anyway, how many of you know a thing or two about imortals?
being one myself (in a sence that there are 3 types left)i have been banished from the rest of my kind and most of my memory wiped. (sounds like a story, but the glimpses of my last life are quite destirbing)

i have read many scifi books with imortals and other long lifed people but they dont seem like the ones i am fremiler with,

sorry i got to cut this short i gtg time on computer is up.

Poul Anderson might be able to help you. His "Boat of a Million Years" was a good read, I thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years

Also, Heinlein had long-lived people in "Time Enough for Love" and Blish had them in "Cities in Flight"--but you said you'd read scfi books with immortals and, being immortal, you've read everything anyhow and you know that ... so I can't be much help, really, sorry.

Do you have Doctor Who's phone number?

Of course if you meant to say "immorals" I might be able to help you there ...

quote:

---

Do you have Doctor Who's phone number?

---

quote:

---

i think i buchered trying to spell that, i dont have accsee to a dictonary or word prosser.

---

I know the theory of immortality, as in how we could all be immortal scientifically, but nothing about what it's like to be immortal. I suspect it would get boring after a while. But then, I have problems entertaining myself.

Tolkien and his elves might have a bit to say about immortality. As well as some of literature's greats. And then, of course, there's that famous Clifton Fadiman quote:"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains, cheese, milk's leap toward immortality."

quote:

---

I suspect it would get boring after a while. But then, I have problems entertaining myself.

---

Oh annepin, I'm sure you have more imagination than that. Why, you could spend one lifetime being a writer, another as a sculptor, one as a wife and another as a single person, another in England and another in Japan, then be a train driver or an airline pilot, a doctor or a plumber, a climate change expert, steam monkey, environmentalist ... the possibilities are endless.

Me, I'm a geek in this life but in others could be, oh, I dunno, a musician, fashion consultant, handbag designer, tatooist, secret agent, writer, published writer, rich and famous published writer ...

quote:

---

when I speak of man, I speak of man embracing woman.

---

there are 3 types.

immortals who were born immortal and will stay immortal.

immortals who became immortal by the immortals but can loose there immortality.

the 3rd is like the 2nd but they grow old, die then become reborn in a body exactly the same as their last then by 10, years their memories return from their last lives.

i fall into the 3rd type but my memory has been wiped so i only have a little of my memmories.

there are werewolves, vampires, reguler people, and the "undead"
undead are not zombies but were people who died then resorected and reguvinated to full health, they fall into the 3rd type.

the comment of the elves from LORD OF THE RINGS, b rings a thought that i have frogoten to ask but is GANDOF (i think i spelled that wrong) immortal? he died once if i reamber right but is he immortal?

also i dont have a "real" shrink who knows i am immortal or would have any way too help, as a commet stated.

So maybe it's a good thing you lost those memories, neh?

Yes, absolutely. Was it in Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love" that long-lived characters periodically went through a procedure to remove unwanted memories and keep themselves fresh?

I think there's more of a recent consideration of 'immortal' being a entity 'outside of time' more than a long-lived creature of the world. Goodbye Methusala and hello Q continuum. Heh, Doctor Who has always had a time stamp--supposed to be so many regenerations. Phone number: Unfortuantly Martha always uses her speed-dial. (:
I soured on immortals after being a die-hard Highlander (movie) nut and got really sick of it in the vampire crazes of the last years.

Immortal could be like gods, who exist almost forever, depending on the type of god. Basically something that a "mortal" cannot harm.

Immortal could be someone who in invulnerable, but otherwise human. They will survive swords, arrows, and disease, but might not survive a hellfire missle or silver bullet.

then you have those who simply are invulnerable to whatever ages or ills the normal person. As long as they avoid accident or killing, they will live forever. (there was a series about a guy who was immortal and the evil people were trying to get hold of him to make use of)

To the normal mortal, someone who lives two or three hundred years will be thought of as immortal.

The last two tend to be my favorite. If you can avoid being killed, you can live forever, possibly showing no signs of aging beyond the thirties.
The person would likely have to be really good at fighting, be aware of the world around them to avoid ambush, and be careful on checking equipment to avoid accident.
In a story, his continued existance is strictly dependant on his knowledge, experiance and skill.

On the other hand, if they cannot be killed, the only real story is on their losing their friends, their belongings, their family. Victory against the enemy would be empty, not having much to live for other than to try to find a place to disappear and live as an unknown (cannot remember how to spell the correct word, anonimity?).

i thought i said there are 3 types. i fall into the 3rd. i am born, live grow old die then am reborn in a body idintical to the last and (unless your memory has not been wiped) the memories of your past lives return around age 10.

" He pretty much went nuts because all he ever saw was history repeating itself, and decided the human race doesn't deserve to live."

another reason i am found crazy.