That always struck me as BS, like lying to kids about your flavor afterlife. I understand it's nice for coping & all, but none of the people saying it would choose to die if they could live forever.
So what? Few heroin addicts would reject a dose of heroin, but that doesn't prevent them from rationally knowing that it's not doing them any good. Arguably, our attitude toward life is like that of an addict.
I also think it's BS, FWIW, but not for the reason you mentioned.
That brings up an interesting question: if immortality were possible, would people choose to die, and what would their motivations be? It seems that curiosity about the afterlife would be a primary factor. Then there is the question: would this curiosity mount over time, to the point that everyone succumbed to it? I don't think anyone can answer this question. Peoples' religious views might change over the centuries-- I know mine have, over mere decades-- and it might be that nearly everyone comes to believe in a better life after death at some point, and chooses to die.
That I don't worry about as much. By the time we've figured out immortality, we should have cures for fatigue and neurological illnesses such as depression, which can be treated as small subproblems of mortality. Whereas curiosity will have to still exist in order for us to develop and maintain the technological infrastructure.
Yes, and if we were immortal, suicide would probably be a lot less common. Suicide is a lot more common in older people than in younger people, but the claim that this is driven by health problems is a misconception. Most older people who kill themselves are in good health, but suffering from depression-- the same illness that drives a lot of young people to off themselves. The difference is that the 65-year-old has about 15 years left of life, and the 20-year-old has several decades left, and so the younger person is losing more. If we were immortal, suicide rates would probably be very low, because one would be giving up an infinite amount of life, during which there would be more than enough time to work out one's problems.
