NationStates Jolt Archive

Human beings have only been on the Earth a few thousand years and that's nothing compared to other organisms. Currently the Earth is not in it's normal operating status because of human population and resource consumption. Which brings up another question, what is normality? Logically normality is in fact non-existence. Before there was matter in the universe there was nothingness.

Death in my opinion exists because the universe is very much like a giant immune system which is continually trying to restore it's normal condition, which is why it is much easier to destroy something than it is to create, and all things must come to an end. What does everybody else think?

i think death exists because god knew the only job i would exceed at was being an embalmer. really. it was, and is, and will continue to be, all about me.
:D

I'm glad we die. I don't want to live in a world full of sadness, desperation, fear treachery, and war forever. Death is good and I'm glad it exists.

Cause God is a dick.

God can't be a dick. He doesn't exist.

God can't be a dick. He doesn't exist.

Yeah. Like that argument makes any sense. I'd counter that the willful assholery of the universe at large is solid proof that there is a God and that he is in fact a giant penis.

See, e.g., the fact that God eventually pisses out everyone's campfire by killing them. What a buzzkilling douche.

Why does there have to be a reason for death. It just is. Learn not to live with it.

If you think that there has to be a reason for everything, then I leave it to you to think of one.

Yeah. Like that argument makes any sense. I'd counter that the willful assholery of the universe at large is solid proof that there is a God and that he is in fact a giant penis.

See, e.g., the fact that God eventually pisses out everyone's campfire by killing them. What a buzzkilling douche.

I'm agnostic. I wouldn't say God is a dick...I'd say he's a powerhungry person that helps us out.

Scientific answer or Theological answer?

Scientific- As our body grows it also ages, eventually it slows down the process of things it used to do, or even stops doing it completely. The body basically shuts down its system, as the cells are too old to do anything anymore, then whence the brain shuts down, we are declared dead.

Theological- It depends on the religion, but basically we are given a limited time on the world, and we are to use it to better ourselves and spread happiness on the mortal realm, until you reach the final plane. Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, Valhalla whatever.

Human beings have only been on the Earth a few thousand years and that's nothing compared to other organisms. Currently the Earth is not in it's normal operating status because of human population and resource consumption. Which brings up another question, what is normality? Logically normality is in fact non-existence. Before there was matter in the universe there was nothingness.

Death in my opinion exists because the universe is very much like a giant immune system which is continually trying to restore it's normal condition, which is why it is much easier to destroy something than it is to create, and all things must come to an end. What does everybody else think?

Because Nothing lasts Forever.

And we are finite creatures, made of finite pieces.

Eventually, we just stop working.

Nothing special.

Nothing spectacular.

Nothing exciting.

We just... stop.

Because Nothing lasts Forever.

And we are finite creatures, made of finite pieces.

Eventually, we just stop working.

Nothing special.

Nothing spectacular.

Nothing exciting.

We just... stop.
That's cool.

To flush out the old, and make room for the new.

So that evolution can work.

God can't be a dick. He doesn't exist.


Should "we" check to see what Descartes says about God's dick?

Who's Descartes?

Should "we" check to see what Descartes says about God's dick?
Do you want to go down that route or do want to go here? (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=403500)

Who's Descartes?
A french philosopher who disliked getting out of bed before 11:00 and enjoyed meditating inside a stove by some accounts.

Also had some interesting views on God.

Down that route.

Because it's a great opportunity to shuck this crappy flesh sleeve we call a body and get all hoo-ah as omnipotent god children.

It's bad enough with increased average life length, if no one died the world would be full of really old people. Think of the implications...

in theory, living beings with cells could just keep replacing the dying cells with new ones and so we would live forever, its one of the many questions that plagues scientists, and we may never now, its like why do we age and start to loose functions, we shouldnt but we do.

Human beings have only been on the Earth a few thousand years and that's nothing compared to other organisms. Currently the Earth is not in it's normal operating status because of human population and resource consumption. Which brings up another question, what is normality? Logically normality is in fact non-existence. Before there was matter in the universe there was nothingness.

Death in my opinion exists because the universe is very much like a giant immune system which is continually trying to restore it's normal condition, which is why it is much easier to destroy something than it is to create, and all things must come to an end. What does everybody else think?
Less philosophy, more biology. You're looking too deep into this.

I'm glad we die. I don't want to live in a world full of sadness, desperation, fear treachery, and war forever. Death is good and I'm glad it exists.

I agree with you. To live forever would be complete torment. As we get older our bodies become more useless. Our minds fade along with our looks and the next thing you know, as we shrink due to our bones breaking down we end up looking and talking like Yoda. Talk about adding injury to insult. Death is good and I'm glad it exists.

I agree with you. To live forever would be complete torment. As we get older our bodies become more useless. Our minds fade along with our looks and the next thing you know, as we shrink due to our bones breaking down we end up looking and talking like Yoda. Talk about adding injury to insult. Death is good and I'm glad it exists.
Yay. Like-minded people.

Are we talking death by 'aging', or death and in and of itself?

Why is death nice? If I start gutting you and intend to eat you, you do NOT want to be alive.

in theory, living beings with cells could just keep replacing the dying cells with new ones and so we would live forever, its one of the many questions that plagues scientists, and we may never now, its like why do we age and start to loose functions, we shouldnt but we do.
No, not really. It is not biologically feasible to sustain a single organism like that. First of all, parasites (including diseases), predators, and accidents all kill off so many members of a species. To just rely on keeping any organism alive forever would kill off a species pretty damn fast. Also, it requires increasing energy and effort to keep an organism alive as time goes on. It may plague theologians and philosphers, but the idea of death is not troubling at all to biologists.

Are we talking death by 'aging', or death and in and of itself?

Why is death nice? If I start gutting you and intend to eat you, you do NOT want to be alive.
That's why death is good.

in theory, living beings with cells could just keep replacing the dying cells with new ones and so we would live forever, its one of the many questions that plagues scientists, and we may never now, its like why do we age and start to loose functions, we shouldnt but we do.

Take a photocopy.

Copy that photocopy.

Copy THAT photocopy.

Continue for a week, copying copies, at the rate of.. say.. one a minute.

Then - look at the copy you have a week later.

That is why we don't last forever.

It's called entropy.
Time's Arrow.

or, the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Natural laws are a real bitch.

Do you want to go down that route or do want to go here? (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=403500)


I thought it was an intriguing question............

Cheese is yellow! (Also orange, white, and green.)


I don't plan on dying any time soon, so...Well I wonder what it is like to actually die...what happens?

Take a photocopy.

Copy that photocopy.

Copy THAT photocopy.

Continue for a week, copying copies, at the rate of.. say.. one a minute.

Then - look at the copy you have a week later.

That is why we don't last forever.
I was also going to address that. Damn. The whole somatic DNA replication thing.

It's called entropy.
Time's Arrow.

or, the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Natural laws are a real bitch.
The second law of thermodynamics is most certainly not why we die, thankee kindly.

Because if death didn't exist, life would be too easy.

Because if death didn't exist, life would be too easy.
You really think so?

I certainly don't.

Human beings have only been on the Earth a few thousand years and that's nothing compared to other organisms. Currently the Earth is not in it's normal operating status because of human population and resource consumption. Which brings up another question, what is normality? Logically normality is in fact non-existence. Before there was matter in the universe there was nothingness.

Death in my opinion exists because the universe is very much like a giant immune system which is continually trying to restore it's normal condition, which is why it is much easier to destroy something than it is to create, and all things must come to an end. What does everybody else think?


Death is the result of willful seperation from the source of life through sin. At least the second death is. The first has a combination of causal factors.

Death exists because if people lived forever, we would not have the need to procreate, and the amount of knolwege we gain from the thousands of years we've been here, would destroy us all. Think about it, what would it be like if Hitler could never die? We can't imprison him forever. And if no one died, we would run out of room so quickly (if we could procreate) that we would eventully have to leave the planet and completey take over new planets...this makes me sad...

Death exists because if people lived forever, we would not have the need to procreate, and the amount of knolwege we gain from the thousands of years we've been here, would destroy us all. Think about it, what would it be like if Hitler could never die? We can't imprison him forever. And if no one died, we would run out of room so quickly (if we could procreate) that we would eventully have to leave the planet and completey take over new planets...this makes me sad...
Its a possibility.

Its a possibility.
In the sense that anything is possible. Not in the sense that it has any semblance of verity.

In the sense that anything is possible. Not in the sense that it has any semblance of verity.
Yes, in s sense tht anything's possible.

The real question is not why death exists, but is instead why does life exist?

Let's go to the root of the question here, people.

Without life, death wouldn't exist.

If nothing ever dies, nothing ever is born either. One cannot exist without the other. One balances out the other.

So the real question is:

Why does life exist?

(And don't say God made it so. Because if God is truly living(existing), then God WILL die sometime. Which brings me to another question. Where did God come from? I'll sit back and watch the show.)

Death exists because organic organisms aren't perfect. Cells start to malfunction, and the whole thing breaks down after a while. But, thats death from old age...

You'd think it'd be obvious why people die when you shoot them or something.

(And don't say God made it so. Because if God is truly living(existing), then God WILL die sometime. Which brings me to another question. Where did God come from? I'll sit back and watch the show.)
That has always bothered me. How could there have been something forever. Everythng has to have a begining. If God existed he had to have been made, and the ting that made him had to be made etc

Death exists because organic organisms aren't perfect. Cells start to malfunction, and the whole thing breaks down after a while.
As opposed to inorganic organisms, I take it? With all those silicon-based life forms out there...

Sorry, just had to say that. And that's not really why. But, eh. Close enough, I guess...

Because without death, there would be crowds and crowds and crowds of animals on Earth...

we are made of matter, and by definition are destructible. the very process of respiration which keeps us alive is what eventually kill s us, as it produces highly reactive free-radicals, damaging genetic material in out cells, leading to faults in their functioning and their ability to multiply. in a way, life is a disease. and one with a 100% mortality rate at that.

Human beings have only been on the Earth a few thousand years and that's nothing compared to other organisms. Currently the Earth is not in it's normal operating status because of human population and resource consumption. Which brings up another question, what is normality? Logically normality is in fact non-existence. Before there was matter in the universe there was nothingness.

Death in my opinion exists because the universe is very much like a giant immune system which is continually trying to restore it's normal condition, which is why it is much easier to destroy something than it is to create, and all things must come to an end. What does everybody else think?

Getting away from the philosophical to the biological, the reason death exists is that there is no adaptive advantage to having immortal organisms. It's actaully a liability. Without death there'd be a massive population of adults in the population thereby competing directly with offspring which would eventually bring adaptation and reproduction to a standstill leaving such species prime targets for extinction through natural cataclysms.

That has always bothered me. How could there have been something forever. Everythng has to have a begining. If God existed he had to have been made, and the ting that made him had to be made etc

Though not a believer of god myself, I have to comment on the 'everything has to have a beginning'. Personally, I feel it is entirely plausible that something can be infinite. But this means it always existed and will always exist, which is an extremely difficult thing to understand, since as humans, we are finite beings. Even if a person somehow managed to 'live forever' they wouldn't understand the infinite, because they had a beginning (and some part of them would probably keep expecting to end).

Er... or something.