Discussion Would You Rather Reboot/Restart after death or Shut Down forever?

[newave3]

I want eternal darkness. Stephen Hawking said,
“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

 

[Conker]

Rather be gone forever, evidently the world is an evil vampire until proven otherwise.

I don't care to be apart of the universe any longer. All it has inspired within me is hatred, disgust, depression and rage.

I heard that when person dies, it's soul takes 3 things with it: wisdom, experience and 3rd I forgot. Could be memory. But why these do not get carried over to next live is the question.

I want to shut down because why exist if you can not exist? Why wake up if you can sleep? Why bother soul from nothingness and force it to live?

"Alien Interview" by Lawrence Spencer, explains how the Airs of Amnesia got installed onto Earth.

 

[Helpneedtips]

Shut down forever, living again feels tiring. Maybe I'll change my mind if I'm a billionaire and there's assurance that life will be good to me, but idk. Sometimes living itself feels like a struggle, even if my life may seem 'good' to the POV if others.

 

[ARW3N]

I would definitely want to shut down forever. It’s important to point out that reincarnation and karma in traditional Eastern religions is perceived in the negative as something we need to escape from. New Agers have repackaged it as something positive which it never was.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Shutdown forever, it’s peaceful thinking about never being able to .. think again..? I can’t quite wrap my mind around that concept, but I’ve had my fill of life. No more please.

 

[ihavetoleave]

I would restart .
Turn this thread into a poll .

Thanks, yeah I started this thread as a poll at first and then changed as I thought a discussion would be better and more of a conversation about what would happen. I don't know if I can turn this into a poll at this point after most people have weighed in, not sure how it works to change it to a poll this far in.

 

[Jean Améry]

I don't think what I would want is relevant to what will actually happen. That being said I'd opt for non-existence (which is the most likely outcome anyway): to live is to suffer and inevitably die so I really don't see the point. Similar to Buddhism and other eastern religions which see non-existence (the breaking of the wheel of desire and rebirth) as the ultimate goal although I doubt we'll actually be reborn so at death we are in effect 'liberated' instantly.

What 'wisdom' is there to accumulate really? It could just be me but it seems that the greatest wisdom we can acquire on this earth is the conviction it would have been better if we never had been born since life is a fruitless, useless exercise in futility ending in death.

 

[greebo6]

Shut down forever. No contest.

 

[Incorrigible77777]

shut down forever.

 

[shadowchaser]

Shut down forever. Perhaps the cowardly choice, but then again that may be simply what my mind tells me. Besides, who knows if I will be able to see beauty the way I do upon restarting? Because despite everything I still do think the world is beautiful.

 

[Void-Hearted Echo]

I'll restart but if it isn't an option I will happily take the shutdown option

 

[TSCursor]

restart, or maybe turn back time

 

[neitherherenorthere]

It's not like I'll know, there's not much difference between shutting down to nothing and restarting without memories, either way you cease to exist as you are now.

Exactly this! If you don't *know* that you've restarted, then the fact that you got a reboot rather than nonexistence is irrelevant. Makes me think about Prey where Morgan essentially comes out of each test a different person. It also reminds me of "The Egg."

 

[Manford]

There are no reboots. We have this one life, we die, the end.

 

[Spiny Lobster]

I want to get the fictional character treatment—have a complete makeover in the Sims character maker and everything.

As a writer, I tend to treat my characters with more love, care, and nurture than I ever would treat myself. I have the power to add to, subtract from, and otherwise improve my characters. If there's something unlikable about them, I can either change it or expand on it so the character can live and learn from their mistakes. My fictional characters are worthy of their story being told... and I wish I could feel the same way about myself.

But I can't... Unless I can restart.

 

[ihavetoleave]

I want to get the fictional character treatment—have a complete makeover in the Sims character maker and everything.

As a writer, I tend to treat my characters with more love, care, and nurture than I ever would treat myself. I have the power to add to, subtract from, and otherwise improve my characters. If there's something unlikable about them, I can either change it or expand on it so the character can live and learn from their mistakes. My fictional characters are worthy of their story being told... and I wish I could feel the same way about myself.

But I can't... Unless I can restart.

Thank you for the example. I wanted to restart due to similar reasons, I used to play the Sims quite a bit (3 and 4 but I prefer 3 for many reasons in regards to customization and I played thousands of hours literally) and this may be why I felt a restart/refresh would be ideal. I used to find joy in writing and I believe the Sims took over in this area for me. I wish I could live in a simulation and have control over all of these things.

 

[StopPlease]

Immediate expulsion

 

[VictoriaShadows]

Restart but not with this body.

 

[Symbiote]

 

[wannago]

I’d personally love to shut down forever. Simply the world just isn’t the one for me in its current state. I’ve had many chances to restart but things don’t go well for me which is a shame but yeah I’d totally shut down at a chance

 

[Promortalistic4Life]

As my name suggests, I am convinced that death (or rather, non-existence) is net-positive. So fuck no, I don't want to restart in this hellhole again only to relieve myself of my irrational mortal desires. But what if I could restart in a paradise? In a heaven-like state? I wouldn't care. Bc desires are sth us primitive mortals are cursed with, and when you don't exist, you don't even have desires to experience anything positive. To me, death is the only reasonable answer.

 

[Jean Améry]

As my name suggests, I am convinced that death (or rather, non-existence) is net-positive. So fuck no, I don't want to restart in this hellhole again only to relieve myself of my irrational mortal desires. But what if I could restart in a paradise? In a heaven-like state? I wouldn't care. Bc desires are sth us primitive mortals are cursed with, and when you don't exist, you don't even have desires to experience anything positive. To me, death is the only reasonable answer.

On the whole I agree with you (which does not imply I think everyone should just kill themselves as that's really not my call to make nor won't I). However I'm a little puzzeled by the statement that death would be 'net-positive'. Surely non-existence has no value at all be it positive or negative? If one evaluates life as essentially negative it makes sense to prefer non-existence (complete neutrality) to existence but I don't think it could be said that being dead is any way net-positive for the person (who technically is no longer a person but that's semantics) as there simply is no more experience to characterise as either positive or negative.

I do appreciate the irony in your nickname.

 

[Burzolog]

I'd like to go back to character creation and keep rolling attributes until I get, like, 90+ in total. And the ability to delete my character whenever I feel like it's time to move on.

 

[Promortalistic4Life]

On the whole I agree with you (which does not imply I think everyone should just kill themselves as that's really not my call to make nor won't I). However I'm a little puzzeled by the statement that death would be 'net-positive'. Surely non-existence has no value at all be it positive or negative? If one evaluates life as essentially negative it makes sense to prefer non-existence (complete neutrality) to existence but I don't think it could be said that being dead is any way net-positive for the person (who technically is no longer a person but that's semantics) as there simply is no more experience to characterise as either positive or negative.

I do appreciate the irony in your nickname.

Look up Benatar's Assymetry. It didn't necessarely enlighten me but it did contribute to my worldviews. CTB-ing is no longer a problem to me, but it seems that I have to keep living for my mom, and that bugs the fuck outta me.

 

[soggyweeetabix]

Knowing my luck, if I was rebooted I’d come back as me.
Shut down for me.

 

[Jean Améry]

Look up Benatar's Assymetry. It didn't necessarely enlighten me but it did contribute to my worldviews. CTB-ing is no longer a problem to me, but it seems that I have to keep living for my mom, and that bugs the fuck outta me.

I don't need to look it up as I have read his book Never to have been: The harm of coming into existence (2006). I don't find his assymetry convincing: he considers the absence of pain to be good and the absence of pleasure to be neutral ('not bad') while it's obvious both are neutral. That I don't have cancer (pain) doesn't change my existence for the better anymore than the absence of say sex with a beautiful woman (pleasure) harms me. Therefore they are both neutral.

Schopenhauer's pessimism is much more congruent with reality: since we are never free from desire (except maybe when we're unconscious) we are always in a state of pain/discomfort of some sort and pleasure is largely an illusion since it consists merely of quenching some kind of desire or want while the thirst/will itself can never be satisfied. All we can achieve in life is a state in which we don't suffer too much and our desires are fulfilled just often and rapidly enough not to despair (while not too quickly as to lead to boredom which is an evil of itself and a sure sign life is with substance) while we are all on our way to death making all striving ultimately futile.

As to staying because of your mother: I know the feeling. With me it's my great-aunt and my godson. I couldn't possible care less about the wellbeing of my parents as they simply do not deserve that courtesy.

 

[Pen>Sword]

Would You Rather Reboot/Restart after death or Shut Down forever? When you reach the end of your life, would you want the possibility of starting over anew or would you prefer to be nonexistent? Which do you think is likely to happen? Why do you feel this way?

For myself I want to restart. If we can restart we likely can't take any wisdom with us but I would still like to gamble on a better existence than what I have provided for myself in this life. Similar to how I would restart a game when I was younger to do better and be more pleased with the outcome.

Shut down. Life is too unpredictable.

I will only choose restart if I somehow reincarnate and possess all my life experience to avoid mistakes. Even then, I'm not brave enough like most of you choosing life/restart.

 

[ElegantlyWasted]

I’d like to restart but maybe not in the future since I only see it as getting worse from right now. There are some things about my life I would want to be different, but mostly I’d like to chose my birthdate to 15 to 25 years earlier so I don’t have to be a young adult in this current hellhole.

 

[Shades of Grey]

I'd want to shut down. Complete and total nothingness.

 

[mini_weeny]

Restart healthy, with the accumulated knowledge I have, with my cats and not to rich but not too poor. Ohhhh and living in the French Riviera.