I'm working on writing a horror furry story on SoFurry, for Halloween! I'd like some ideas by hearing exactly what would be the scariest thing to happen to YOU in particular.

Going partially blind.

BlueDingo said:
Going partially blind.

That's a good one

https://www.usada.org/

only one thing scares me. helplessness

I suffer from occasional sleep paralysis. It's only bad whenever I'm in a deep state of it while dreaming. Red eyes floating, goblins, gargoyles, and all kinds of stuff mess with me sometimes. One night I "awoke" and a swarm of black birds came through the window and circulated in the ceiling.

The most frightening thing about it is, you're lying there helpless while all these things are occurring. You're asleep, but awake at the same time. And generally the things that attack, or taunt you, are still there when you fully awake.

MrKranberryJam69 said:
I suffer from occasional sleep paralysis. It's only bad whenever I'm in a deep state of it while dreaming. Red eyes floating, goblins, gargoyles, and all kinds of stuff mess with me sometimes. One night I "awoke" and a swarm of black birds came through the window and circulated in the ceiling.

The most frightening thing about it is, you're lying there helpless while all these things are occurring. You're asleep, but awake at the same time. And generally the things that attack, or taunt you, are still there when you fully awake.

Reminds me of my nightmare last night. I had this dream I was on the 8th floor of an abandoned building, and I was balancing around floors that were falling apart, while a bunch of shadowy men ran at me. I had to use a crowbar to clunk them all on the head and knock them down through the several breaking metal floors. Then a bunch of people with identifiable features started to float after me with these creepy smiles on their faces and then I couldn't do anything about that, because they were already dead. So I woke up terrified and started running around the house because I could still see them.

Lance_Armstrong said:
https://www.usada.org/

Lance_Armstrong said:
https://www.usada.org/

I'm extremely confused. Are you with or against steroids being used in competitions? Because either way, I'm indifferent.

Heteroxon said:
I'm extremely confused. Are you with or against steroids being used in competitions? Because either way, I'm indifferent.

you must be at least 18+ to use this site.

serious answer: Lance Armstrong was a professional bicyclist who was busted for drug abuse, and as a result had every one of his accolades stripped with his career dead overnight. the janitor's username is based off the real-world individual, who is understandably a little upset over the whole affair.

fewrahuxo said:
you must be at least 18+ to use this site.

serious answer: Lance Armstrong was a professional bicyclist who was busted for drug abuse, and as a result had every one of his accolades stripped with his career dead overnight. the janitor's username is based off the real-world individual, who is understandably a little upset over the whole affair.

(I'm 22 Years of age btw)
I never really got into sports, so I'm just not aware of that situation. I was just making the best guess I could. Sorry if I had offended anyone somehow... But yeah, I can see how lots of people losing their jobs overnight would pose as a problem.

I'm terrified of posts asking what my greatest fear is.

that my -1 favorites count will fix itself and strip me of the only individuality i have on this website.

fewrahuxo said:
that my -1 favorites count will fix itself and strip me of the only individuality i have on this website.

Oh. =O.o=

The thought of dying alone.

Grevus said:
The thought of dying alone.

never understood that even a little. canines leave their family when critically wounded to die alone. i'm the same way, i'd absolutely despise dying around someone other than a nurse

notawerewolf said:
never understood that even a little. canines leave their family when critically wounded to die alone. i'm the same way, i'd absolutely despise dying around someone other than a nurse

I do not mean so much as dying in solitude, more of a fear of not being remembered.

The thought of losing someone close to me.

Grevus said:
I do not mean so much as dying in solitude, more of a fear of not being remembered.

ah, i also don't get that either haha. i'd pay not to be famous and to be forgotten

Dusk_To_Dawn said:
The thought of losing someone close to me.

now that i definitely can relate to

Grevus said:
The thought of dying alone.

Dusk_To_Dawn said:
The thought of losing someone close to me.

darn, i would have said spiders.

Being chased by pissed off people that want to harm you

BlueDingo said:
Going partially blind.

i did that back when i had that eye injury. tbh, it's actually not so bad if you take things slow and steady. but then again, among the numerous things i like to practice, one good result is i can somewhat see with my hands. or rather, they can see for me.

bit of an odd technique to learn but it's helpful.

as for what scares me the most. i would say darkness but more so than that would be a clown by the name of pennywise. yeah, seeing that movie when i was a kid wasn't a good idea and that thing huants my mind to this day. and oddly enough, it's just that one character. clowns or jesters in general don't really scare me (though i do think the circus clown variety are freaks), just that one.

and as a result, i tend to be mildly paranoid of my surroundings, especially at night for it is not the darkness itself that frightens me but rather what lurks within the darkness. and a slight fear of the unknown probably.

i think the only time my fears have affected me in a video game was in minecraft. for some reason the very thought of entering that portal leading to the "the end" map terrifies me and once on that map i have an overwhelming desire to either close the game on the spot or leave that area ASAP no matter what. something about that part of the game just doesn't sit right with me at all.

treos said:
i think the only time my fears have affected me in a video game was in minecraft. for some reason the very thought of entering that portal leading to the "the end" map terrifies me and once on that map i have an overwhelming desire to either close the game on the spot or leave that area ASAP no matter what. something about that part of the game just doesn't sit right with me at all.

Creepypasta material.

treos said:
as for what scares me the most. i would say darkness...

and as a result, i tend to be mildly paranoid of my surroundings, especially at night for it is not the darkness itself that frightens me but rather what lurks within the darkness. and a slight fear of the unknown probably.

Most people have that as an evolutionary imprint. Humans rely very heavily on their sense of sight and, unfortunately, we dont see very well in low-light environments. So, when deprived of our most vital source of information, our minds almost always create phantom threats in the dark.

Personally, I love the dark, but with the right ambience (such as purposely unsettling music and being alone in an already unfamiliar place) I can enter a state of mild hypervigilance as well.

In short, being alone in the dark is often a terrifying experience for most people.

Are we talking fairly realistic possibilities, or somewhat fantastic things?

In the former case:

• Any muscle in my body could randomly twitch at any time. Think "All of the tics. All of them."

In the latter case:

• The epidermis of my skin entirely turning into spiders

(this would also be potentially fatal in time, as it would be a huge risk of infection)

• Being stuck in a Groundhog-style time loop of very short duration; about 10 seconds, say (too short to actually do anything interesting)

This. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva
Just the thought of living in agony while your muscles slowly turn to bone is horrific. Thankfully, it’s incredibly rare, but I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

Knowing that one day all the stars will eventually burn out and everything in the Universe will fade into eternal darkness.

Dying.

TheGreatWolfgang said:
Knowing that one day all the stars will eventually burn out and everything in the Universe will fade into eternal darkness.

if we're selling tickets to return everything to the cradle of the void i'll take two

Overbearing brightness. Sometimes it's better to see nothing than to see things that you aren't sure what they are, which is what such brightness would do. You can only see things moving around, and as your eyes try to focus in on it, your other senses aren't focusing themselves like they would in darkness.

UnusualParadox said:
Creepypasta material.

Most people have that as an evolutionary imprint. Humans rely very heavily on their sense of sight and, unfortunately, we dont see very well in low-light environments. So, when deprived of our most vital source of information, our minds almost always create phantom threats in the dark.

Personally, I love the dark, but with the right ambience (such as purposely unsettling music and being alone in an already unfamiliar place) I can enter a state of mild hypervigilance as well.

In short, being alone in the dark is often a terrifying experience for most people.

yep, that sounds like a pretty good description of what it's like. not so much a fear of the dark as it is what's in the darkness...or rather, what the mind thinks is in the darkness.

like, when i go to the kitchen at night for a snack and/or drink, my aunt & uncles bedroom is on the opposite side of the kitchen and (while they typically leave a lamp on in the living room for me) they leave the door cracked so the dogs can go in and out without waking them up. that means while the kitchen and living room aren't totally dark, their room is and while i know there's nothing bad in there...the mind says otherwise. which leads to me being paranoid while near that door at night and wanting to just get what i came for and run back to my room at the opposite side of the house.

i know there's nothing bad in that room when it's dark like that but i simply can't help myself but be afraid for no good reason.

treos said:
yep, that sounds like a pretty good description of what it's like. not so much a fear of the dark as it is what's in the darkness...or rather, what the mind thinks is in the darkness.

Fear of the unknown. It's hard to prepare for something you can't detect.

SharkFetish said:
Dying.

Don't knock it until you try it. It's actually quite liberating.

On a more exotic level I'd say being trapped in a no-man's-land between reality unreality, like some sort of shadow-realm where I can partly see the world but have no power to make anyone see or hear me.
Not being able to pass into this world, being forever in a form of limbo between this world and the next sort of thing.

rhyolite said:
On a more exotic level I'd say being trapped in a no-man's-land between reality unreality, like some sort of shadow-realm where I can partly see the world but have no power to make anyone see or hear me.
Not being able to pass into this world, being forever in a form of limbo between this world and the next sort of thing.

There's nothing exotic about isolation.

BlueDingo said:
There's nothing exotic about isolation.

speak for yourself

notawerewolf said:
speak for yourself

Don't we all?

Losing my hands, eyesight, or hearing.

BlueDingo said:
Don't we all?

I do, it's fun, or disturbing, whichever side you are in

People following my sister at her workplace. Knowing that they probably know where we live.

Being unable to preemptively murk them without invoking the wrath of an organized sex trafficking ring. Knowing that if anything ever happened, I'd likely never get revenge. Real life aint the movies.

Dogenzaka said:
Losing my hands, eyesight, or hearing.

don't listen to loud music

Fenrick said:
don't listen to loud music

How would that affect your eyesight?

Knotty_Curls said:
People following my sister at her workplace. Knowing that they probably know where we live.

Being unable to preemptively murk them without invoking the wrath of an organized sex trafficking ring. Knowing that if anything ever happened, I'd likely never get revenge. Real life aint the movies.

https://i.imgur.com/FUN5mJK.png

BlueDingo said:
How would that affect your eyesight?

Staying up too late staring at your music browser's screen

Heteroxon said:
Reminds me of my nightmare last night. I had this dream I was on the 8th floor of an abandoned building, and I was balancing around floors that were falling apart, while a bunch of shadowy men ran at me. I had to use a crowbar to clunk them all on the head and knock them down through the several breaking metal floors. Then a bunch of people with identifiable features started to float after me with these creepy smiles on their faces and then I couldn't do anything about that, because they were already dead. So I woke up terrified and started running around the house because I could still see them.

That is frightening.

BlueDingo said:
There's nothing exotic about isolation.

Put a socialite in dark room by themselves, with no widows and door knob. They won't last 5 seconds. Some people need the constant voice of others to feel safe and things.

MrKranberryJam69 said:
Put a socialite in dark room by themselves, with no widows and door knob. They won't last 5 seconds. Some people need the constant voice of others to feel safe and things.

Add "no twitter" to that list and you could do this to the average millennial at will.

BlueDingo said:
Don't knock it until you try it. It's actually quite liberating.

Eh, I will pass. All I known is existing. The idea of not existing terrifies me.

BlueDingo said:
Don't knock it until you try it. It's actually quite liberating.

That's what "they" want you to think. They push a pro-death narrative in the media, but will be the first to benefit when anti-aging therapies are developed.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's what "they" want you to think. They push a pro-death narrative in the media, but will be the first to benefit when anti-aging therapies are developed.

yep, and once money comes into the equation it'll be back to the usual: the rich get richer while finding ways to exploit those who aren't as rich for even more money.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's what "they" want you to think. They push a pro-death narrative in the media, but will be the first to benefit when anti-aging therapies are developed.

i don't know the pro-death narrative you're saying is in the media. but i'd much rather return to nonexistence regardless. t'would be paradise

notawerewolf said:
i don't know the pro-death narrative you're saying is in the media.

That's because the narrative is omnipresent in movies, television, news reports, obituaries, etc. These program you to accept death as "normal", "natural", and "inevitable", which is false. When immortality is brought up in fiction, it is often treated as "unnatural" or as a curse. Many here will say "I don't want to live for a thousand years" because they lack the imagination and motivation to explore what this planet and universe has to offer. The truth is that your body is a machine, and with advances in medical knowledge it could be "fixed" and "tuned up" before you experience arthritis, organ failure, Alzheimer's, and other aging diseases. Anti-aging will become a cheap form of preventative health care, which will end up lowering medical expenses despite delivering better health outcomes.

Media will eventually be forced to adapt to the new reality, like how cell phones and smartphones changed the portrayal of how characters act in film and TV.

I didn't even bring up the idea of an afterlife, which plays a big role in supporting the false narrative but can't be discussed here.

notawerewolf said:
but i'd much rather return to nonexistence regardless. t'would be paradise

That statement is equivalent to endorsing conditional suicide.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's because the narrative is omnipresent in movies, television, news reports, obituaries, etc. These program you to accept death as "normal", "natural", and "inevitable", which is false. When immortality is brought up in fiction, it is often treated as "unnatural" or as a curse. Many here will say "I don't want to live for a thousand years" because they lack the imagination and motivation to explore what this planet and universe has to offer. The truth is that your body is a machine, and with advances in medical knowledge it could be "fixed" and "tuned up" before you experience arthritis, organ failure, Alzheimer's, and other aging diseases. Anti-aging will become a cheap form of preventative health care, which will end up lowering medical expenses despite delivering better health outcomes.

Media will eventually be forced to adapt to the new reality, like how cell phones and smartphones changed the portrayal of how characters act in film and TV.

I didn't even bring up the idea of an afterlife, which plays a big role in supporting the false narrative but can't be discussed here.

That statement is equivalent to endorsing conditional suicide.

born too early for immortality.

born too late to believe in heaven.

born just in time to post t r a n s h u m a n i s t propaganda.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That statement is equivalent to endorsing conditional suicide.

you mean euthanasia and P.A.D.? cause if so, i can tell you sir. patrick stuart ain't the only one who proudly supports that shit. hell yeah i endorse it 100%

fewrahuxo said:
born just in time to post t r a n s h u m a n i s t propaganda.

If I'm right, I get a chance to live, if I'm wrong, I die.

If you're right, you die, if you're wrong, you get a chance to live.

That's all there is to this wager. The only people who need to be convinced are the people who will fund the medical developments. A lot of nouveau riche people are stepping up to the plate and that is a good thing.

notawerewolf said:
you mean euthanasia and P.A.D.? cause if so, i can tell you sir. patrick stuart ain't the only one who proudly supports that shit. hell yeah i endorse it 100%

I would also support it even if all diseases including aging are cured. But you should acknowledge that if aging and other diseases are cured, you can no longer use illness (possibly excluding mental) as an excuse.

In the places where assisted suicide, or voluntary euthanasia, is legal in the U.S., the laws apply to patients with terminal illnesses. These laws would not apply to people who are healthy and free of aging diseases, but are just bored of life or depressed. While it may be impossible to stop a determined person from committing suicide, and suicide is no longer technically a crime for the individual committing the act in the U.S., the systems in place strongly discourage suicide. For example, "In California, medical facilities are empowered or required to commit anyone whom they believe to be suicidal for evaluation and treatment." In effect, the state can force you to stay alive until you change your mind. Assuming you do.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's all there is to this wager. The only people who need to be convinced are the people who will fund the medical developments. A lot of nouveau riche people are stepping up to the plate and that is a good thing.

the last time you tried tuning up your body you lost seven Tour de France titles and an Olympic bronze medal.

fewrahuxo said:
the last time you tried tuning up your body you lost seven Tour de France titles and an Olympic bronze medal.

It's not about the destination, m'boy. It's about the ride. And the ride never ends. You have to mount that bike and caress every curve, hill, and peak.

Lance_Armstrong said:
I would also support it even if all diseases including aging are cured. But you should acknowledge that if aging and other diseases are cured, you can no longer use illness (possibly excluding mental) as an excuse.

it's an issue of preference. i don't want to live forever or really at all so i'll readily take one heaping helping of death whenever it comes

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's because the narrative is omnipresent in movies, television, news reports, obituaries, etc. These program you to accept death as "normal", "natural", and "inevitable", which is false. When immortality is brought up in fiction, it is often treated as "unnatural" or as a curse. Many here will say "I don't want to live for a thousand years" because they lack the imagination and motivation to explore what this planet and universe has to offer. The truth is that your body is a machine, and with advances in medical knowledge it could be "fixed" and "tuned up" before you experience arthritis, organ failure, Alzheimer's, and other aging diseases. Anti-aging will become a cheap form of preventative health care, which will end up lowering medical expenses despite delivering better health outcomes.

cheap... again, when money comes into play, the rich will always benefit the most while the poor suffer.

and if you try and get around the system, those who can pay will hound you every step of the way. kinda like with piracy of video games and other forms of media. it doesn't matter if you can't afford to pay. you have no excuse and everyone who can pay for the stuff you try and get for free will never let you here the end of it. they'd rather see you live a life of endless boredom and tedium and likely wind up depressed to some extent until you manage to find alternative forms of entertainment (which wouldn't end well if the alternative choice happened to be drinking and/or drugs).

it's a horrible, vicious, system built around one thing and one thing alone: greed

when it comes to the form of immortality you spoke of in that quoted comment, trying to get it for free will (like with everything) lead to you being considered a criminal. even if it's highly unlikely you'll ever get punished for it, everyone will just keep nagging and complaining about how you didn't cough up the money and as such, you don't deserve to have it.

pretty stupid really...

Lance_Armstrong said:
In effect, the state can force you to stay alive until you change your mind. Assuming you do.

that is seriously fucked up. and likely plays into how some people would rather not be a burden on friends and family towards the end yet things continue to get dragged out for quite a while regardless thus making them a burden whether they want tto be one or not. not a nice thing to think about but i'm sure it's true in a good number of cases.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's because the narrative is omnipresent in movies, television, news reports, obituaries, etc. These program you to accept death as "normal", "natural", and "inevitable", which is false. When immortality is brought up in fiction, it is often treated as "unnatural" or as a curse. Many here will say "I don't want to live for a thousand years" because they lack the imagination and motivation to explore what this planet and universe has to offer. The truth is that your body is a machine, and with advances in medical knowledge it could be "fixed" and "tuned up" before you experience arthritis, organ failure, Alzheimer's, and other aging diseases. Anti-aging will become a cheap form of preventative health care, which will end up lowering medical expenses despite delivering better health outcomes.

Media will eventually be forced to adapt to the new reality, like how cell phones and smartphones changed the portrayal of how characters act in film and TV.

I didn't even bring up the idea of an afterlife, which plays a big role in supporting the false narrative but can't be discussed here.

That statement is equivalent to endorsing conditional suicide.

The Doctor is immortal, and he does perfectly fine.

Lance_Armstrong said:
That's because the narrative is omnipresent in movies, television, news reports, obituaries, etc. These program you to accept death as "normal", "natural", and "inevitable", which is false. When immortality is brought up in fiction, it is often treated as "unnatural" or as a curse. Many here will say "I don't want to live for a thousand years" because they lack the imagination and motivation to explore what this planet and universe has to offer. The truth is that your body is a machine, and with advances in medical knowledge it could be "fixed" and "tuned up" before you experience arthritis, organ failure, Alzheimer's, and other aging diseases. Anti-aging will become a cheap form of preventative health care, which will end up lowering medical expenses despite delivering better health outcomes.

Media will eventually be forced to adapt to the new reality, like how cell phones and smartphones changed the portrayal of how characters act in film and TV.

I didn't even bring up the idea of an afterlife, which plays a big role in supporting the false narrative but can't be discussed here.

That statement is equivalent to endorsing conditional suicide.

I mean, if you want to be really technical, living forever is not a goal you're going to attain unless you reach a life that is so far from where we are now that you would be unrecognizable as human, which is way beyond anti-aging things. But unless you get to that point, something's going to happen to you eventually. All immortality means is that you have infinite lifetimes to slip and hit your head on the counter.

Also, I imagine at some point you'd have to replace degraded neurons, which leads to a Ship of Theseus situation.

I don't really fault you for the interest, but "forever" is a really long time...

Furrin_Gok said:
The Doctor is immortal, and he does perfectly fine.

no...he can be killed and has come very close to dying a lot of times. in fact, i think i remember a dalek shooting him at some point which killed him and resulted in his hand (the one he kept in that jar or whatever it was) regenerating into a sort of human/time lord hybrid.

and he doesn't actually have eternal life either as that one episode with him defending the town of Christmas showed him having aged into quite the elderly old man before those at galifrey granted him more regenerations.

so the doctor is definitely a mortal. just one with a potentially extremely long life span (assuming nothing kills him before old age triggers the next regeneration).

Fenrick said:
I mean, if you want to be really technical, living forever is not a goal you're going to attain unless you reach a life that is so far from where we are now that you would be unrecognizable as human, which is way beyond anti-aging things. But unless you get to that point, something's going to happen to you eventually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_escape_velocity

You seem to be implying that genetic alteration, mind uploading, or some other method that reduces the individual's resemblance to homo sapiens will be required. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. The point is that once your normal life or healthspan has been extended for 20 years, that's another 20 years of technological and medical development. There may be multiple achievable paths to the same goal.

Fenrick said:
All immortality means is that you have infinite lifetimes to slip and hit your head on the counter.

The chance of death can be lowered. Widespread adoption of driverless cars could cut a major source of accidental death down to a small fraction. I have seen an estimate around 15-20% but there is no way to be sure until it happens.

EMTs are beginning to trial on-scene cryotherapy to lower the body/brain temperature of patients. This could greatly improve the chances of surviving an accident, shooting, heart attack, stroke, etc.

Nerve stimulation has partially revived a man who suffered traumatic brain injury in a car accident and fell into a vegetative state. There is also the possibility of using stem cells to reverse clinical brain death.

So you can see that the boundaries of "death" are being pushed ever further. It could be that people we presume to be dead are just not being treated the right way. "Die" of a deadly poison? Put them on ice, remove the substance, and then restart their brain.

Even without all these fancy developments, there are people living to around 120 without dying of a car accident, mass shooting, meteor strike, or slipping and falling.

Fenrick said:
Also, I imagine at some point you'd have to replace degraded neurons, which leads to a Ship of Theseus situation.

Adult neurogenesis already happens to some extent even without talking about injecting stem cells into your brain. Your body's cells get replaced over time. You are already a living Ship of Theseus.

Human memory is generally fleeting and unreliable. You are at least a slightly different person than you were a few months ago. Your memories of events from years past are hazy and change each time you recall them. The Ship of Theseus has sailed. It doesn't matter now and it either won't matter later, or you won't have a choice but to sail even further.

Furrin_Gok said:
The Doctor is immortal, and he does perfectly fine.

In one of the episodes they visit The Doctor’s tomb. He might live for a long time, but he does die.

treos said:
no...he can be killed and has come very close to dying a lot of times. in fact, i think i remember a dalek shooting him at some point which killed him and resulted in his hand (the one he kept in that jar or whatever it was) regenerating into a sort of human/time lord hybrid.

and he doesn't actually have eternal life either as that one episode with him defending the town of Christmas showed him having aged into quite the elderly old man before those at galifrey granted him more regenerations.

so the doctor is definitely a mortal. just one with a potentially extremely long life span (assuming nothing kills him before old age triggers the next regeneration).

SharkFetish said:

In one of the episodes they visit The Doctor’s tomb. He might live for a long time, but he does die.

Immortal as in he cannot die from old age. his eventual death will be from being killed, which is a form of death nobody can stop.
Yes, without regenerations he did grow old, but what do you expect? That's the source of his immortality.

MrKranberryJam69 said:
I suffer from occasional sleep paralysis. It's only bad whenever I'm in a deep state of it while dreaming. Red eyes floating, goblins, gargoyles, and all kinds of stuff mess with me sometimes. One night I "awoke" and a swarm of black birds came through the window and circulated in the ceiling.

The most frightening thing about it is, you're lying there helpless while all these things are occurring. You're asleep, but awake at the same time. And generally the things that attack, or taunt you, are still there when you fully awake.

does sleep paralysis only cause scary hallucinations?
no hot muscular anthro wolves with enormous cocks?
might be scary to some people, of course

Furrin_Gok said:
Immortal as in he cannot die from old age. his eventual death will be from being killed, which is a form of death nobody can stop.

Yes, without regenerations he did grow old, but what do you expect? That's the source of his immortality.

you really want to believe he'll live forever, don't you?

unless something is immune to the effects of aging (which the doctor, long lived as he is, isn't), immune to physical and non-physical damage, and immune to disease, it is not truly immortal as it can still be killed in some way. and if something can be killed then it can't really be considered eternal or immortal as that would go against the very idea of immortality which is eternal life.

Lance_Armstrong said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_escape_velocity

You seem to be implying that genetic alteration, mind uploading, or some other method that reduces the individual's resemblance to homo sapiens will be required. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. The point is that once your normal life or healthspan has been extended for 20 years, that's another 20 years of technological and medical development. There may be multiple achievable paths to the same goal.

The chance of death can be lowered. Widespread adoption of driverless cars could cut a major source of accidental death down to a small fraction. I have seen an estimate around 15-20% but there is no way to be sure until it happens.

EMTs are beginning to trial on-scene cryotherapy to lower the body/brain temperature of patients. This could greatly improve the chances of surviving an accident, shooting, heart attack, stroke, etc.

Nerve stimulation has partially revived a man who suffered traumatic brain injury in a car accident and fell into a vegetative state. There is also the possibility of using stem cells to reverse clinical brain death.

So you can see that the boundaries of "death" are being pushed ever further. It could be that people we presume to be dead are just not being treated the right way. "Die" of a deadly poison? Put them on ice, remove the substance, and then restart their brain.

Even without all these fancy developments, there are people living to around 120 without dying of a car accident, mass shooting, meteor strike, or slipping and falling.

Adult neurogenesis already happens to some extent even without talking about injecting stem cells into your brain. Your body's cells get replaced over time. You are already a living Ship of Theseus.

Human memory is generally fleeting and unreliable. You are at least a slightly different person than you were a few months ago. Your memories of events from years past are hazy and change each time you recall them. The Ship of Theseus has sailed. It doesn't matter now and it either won't matter later, or you won't have a choice but to sail even further.

Not completely. There are some areas in the brain, including the parts that are more oriented towards consciousness including the cerebral cortex, which will usually not be replaceable by the body at all. Most brain cells aren't replaced the way most cells in the body are.

Fenrick said:
Not completely. There are some areas in the brain, including the parts that are more oriented towards consciousness including the cerebral cortex, which will usually not be replaceable by the body at all. Most brain cells aren't replaced the way most cells in the body are.

If that is so, then use stem cells or nanobots to rejuvenate or replace the cells.

On a basic level? Things like dying from something that could have easily been prevented had anyone checked in on me. I like having time to myself, but I'm acutely aware of how my me-time habits might come back to bite me in the ass.

I'm also pretty terrified of the idea of being trapped in my own body. Being a vegetable, or losing my higher faculties. The zombie apocalypse would be my nightmare, especially considering I'm also a fucking hypochondriac.

Also, I'm pretty scared of nuclear holocaust for someone who likes the post-apocalyptic genre as much as I do.

here's something scary to think about. zoom in and look at the eyes in each of these pics.

who are these people and where are these locations reflected in the eyes? setting aside the uncanny valley aspect of some of this artists work, this is both creepy and frightening to think about.

this one is a very good example of what i'm talking about. the pic looks fine from a distance and has a blank white background but zoom in and look at the eyes. where is this room and who are those people standing there? VERY creepy and somewhat frightening.

treos said:
here's something scary to think about. zoom in and look at the eyes in each of these pics.

who are these people and where are these locations reflected in the eyes? setting aside the uncanny valley aspect of some of this artists work, this is both creepy and frightening to think about.

this one is a very good example of what i'm talking about. the pic looks fine from a distance and has a blank white background but zoom in and look at the eyes. where is this room and who are those people standing there? VERY creepy and somewhat frightening.

Eye reflections, eh?

post #879722

BlueDingo said:
Eye reflections, eh?

post #879722

the worst are those 3d models with the messed up eyes. some of those look downright disturbing with the eye reflections though i've been told before that that's more of a lighting issue.

I don't think I can pick one superlative fear. I probably haven't yet been exposed to or considered something that induces abject fear. Experiences from childhood are outdated and unreliable, so those are discarded and forgotten.

I suppose one good one is knowing that something or somewhere could get you hurt or killed while also knowing you're utterly unprepared to ensure your safety should developing events threaten harm. Then, afterward, I'd ask myself if I did the right thing or could have done better but very likely be unable to answer. I suppose that's fearing my own mortality specifically because I don't have survival training or experience worth a damn and I don't know if my survival instincts are any good.

Taking the question differently, from "strongest fear" to "fear experienced the most", that should be watching my father age and wondering almost daily if his health is holding or if he's getting worse. Will he end up being someone with a degenerative brain disease who loses themself? (Now, go back a paragraph and amplify fivefold the gnawing fear arising from unpreparedness.)

So far, he has below average hearing (whereas mine is acute), arthritis, and most importantly he struggles to answer most questions in a timely and sufficient manner if he manages to answer at all. He suffered a heart attack about 15 years ago, underwent a bypass, and I was told (not by a doctor) his heart was stopped during the surgery for longer than ideal. A year ago he developed a hacking cough that persisted for about six months and went away before he could be seen and diagnosed by a specialist. He had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his neck a month ago, which had been visible for maybe a year, and he never told me he finally got it diagnosed until I saw one morning he had a bandage on his neck from the surgery and asked. He doesn't tell me anything unless I ask, and I have to pry each answer out of him because his answers are poor and paint incoherent pictures unless I work at it. I doubt he's more forthcoming to doctors.

Those fears might be the only part of me that is "normal" and "where it's supposed to be".

I dropped a thumbtack while putting a new banner on my wall, and I've yet to find it, or have it embed itself into my slippers. I'm worried I'm gunna get up to pee at night and have that fucker stab me right in the base of the sole.

ThatFantasticBastard said:
I dropped a thumbtack while putting a new banner on my wall, and I've yet to find it, or have it embed itself into my slippers. I'm worried I'm gunna get up to pee at night and have that fucker stab me right in the base of the sole.

Yeah, that's the worst. I once stepped on a sewing needle and it embedded itself about 1cm into my bare heel. Ow!

I hate needles, blood tests, those scare the hell out of me. "Don't worry, it won't hurt, just a scratch." Don't believe it!

Edit, depression too, it can strike at any time.

rhyolite said:
I hate needles, blood tests, those scare the hell out of me. "Don't worry, it won't hurt, just a scratch." Don't believe it!

Oh fuck, syringes. They're not lying when they say it doesn't hurt much but it's not the pain I find nerve-racking. It's the fear of moving while it's in there and causing more damage. What's worse is when fear starts to get the better of me and I start shaking and the needle's in the body part that starts shaking.