If Life is Meaningless Anyway, then What's Wrong with Religion?

[LadyForCamus]

So, you're saying if we could eliminate the inevitability of old age and breakdown, everyone would want to live forever?  Hmm.  Maybe.  I'm still not sure that is a reasonable assumption to make though.  How would anyone know they'd still enjoy living beyond, say, 600 years if no one has ever actually made it that far?  I can sit here right now and say if I were to remain 33 and healthy I'd be thrilled to live for eternity, but how do I know I wouldn't change my mind some 200 years down the line?  

No, if you could eliminate the solvable problem of old-age related breakdown, yes, people wouldn't "tire" of living. They might still want to end their lives, but it would be for other reasons than so-called "tiredness". Do you hear many young healthy folks saying they're done with life, they've lived enough and it's time for them to go now? Why is it that you don't, do you think? Take whatever reason you might come up with to explain that and ask yourself if you think it's unlikely or even impossible that we won't overcome it in the future.

You don't, but neither do you know that you will. If we are to allow for the simple fact that we just don't know what the future might bring or what that particular situation might look like, yet, then both positions expressed here so far are just as invalid. Namely, we don't know either way. We can make assumptions, though. That's what I've been doing, same as all the rest of you who disagree with me at the moment.

I'm not trying to argue with you, EP. I am actually seriously considering your assumption. Did I not make that obvious? I think it's very likely that if we could "solve" the problem of old age and disease a great many more people would be happy to live on forever. I would put myself in that category in fact. The idea of ceasing to exist someday horrifies and terrorizes me on a regular basis. But, I'm not operating on any assumptions, to be clear. All I'm saying is that generalizations about feelings and motives like, 'no one ever feels' or 'no one ever wants', are meaningless unless you have some amazing ability to live the entire life of every human who has ever, or will ever be born.