an immortal being on the society in which they live.

   There is, in sci-fi stories, a classic theory that "scientists" will naturally want to capture such a being and examine it in detail, against the immortal's wishes.

   Well, if the scientists were not able to do anything to harm the immortal, and promised that after a period of time they would them alone, what if the immortal was happy to comply? Would it be so terrible to give up fifty years of an immortal existence so that you could be more fully understood? What would be gained from such an examination?

   If an immortal was actually immune to disease, then it seems possible to me that they could actually become the progenitor of a range of anti-viruses and other innoculations; if the antibody or the genetic component were isolated that meant that, for example, cancerous cells were replaced by healthy cells, then cancer would cease to be an effective threat.

   Would that mean that one immortal could potentially lead to the entire population becoming immortal?

   Ian

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