(April 4, 2013 at 12:59 pm)Mononoke Wrote: Conquering aging might lead to some religions encouraging suicide, since they need to keep what happens after death a relevant concern somehow. With Abrahamic ones, this might be at 120 years of age, since I think that was mentioned in Genesis or somewhere as a limit God put on age, though of course the fact that other people would live beyond that age could be another argument against that god. There would still be deaths from natural causes, however -- to my knowledge, real Captain Jack Harknesses are a long way off or impossible -- so they would cling to that to give the threat of Hell and promise of Heaven.
Some religions could continue even if nobody could die, but I think that these are fewer and they would likely wither with time. Immortal followers means they can spend infinitely long (well, until the end of the universe, yadda yadda yadda) learning about the world and explanations for events, and since beliefs often change with time it is possible/likely that everyone would be an atheist at some point.
I am sorry, but I cannot get into this type of mere speculation, it is the type of thing that gets humans in trouble. Saying that we can extend life is true and to a great degree we will improve that. But there is no such thing as "forever", not even for atoms or planets or suns. This is nothing more than your own ego refusing to face a finite existence.
Deal with life the way it is, not the way you want it to be, and base any "speculation" on testing and peer review, not personal wishes. This is nothing more than "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts".
