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IamAFlaw t1_j8uimbw wrote

I just love these deep fields.

I wonder how many aliens are looking back at me in awe as well.

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DausHMS t1_j8uk3hi wrote

Considering the distance, they are looking at a barren Earth and a young Solar System. They themselves would probably be long extinct by now.

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IamAFlaw t1_j8ulvh7 wrote

I'm talking about them in the past. The light that is reaching us now... Back then someone was looking up this way thinking wow.

I think there's eyes always looking from somewhere, at some point in time. It's just so many solar systems out there....

It just sucks I'll never get to see or know so much. We're so tiny and our time is so short.

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rotyag t1_j8uynr0 wrote

Your comment makes me wonder about something practical. If we did live eternally, how long would it be before we were dissatisfied with life in that we run out of interesting things. Could one live 500 years and remain interested in life on Earth? Totally off topic, but related to the scope of time.

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IamAFlaw t1_j8v3qfa wrote

Things change so fast I don't think you'll get bored. Life and technology and science is nothing like when I was a kid. Not that long ago we didn't have electricity.

If we are mentally able to keep adapting and learning I don't think I would get bored. Even our imagination of the future is way off.

If we keep fucking around with wars and greed killing our planet it may not be so fun.

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caseigl t1_j8wa3l2 wrote

I don't know about that. I'm pushing 50 years old and I'm tired. I'm very fortunate career wise and economically, but still the drum of unending responsibility marches on. There is already more to explore than I will ever possibly have time for. Things getting even faster sounds even more stressful.

We are trying to process endless news, 600 new TV shows and movies a year, and constant alerts on digital devices through a brain designed 250,000 years ago.

Even when things are generally enjoyable feeling like you are always behind and missing out is hard enough for 80 years let alone 500!

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TrekForce t1_j8x4l4e wrote

But if you had 500, think of all the TV shows you could catch up on! Lol.

On a more serious note, working until your 70 just to enjoy the last 10 years before you start getting frail, is kinda shitty. If we lived for 500 years, I could work till 80, and have enough retirement $$ to last the next 420 (heh). That would be like retiring at age 16 with a life span of 100. Imagine being able to retire at 16 and just enjoy the rest of your life to the fullest.

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AssignmentStrong2225 t1_j8zqem7 wrote

Dude whatever you are doing to make enough in the first 80 to retire for another 420, I want in!

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TOkidd t1_j8uz2ns wrote

You should read Borges’ ‘The Immortal.’ An amazing short story that seeks to answer this very question.

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