[sapphireblue]

>Everyone talks about extending life and eventually becoming immortal, yet no one asks what happens when we are immortal.

I see the opposite picture when these discussions pop up: everybody tries to find a downside in increased lifespan, be it personal or social. It looks like a pretty obvious defense of status-quo to me.

What is really-really sad and what really bothers me is that this attitude is so prevalent in the modern West, when the West is the only society on planet Earth that has knowledge and resources to make some version of life extension happen. Other parts of the world are de-facto firmly in the survival mode.

[Ericson2314]

The societal problems this would exacerbate are already very hard to fix. It's not that the status quo is good, but immortality is solving a non-problem that may make the real problems intractable.

[tim333]

I think a lot of it is rationalization. People figure they are going to die and so the brain comes up with reasons to rationalize why it should be so - extended life must suck and so on. I find it a little sad too but I think attitudes will change if it becomes real.