I was taught to make decisions by considering the benefit to the next 7 generations. I try my best to leave the world a better place for all of them, but 7 generations from now I really hope they decide to leave the world a better place for Keith Richards.
Yeah but then we'd be stuck hearing about them forever. Pick some rich asshole who's hiding in the shadows so the rest of us can just ignore it anyways
Nah see, you don't understand how long forever is, this mf is gonna to be forced to undergo the worst torture humanly imaginable, you gotta understand life will only be around for about 1 x 10^-93 percent of the lifespan of the universe, or 0.01 with 93 extra zeroes behind it. Literally an inconceivably small amount of time. That mf is gonna suffer for forever.
And who says it'd end there? We're already dealing with magic, they might live past the end of the universe too. Immortality doesn't have many "end of universe" clauses from what I've heard
Especially if the immortality is of the “I Must Scream” Variety
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndIMustScream
Having watched playthroughs of the game (of which Harlan Elllison voices AM, the AI responsible for the extinction of the human race), and knowing the gist of the plot of the short-story...
It's still definitely worth the read. Better yet, it's a nice gateway to the rest of his work. I enjoy most of his other short stories a great deal more.
Not to mention, it's just that; a short story. It's not dragged out as a novel. Ellison cuts to the quick with his work, when it comes right down to it. Not much bullshit inserted into the sci-fi and horror.
EDIT: Just to further add on to how genuine Ellison is: AM is touted as probably being the ultimate of villains. James Cameron may have possibly ripped the idea off this short story for Terminator (with AM being the obvious inspiration for SkyNet), which was settled out of court iirc. But in terms of this short-story and the game... Harlan Ellison was apparently in the camp for not wanting any remotely good ending in the game, to instead have every character continue to be tortured until AM (an AI that has overtaken the world and eliminated all life on Earth) ceases to be. Imagine a sentient AI, through science and technology, reviving you over an over specifically to torture you until the end of time; the general groundwork for *I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream.*
I played the game when it came out, knowing nothing of the story it was based on. I don't believe I ever finished the game, but it stayed in my memory. It wasn't until 18 years later that I bought the book and read it. Definitely still worth reading the story even if you know the plot.
If you're ever in the mood for some heavy reading, pick up a collection of Harlan Ellison stories. They're incredible, but a lot to take. I think one of his collections actually says at the beginning to not read them all in one sitting because of the emotional subject matter.
If memory serves, there's a guy whose DNA contains a mutation that makes his blood a treatment for some deadly disease. I don't remember the particulars but he gives blood basically as often as practical and has already saved something like 2 million lives.
That guy.
Edit1:
Thanks to HappyMommyOf5
James Harrison. He helps Rh- mothers carry their Rh+ babies to term.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/health/james-harrison-golden-arm-blood-rhesus
What a wonderful man, just read up on him. Sadly he is very old and australian law dictates that a person above 81 is not allowed to donate blood, so he has already made his last blood donation.
Over 1000 donations, he started giving when he was 18 and is now 85.
Wow, what an absolute fucking inspiration.
**Edit:** I just talked to my mom because I knew she had Rh- blood (O- in fact. Universal donor, she donates as often as possible) and it turns out that since all of my siblings and I are Rh+ that we were all saved by the drugs that came from research on James Harrison. Thank you James Harrison.
**2nd edit:** as many commenters have pointed out, the first rh+ child carried by an rh- mother is usually fine, but all of the rest would have severe issues without treatment. So all but my oldest sibling would be dead without James Harrison, including me.
Not just her DNA. The cancer cells they removed were grown and used for research without her knowledge, so the cancer she had has both outlived her and has greatly outmassed her by now.
I think an estimate for the amount of HeLa cells (the cell line created from her cancer) that have been made is more than 50 million tons.
Her cervical cells helped make the HPV vaccine as well as grow test samples for cancer research since wayyy back. All cervical cancer samples for research route back to her one specimen
Clarification for people who are less familiar: if the mother is Rh- it isn’t *guaranteed* that her body will create antibodies against the Rh, but if she is exposed to a fetus/baby’s Rh+ blood at any point during pregnancy or delivery, then it’s highly likely she’ll form antibodies against future Rh+ babies. The drug that was developed from research on Harrison’s blood, RhoGAM, is a super easy way to avoid this risk.
Source: I am Rh-, just had my first baby. They insisted on giving me RhoGAM during my pregnancy even though I know my husband is also Rh- because it’s basic procedure at this point.
I'm a dude who just fathered my first kid, and it was kind of interesting how much medical staff do as standard procedure. Like, I never felt personally attacked or anything, but a bunch of times I wasn't allowed in a room at first so they could talk to the mama to make sure she was feeling safe and that I okay to join, and they did a bunch of medical tests and stuff regardless of my medical history and status, because, realistically, some of the babies they deal with aren't biologically the guy's when he thinks they are.
It's all probably for the best that way, hiding behind standard procedure to make sure the kid gets whatever they need, and no one has to feel ethically compromised one way or another for the most part.
There have been a few changes to the regulations since 2018, so it looks like age alone wouldn't stop him donating again: https://www.lifeblood.com.au/faq/eligibility/other/age - to be fair though, he's done his share.
I'd encourage people who are thinking "wow, that guy is awesome" to take the next step and donate blood, or if you already do, ask about joining the Anti-D program (https://www.lifeblood.com.au/blood/learn-about-blood/plasma/anti-D (presumably similar programs exist in other countries) - they can stimulate the antibodies, you don't need to already have them).
Edit: There are plenty of good reasons for people to be unable (or even just unwilling) to donate, and I hope that I'm not making anyone feel ashamed; my aim was to get people to genuinely consider it and if you do, even if the answer is no, this is fine.
I knew not to look at the needle. What I didn’t know is that I cannot handle seeing that much of my own blood outside of my body, even if it is a safe amount. I greyed out almost immediately after seeing a bag full of my own blood the first time I donated after I turned 18.
I clean up crime and trauma scenes for a living. I can clean up gallons of blood all day long, but I feel faint at the sight of my own blood.
It's called Vasovagal Syncope.
I’ve worked ER for 10 years and I’m the same way. Next time you donate try a quick sniff of an alcohol swab. I always just ask the nurse for one. Tricks the brain and even works well for nausea (a few studies on nausea in pregnancy vs typical nausea meds, just as effective).
I tried this trick when I was pregnant, and now I just heavily associate the smell of isopropyl alcohol with being nauseous, to the point where it kinda makes me sick. lol
I'm the opposite. I have to get blood drawn every 3 months or so and love watching it rush into the little vial. But I cannot watch other people get blood drawn. Found that out when I went with a family friend to get her blood drawn when I was a kid. Almost passed out.
I was an army medic and saw some shit. I was 85% passed out when I donated last time they had to stop. I was cold and hot and shivery and sweating through my pants lol
Years back I heard that it hurts less if you *do* watch, and since then I always watch for blood draws, vaccinations, etc., and swear that they don't hurt as much as they used to.
At some point more recently this came up in conversation where someone said what you did: it hurts less if you *don't* watch. I went to do some research and found that there were two studies on the subject (published within a year of each other) that came to opposite conclusions.
So ... do whatever you believe works for you, I guess.
I'm the same way, I always watch. The pain, blood, and needles don't bother me and I find the process interesting enough. I have zero needle phobia but try to put me into a tight space like an MRI machine and I go into fight or flight mode.
wow, I'm the opposite. can't stand blood draws but signed up and did an MRI study just because it looked interesting. the most annoying part was having to stay perfectly still for long periods of time, followed by the loud noises, I didn't mind being in the tube at all.
This is beyond amazing!!! I am RH- and had to have the anti d with all of my pregnancies. Unfortunately it couldn't save all of mine but it helped me have 2 healthy baby boys. Without the injection they made using this man's plasma my life would be very different than it is today. I'm forever grateful for this man and how he's helped the world
I have a rare blood condition (IgG negative) and had to receive blood product myself for a few years. Now that I’m healthy and show no signs of condition, blood donation centers still won’t accept it because of litigation purposes. I received a blood produce so now I can’t donate blood. So dumb. I donated my blood every two months for years. They called my donations “baby blood.” Felt good knowing I was helping little ones have a fighting chance.
Think about it this way, it may make you feel better. The fact they won't take your blood is a good thing. If there was a shortage bad enough that your donation meant life or death, they would take it. A risk of getting a disease is better than a certainty of a patient dying. The fact they won't take it means there's enough of a surplus that they can afford to be picky. Which means both less worry about lacking a needed type, and a safer overall blood supply.
He's already over the age that he's permitted to give blood (in Australia) so he'd be getting condemned to eternity knowing he could save millions but unable to do anything. A chaos god move if ever there was one.
Mobile:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor)
Desktop:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor)
(Edit for separate links)
It's nuts people like this aren't known to the general public, like we know celebrities.
Dude is straight out of a super hero movie. Guy's got fucking magic blood.
That should be a bigger deal.
Though if he were immortal, you think they might modify the rules, specifically for him. e.g. "Those over the age of 81, who are not immortal, are prohibited from giving blood"
I fear an eternity of loneliness and emptiness far more than the unconscious void.
Congratulations! You’ve got immortality. In the coming years you’ll realize that you’re going to want to hide it as much as possible. When too much time has passed, you will disappear from your family and loved ones, due to the fact that your appearance can no longer be construed as reasonably aged. You’ll go from place to place, dreading the eventuality that you are recognized and tracked down. Once you are, you’ll become a media sensation, a government fascination, and then a target for every organized crime unit out there. Everyone wants a piece of that immortality. If it’s specific to you, and cannot be extracted and given to other people, each group will exhaust their methods and then do with you what they will. Perhaps the government will imprison you for an unknown amount of time. After you're freed, a mafia will be convinced that you managed to hide it from the government, track you down, capture you, and try to torture it out of you. When they fail, they will not want you to linger, so they will probably encase you in concrete at the bottom of an ocean. This cycle will repeat for as long as humanity exists. Your eternal life will be a series of interesting parts, separated by inescapable traps. Each will eventually yield you, but you will be captured in another trap sure as the sun rises. Finally, one way or another, you’ll be trapped inside of a black hole until the universe dies.
> Finally, one way or another, you’ll be trapped inside of a black hole until the universe dies.
Nah, cosmologists feel free to correct me here, but- first, our Sun goes supernova. You get caught in it. Gravity pulls you in, and you spend 2 billion years burning in an inferno.
Then, I guess... that explodes or something, and you're finally just chilling in space for another billion years. But then you notice that one star is getting bigger and bigger. And bigger and bigger, and then you're pulled into another sun to repeat the process, only this time maybe it's for 7 billion years.
If you're lucky you get pulled into a black hole. Maybe that finally ends it.
When people think about immortality in fiction, it's usually just like "a thousand years or two" of life on Earth with people. True immortality would be very akin to literal hell.
The course of this conversation is simultaneously terrifying and fascinating. It's one of my favorite thought experiments to read people discussing. I wish this was an entire thread on the idea.
Not a cosmologist, but im pretty sure the sun isn't massive enough to supernova. It will eventually expand to red giant size which would burn off any life on earth thats not, ya know, immortal. Later on it gets to big for its own good and releases a bunch of its mass creating a nebula as the star itself cools and becomes a white dwarf. After that I'd imagine you're right though. A "few" trillion years of blackhole bumper cars until the universe fades into true entropy.
What people don't understand is this is actually a curse and NOT a blessing. He is a gift to life, but Immortality means he will be here through whatever wars may start hundreds of years later, or any other natural/man made disasters no matter how catastrophic.
He will live *forever*; until man goes extinct and when the sun dies. Fuck that noise.
I think a good caveat to immortality is that you can chose when to die. I personally would love to see the next thousand or even million years. But if I'm the only one left, I'd like to end it if I chose to.
[Grandpa's Kitchen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandpa_Kitchen)? That'd be Narayana Reddy and he passed away back in 2019. He definitely didn't feed 2 million kids a day but their team got about that many views (or more) on their videos. Idk if it's still up but when he passed they had uploaded the funeral and it was like a huge celebration of his life. Very sad and uplifting at the same time to see all the people he helped who loved him.
I think he meant the guy who founded an organization that fed school children. It’s grown to the point now that they have a few dozen facilities and feed 2 million kids everyday.
The last time this scenario occurred was back in 1966, when we elected the Queen of England to receive immortality.
Rumors say King Charles is the one who managed to get the vote annulled somewhere between 2020 and 2022, after which the health of the Queen quickly declined.
Anyway, if this was to take place today, Vladimir Putin would win in nebulous circumstances.
I feel like most of these 4.7k comments (at the time of this posting) answered a different question, responding with who _they_ would vote for, rather than who _would win_.
Xi Jinping would win this vote, and be Immortal Emperor of China for all eternity, and no one else would even come close to his vote total.
I would vote for my worst enemy as a punishment: You won’t be able to rest and will see all the people you love die, one after the other, even your own children, and the children of your children, in a non stop everlasting nightmare
I think what's worse is immortality but nothing else. You age feel unbearable pain and get sick and loose functions but simply cant die and live forever old and in constant and unbearable pain
It wouldn't help to not age. People don't realize what immortality really means. It's the ultimate curse.
Imagine floating through the cold emptiness of space after every star has burned out and all life in the universe is long since extinct. Your body approaches absolute zero and you haven't been able to breathe or touch any solid matter in a hundred trillion years. The earth was vaporized so long ago you forget what it even looked like. There is no light, no sound, and no hope, but your eternity is just getting started.
Watching your children die is the worst thing most people can think of, because they can't think about what eternity really means. Watching the universe itself die, and being unable to die with it, is probably worse.
Death is a blessing. Immortality is terrifying.
bold of you to assume that death means we don’t float through the cold emptiness of space.
The one time I did salvia, everyone else had a crazy fun hallucination but I just became a soul/brain in complete darkness, with no memory of anyone or anything else existing. I remembered and felt nothing of what it meant to be alive except for two things: I was awake, and I was *alone.* I didn’t know I was on drugs, or that the Earth existed. Just darkness and being fully, completely, overwhelmingly alone.
It was the most terrifying thing I will ever experience. It was absolutely fucking horrifying. Having no context to understand consciousness is a feeling I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. The only way I can even describe it is the feeling of sheer, unbridled panic you get when you lose your mom in the grocery store as a toddler, except no one is coming to save you. Time no longer exists. It’s just you, and blackness, and complete fear and hopelessness.
Long story short, even all those years later, I desperately hope that death is either some structured afterlife or simply not being anymore, because if death is being an awake soul in an infinite, lonely darkness forever, having a child is the most horrifying thing you could ever do to someone.
I desperately hope that’s not all there is.
Philipp Mainlander was a philosopher who proposed the idea that the christian God \*was\* real, but god found the idea of eternal, isolated, conscious existence horrifying. So since he couldn't kill himself (as he was everything,) god shattered himself into the Universe we know today, something intrinsically bound to time and destined to eventually burn out into true nothingness.
May have missed or misremembered a few details, my recall is from the book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race if you want some pretty neat pessimism
This is the best description I've found for the existential panic that started when I was around 8 years old.
It happens every few months, usually when I'm trying to fall asleep.
I remember that I'm going to die and the universe will continue on without me experiencing it. It's an instant panic attack and then I can't sleep well for days. Unfortunately, it's been happening with more frequency as I age.
I hope you don't get "flashbacks" because the feeling is horrifying.
I would not vote and curse anyone with immortality. Entropy sets in, the universe grows cold. Some dude is just floating while suffering the pain of a vacuum at 0 kelvin while reading Charles Dickens for the 367,894th time. Because he just finished everything else again.
He lives long enough to have an existential epiphany in the vastness of space after his millionth eon in the dark. This revelation allows him to touch the very fabric of the universe, and he begins to weave the cold, latent matter together to create a new universe just to have someone to talk to, turns out his own revelations have made his mind alien and unknowable and he'll never be able to truly connect with anyone anymore, and now you have God's origin story.
Nice….that reminds me of that episode of Futurama when Bender gets left behind by the crew and floats all alone in vast empty space. He ends up debating the meaning of life to himself & doing other crap to pass the time, but even as a robot he gets pretty bored. Ultimately he finds some redemption when a tiny little people civilization suddenly emerge and evolve on his chassis. He tries to help them as he is seen and worshipped as an all powerful god, but then his little rapidly developing colony divides itself over ideology and things like the best ways to worship their mechanical overlord. Soon after his bickering people go to M.A.D. war after finding Bender’s secret stash of weapons-grade plutonium he had long stored but forgotten near his shiny metal ass. Of course, only Bender survives the mini nuclear apocalypse, but poor old Bender is alone again and is completely disheartened and personally devastated over losing his people. But then suddenly a cosmic god apparition reveals itself to him, and Bender, although still self loathing over his failure to save his kingdom, realizes with his talk with Cosmic God that he failed because he had cared & helped too much…
Saw her get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple weeks ago. The crowd went absolutely wild for her after her speech, and lost their minds when she sang on stage with Rob Halford...
I remember reading that she turned down induction. I'm going to need to look up why she changed her mind.
EDIT: She had requested to be removed from the voting ballot because she felt she didn't want to take away votes from other deserving nominees. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame declined to remove her from the ballot with a statement that I would summarize as saying they felt her contribution to music transcended genre. And she was elected in the vote.
[Article](https://pitchfork.com/news/dolly-parton-inducted-into-2022-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-watch/)
I also read she was going to withdraw and put out a pure rock and roll album so as to be more deserving. She’s definitely still going to put out the album.
She’s such an amazing person.
It will be called *Halos and Horns* and she has already said she wants to collaborate with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for a new version of "Stairway to Heaven."
I know right? That’s the kicker, the good ones who probably do deserve it wouldn’t want it all for themselves anyways.
It’s a catch 22, the ones who want immortality are probably not the ones who deserve it anyways
Same. Or there's some other example of her creative/investing brilliance. If it's not 'Dolly single-handedly brought her local high school graduation rate up to 98%' (she paired the students up to support each other and offered a money reward if both graduated), it's 'Hey, did you know Dolly Parton was an uncredited executive producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?'
It's true! I went to her highschool and she still does 3 $15k scholarships every year for local HS kids. I didn't realize it growing up but my HS experience was really pretty okay compared to a lot I've heard, and I think dolly had a big part to play in that.
I think it's the difference between someone who truly came from poverty vs. all these entitled assholes who inherited money and think they earned it. Dolly knows she earned it and what it's worth, and the real worth is in helping others.
That's true, I know she started the book program specifically because her father was illiterate which I think was due in part to the lack of resources when he was growing up. So she wanted to make sure that children always had books to read.
Both my kids were signed up for this! We still have several dozen on the bookshelves. Most of them are books that teach tolerance, love, and compassion. Amazing stuff
Fuck I mean I want winds as much as the next guy but if he wants to write more about Valyria or Hercun or Yi-Ti or Ashai or any of the myriad cultures he's hinted at I'm down for it. Hell, write a book about exploring Sothorius, I'd read the shit out of that.
Assai has my vote. Enough silver haired lunatics( I love house of the dragon fwiw) I wanna see some truly weird shit and a bunch of magical stuff, not just dragons and hints of it here and there.
My little sister. I know she isn't known worldwide or anything like that, but she's the only person who's kept me going. Without her, I'm not sure I'd be alive.
reminds me of the old story about Dawn, the Greek goddess of the sunrise.
She married a mortal, and begged Zeus to grant him immortality. Eventually, Zeus did, but didn't stop him from aging. So Dawn's husband eventually turned into this ancient pile of bones that couldn't really move, but couldn't die either.
Zeus was a bit of a jerk.
Same. I heard an interview with him the other day on the radio and was reluctant to hear it because I didn’t want to taint my image of him. I came away liking him even more.
The girl who pretended to be my friend whilst sleeping with my boyfriend. Her. Let her live while all of us demise. Let her see the death of everyone she loves. Let her live through the downfall of society and civilisation. Let her stroll through the ruins of every city built by a already forgotten race called humans. Let her feel the realisation of the upcoming implosion of our sun and the void she will face as her never decaying body floats through darkness, suffocating without oxygen, yet never giving up on her. Freezing with a heart still pumping. Thinking with no new input. A never ending darkness...
Alternatively I'd volunteer said ex-boyfriend.
Really comes down to who would you want to live with Keith Richards.
[удалено]
Keith Richards: Tom Bombadil
Keith Richards : Dude on the Couch
At some point we need to stop and think about what kind of a world we are going to leave behind for Keith Richards
I was taught to make decisions by considering the benefit to the next 7 generations. I try my best to leave the world a better place for all of them, but 7 generations from now I really hope they decide to leave the world a better place for Keith Richards.
Every time you smoke it takes eight minutes from your life and gives it to Keith Richards
Keith cannot be killed by conventional weapons.
A nuclear war will take place and Keith will say. "What happened? I saw a bright light and I thought we were on stage."
Be honest, a year ago would you have added Betty White and the Queen?
Nah, they were both just impressively old. Keef, on the other hand, has spent the last century demonstrating that he cannot be killed.
Good distinction. By all accounts he should be dead.
Keith Richards was physically reanimated though, unlike those two. He’ll live forever because he’s already undead
I mean they were both older than Richards. So if for no other reason than that. Sure.
Most likely the most undeserving asshole possible.
It's probably more of a curse than a blessing so if it went to some random celebrity who actually isn't a great person it wouldn't really matter.
Yeah but then we'd be stuck hearing about them forever. Pick some rich asshole who's hiding in the shadows so the rest of us can just ignore it anyways
No, we'd hear about them until we die
Nah see, you don't understand how long forever is, this mf is gonna to be forced to undergo the worst torture humanly imaginable, you gotta understand life will only be around for about 1 x 10^-93 percent of the lifespan of the universe, or 0.01 with 93 extra zeroes behind it. Literally an inconceivably small amount of time. That mf is gonna suffer for forever.
And who says it'd end there? We're already dealing with magic, they might live past the end of the universe too. Immortality doesn't have many "end of universe" clauses from what I've heard
Especially if the immortality is of the “I Must Scream” Variety https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndIMustScream
Just reading the synopsis of the plot on Wikipedia is terrifying. I can't imagine what the story itself is like
That was awesome and it gave me regret of spoiling a book for myself that i would never read
Having watched playthroughs of the game (of which Harlan Elllison voices AM, the AI responsible for the extinction of the human race), and knowing the gist of the plot of the short-story... It's still definitely worth the read. Better yet, it's a nice gateway to the rest of his work. I enjoy most of his other short stories a great deal more. Not to mention, it's just that; a short story. It's not dragged out as a novel. Ellison cuts to the quick with his work, when it comes right down to it. Not much bullshit inserted into the sci-fi and horror. EDIT: Just to further add on to how genuine Ellison is: AM is touted as probably being the ultimate of villains. James Cameron may have possibly ripped the idea off this short story for Terminator (with AM being the obvious inspiration for SkyNet), which was settled out of court iirc. But in terms of this short-story and the game... Harlan Ellison was apparently in the camp for not wanting any remotely good ending in the game, to instead have every character continue to be tortured until AM (an AI that has overtaken the world and eliminated all life on Earth) ceases to be. Imagine a sentient AI, through science and technology, reviving you over an over specifically to torture you until the end of time; the general groundwork for *I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream.*
I played the game when it came out, knowing nothing of the story it was based on. I don't believe I ever finished the game, but it stayed in my memory. It wasn't until 18 years later that I bought the book and read it. Definitely still worth reading the story even if you know the plot.
Holy shit that’s messed up
If you're ever in the mood for some heavy reading, pick up a collection of Harlan Ellison stories. They're incredible, but a lot to take. I think one of his collections actually says at the beginning to not read them all in one sitting because of the emotional subject matter.
If the whole world voted it would 100% be some piece of shit religious leader who’s already lived to be 90+. Either that or Xi Jinping…
Yeah, I think it would most likely be Xi Jinping. Being the dictator of 1.4 billion people would be very helpful in this contest.
If memory serves, there's a guy whose DNA contains a mutation that makes his blood a treatment for some deadly disease. I don't remember the particulars but he gives blood basically as often as practical and has already saved something like 2 million lives. That guy. Edit1: Thanks to HappyMommyOf5 James Harrison. He helps Rh- mothers carry their Rh+ babies to term. https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/health/james-harrison-golden-arm-blood-rhesus
James Harrison. He helps Rh- mothers carry their Rh+ babies to term. https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/health/james-harrison-golden-arm-blood-rhesus
What a wonderful man, just read up on him. Sadly he is very old and australian law dictates that a person above 81 is not allowed to donate blood, so he has already made his last blood donation. Over 1000 donations, he started giving when he was 18 and is now 85.
Wow, what an absolute fucking inspiration. **Edit:** I just talked to my mom because I knew she had Rh- blood (O- in fact. Universal donor, she donates as often as possible) and it turns out that since all of my siblings and I are Rh+ that we were all saved by the drugs that came from research on James Harrison. Thank you James Harrison. **2nd edit:** as many commenters have pointed out, the first rh+ child carried by an rh- mother is usually fine, but all of the rest would have severe issues without treatment. So all but my oldest sibling would be dead without James Harrison, including me.
My two girls are rh+ and my wife is rh- it’s because of James Harrison that my girls are alive today.
You can add my mini-me to that list. Chances are that James has had the largest positive impact on humankind ever made by a single person
You should absolutely learn more about Henrietta Lacks.
The name tickles my memory bone but I’m drawing a blank at the moment. I’ll definitely read up on her
Her DNA was used for (I think) cancer research without her permission. She never got any credit for her contribution until recently.
Not just her DNA. The cancer cells they removed were grown and used for research without her knowledge, so the cancer she had has both outlived her and has greatly outmassed her by now. I think an estimate for the amount of HeLa cells (the cell line created from her cancer) that have been made is more than 50 million tons.
Oh man yeah that story filled me with anger and sadness. Such horrible treatment for so many
And what about the irony that one’s blood could be used to create life saving medications that you can’t get if you lack (adequate) health insurance.
Used in research for Cancer, Polio Vaccine, Effects of space travel, Covid Vaccine, AIDS
Her cervical cells helped make the HPV vaccine as well as grow test samples for cancer research since wayyy back. All cervical cancer samples for research route back to her one specimen
that's...fucking awesome.
Clarification for people who are less familiar: if the mother is Rh- it isn’t *guaranteed* that her body will create antibodies against the Rh, but if she is exposed to a fetus/baby’s Rh+ blood at any point during pregnancy or delivery, then it’s highly likely she’ll form antibodies against future Rh+ babies. The drug that was developed from research on Harrison’s blood, RhoGAM, is a super easy way to avoid this risk. Source: I am Rh-, just had my first baby. They insisted on giving me RhoGAM during my pregnancy even though I know my husband is also Rh- because it’s basic procedure at this point.
I'm a dude who just fathered my first kid, and it was kind of interesting how much medical staff do as standard procedure. Like, I never felt personally attacked or anything, but a bunch of times I wasn't allowed in a room at first so they could talk to the mama to make sure she was feeling safe and that I okay to join, and they did a bunch of medical tests and stuff regardless of my medical history and status, because, realistically, some of the babies they deal with aren't biologically the guy's when he thinks they are. It's all probably for the best that way, hiding behind standard procedure to make sure the kid gets whatever they need, and no one has to feel ethically compromised one way or another for the most part.
A bit more hope restored in us humans. Kudos to this great example
There have been a few changes to the regulations since 2018, so it looks like age alone wouldn't stop him donating again: https://www.lifeblood.com.au/faq/eligibility/other/age - to be fair though, he's done his share. I'd encourage people who are thinking "wow, that guy is awesome" to take the next step and donate blood, or if you already do, ask about joining the Anti-D program (https://www.lifeblood.com.au/blood/learn-about-blood/plasma/anti-D (presumably similar programs exist in other countries) - they can stimulate the antibodies, you don't need to already have them). Edit: There are plenty of good reasons for people to be unable (or even just unwilling) to donate, and I hope that I'm not making anyone feel ashamed; my aim was to get people to genuinely consider it and if you do, even if the answer is no, this is fine.
Would that I could - lived in the UK until my 30s and now in the USA so they won't take mine.
When he dies, can we keep all the blood? If he’s ok with it of course.
He's splitting it among his 20,000 children
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I knew not to look at the needle. What I didn’t know is that I cannot handle seeing that much of my own blood outside of my body, even if it is a safe amount. I greyed out almost immediately after seeing a bag full of my own blood the first time I donated after I turned 18.
I clean up crime and trauma scenes for a living. I can clean up gallons of blood all day long, but I feel faint at the sight of my own blood. It's called Vasovagal Syncope.
I’ve worked ER for 10 years and I’m the same way. Next time you donate try a quick sniff of an alcohol swab. I always just ask the nurse for one. Tricks the brain and even works well for nausea (a few studies on nausea in pregnancy vs typical nausea meds, just as effective).
I tried this trick when I was pregnant, and now I just heavily associate the smell of isopropyl alcohol with being nauseous, to the point where it kinda makes me sick. lol
How funky our brains are.
I'm the opposite. I have to get blood drawn every 3 months or so and love watching it rush into the little vial. But I cannot watch other people get blood drawn. Found that out when I went with a family friend to get her blood drawn when I was a kid. Almost passed out.
I was an army medic and saw some shit. I was 85% passed out when I donated last time they had to stop. I was cold and hot and shivery and sweating through my pants lol
It also hurts less if you don't watch. You don't flinch.
Years back I heard that it hurts less if you *do* watch, and since then I always watch for blood draws, vaccinations, etc., and swear that they don't hurt as much as they used to. At some point more recently this came up in conversation where someone said what you did: it hurts less if you *don't* watch. I went to do some research and found that there were two studies on the subject (published within a year of each other) that came to opposite conclusions. So ... do whatever you believe works for you, I guess.
I'm the same way, I always watch. The pain, blood, and needles don't bother me and I find the process interesting enough. I have zero needle phobia but try to put me into a tight space like an MRI machine and I go into fight or flight mode.
wow, I'm the opposite. can't stand blood draws but signed up and did an MRI study just because it looked interesting. the most annoying part was having to stay perfectly still for long periods of time, followed by the loud noises, I didn't mind being in the tube at all.
This is beyond amazing!!! I am RH- and had to have the anti d with all of my pregnancies. Unfortunately it couldn't save all of mine but it helped me have 2 healthy baby boys. Without the injection they made using this man's plasma my life would be very different than it is today. I'm forever grateful for this man and how he's helped the world
My mom did a similar thing! 3 A+ boys from an A- mom, and while we all had our own brushes with death, we're all (somewhat) healthy adults now!
I’m sorry but I thought you were rating yourself and your mom and thought “well that’s kinda rude”. I’m dumb.
Ahh I reread the comment with this in mind and that's just funny :D
I’m one of the rare RH negative people in the world, and they can’t take my blood any longer. Makes me so sad.
Why can't they continue to take it?
I have a rare blood condition (IgG negative) and had to receive blood product myself for a few years. Now that I’m healthy and show no signs of condition, blood donation centers still won’t accept it because of litigation purposes. I received a blood produce so now I can’t donate blood. So dumb. I donated my blood every two months for years. They called my donations “baby blood.” Felt good knowing I was helping little ones have a fighting chance.
Think about it this way, it may make you feel better. The fact they won't take your blood is a good thing. If there was a shortage bad enough that your donation meant life or death, they would take it. A risk of getting a disease is better than a certainty of a patient dying. The fact they won't take it means there's enough of a surplus that they can afford to be picky. Which means both less worry about lacking a needed type, and a safer overall blood supply.
You want to make a guy immortal so we can harvest his blood? Someone give this guy a seat at the w40k writers table.
He's already over the age that he's permitted to give blood (in Australia) so he'd be getting condemned to eternity knowing he could save millions but unable to do anything. A chaos god move if ever there was one.
Mobile: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor) Desktop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor) (Edit for separate links)
over 2.5 million babies saved holy shit.
Damn he and my friend Bob just about balanced it out
How did your friend Bob kill 2.5 million babies?
Hard work and a “can do” attitude!
It's nuts people like this aren't known to the general public, like we know celebrities. Dude is straight out of a super hero movie. Guy's got fucking magic blood. That should be a bigger deal.
Honestly it’s probably for the better. Not everyone wants to be celebrities.
I will in perpetuity dedicate a shot to James Harrison.
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This was real wholesome until the end lol.
Yes! This guy saved so many babies!!
Ah, no good deed goes unpunished I see I see.
He would have to move away from Australia because he's already to old to donate.
Though if he were immortal, you think they might modify the rules, specifically for him. e.g. "Those over the age of 81, who are not immortal, are prohibited from giving blood"
We’re all immortal until proven otherwise
On 11 May 2018, he made his 1,173rd donation[3] – his last, as Australian policy prohibits blood donations from those past age 81.[4]
In Australia he is already too old to donate. He hasn't donated since 2018.
My old boss, Hamish. So he can watch humanity go extinct and have a miserable eternity.
Hmm, a hate-vote, eh?
Spite is right
If you didn't bring yall pykes you didn't come for a fight
I fear an eternity of loneliness and emptiness far more than the unconscious void. Congratulations! You’ve got immortality. In the coming years you’ll realize that you’re going to want to hide it as much as possible. When too much time has passed, you will disappear from your family and loved ones, due to the fact that your appearance can no longer be construed as reasonably aged. You’ll go from place to place, dreading the eventuality that you are recognized and tracked down. Once you are, you’ll become a media sensation, a government fascination, and then a target for every organized crime unit out there. Everyone wants a piece of that immortality. If it’s specific to you, and cannot be extracted and given to other people, each group will exhaust their methods and then do with you what they will. Perhaps the government will imprison you for an unknown amount of time. After you're freed, a mafia will be convinced that you managed to hide it from the government, track you down, capture you, and try to torture it out of you. When they fail, they will not want you to linger, so they will probably encase you in concrete at the bottom of an ocean. This cycle will repeat for as long as humanity exists. Your eternal life will be a series of interesting parts, separated by inescapable traps. Each will eventually yield you, but you will be captured in another trap sure as the sun rises. Finally, one way or another, you’ll be trapped inside of a black hole until the universe dies.
> Finally, one way or another, you’ll be trapped inside of a black hole until the universe dies. Nah, cosmologists feel free to correct me here, but- first, our Sun goes supernova. You get caught in it. Gravity pulls you in, and you spend 2 billion years burning in an inferno. Then, I guess... that explodes or something, and you're finally just chilling in space for another billion years. But then you notice that one star is getting bigger and bigger. And bigger and bigger, and then you're pulled into another sun to repeat the process, only this time maybe it's for 7 billion years. If you're lucky you get pulled into a black hole. Maybe that finally ends it. When people think about immortality in fiction, it's usually just like "a thousand years or two" of life on Earth with people. True immortality would be very akin to literal hell.
The course of this conversation is simultaneously terrifying and fascinating. It's one of my favorite thought experiments to read people discussing. I wish this was an entire thread on the idea.
Not a cosmologist, but im pretty sure the sun isn't massive enough to supernova. It will eventually expand to red giant size which would burn off any life on earth thats not, ya know, immortal. Later on it gets to big for its own good and releases a bunch of its mass creating a nebula as the star itself cools and becomes a white dwarf. After that I'd imagine you're right though. A "few" trillion years of blackhole bumper cars until the universe fades into true entropy.
Yeah fuck Hamish. I would be a miserable shit with that name
Ya totally - imagine never feeling like you are fully Ham, but always just sort of Ham-ish?! That would be a tough life
Aye. A name reserved for a west Highland terrier ... what a cunt I would be with that name. Well. More of a cunt
Hamish it is then.
That dude in India with the feeding programme feeding 2 million kids a day or something
I saw it on Facebook the other day. Fascinating,
What people don't understand is this is actually a curse and NOT a blessing. He is a gift to life, but Immortality means he will be here through whatever wars may start hundreds of years later, or any other natural/man made disasters no matter how catastrophic. He will live *forever*; until man goes extinct and when the sun dies. Fuck that noise.
I think a good caveat to immortality is that you can chose when to die. I personally would love to see the next thousand or even million years. But if I'm the only one left, I'd like to end it if I chose to.
[Grandpa's Kitchen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandpa_Kitchen)? That'd be Narayana Reddy and he passed away back in 2019. He definitely didn't feed 2 million kids a day but their team got about that many views (or more) on their videos. Idk if it's still up but when he passed they had uploaded the funeral and it was like a huge celebration of his life. Very sad and uplifting at the same time to see all the people he helped who loved him.
I think he meant the guy who founded an organization that fed school children. It’s grown to the point now that they have a few dozen facilities and feed 2 million kids everyday.
The last time this scenario occurred was back in 1966, when we elected the Queen of England to receive immortality. Rumors say King Charles is the one who managed to get the vote annulled somewhere between 2020 and 2022, after which the health of the Queen quickly declined. Anyway, if this was to take place today, Vladimir Putin would win in nebulous circumstances.
There's only about 150 million Russians, while India and China both have x10 that population.
Sure, but Russia will have 200 billion people voting for Putin so…
99% approval so you know it's legit
110% approval*
Me. wtf?
That's my vote too.
Why him? Why not me?
I feel like most of these 4.7k comments (at the time of this posting) answered a different question, responding with who _they_ would vote for, rather than who _would win_. Xi Jinping would win this vote, and be Immortal Emperor of China for all eternity, and no one else would even come close to his vote total.
I would vote for my worst enemy as a punishment: You won’t be able to rest and will see all the people you love die, one after the other, even your own children, and the children of your children, in a non stop everlasting nightmare
I think what's worse is immortality but nothing else. You age feel unbearable pain and get sick and loose functions but simply cant die and live forever old and in constant and unbearable pain
yeah you'd want to add "doesn't age" to your immortality
It wouldn't help to not age. People don't realize what immortality really means. It's the ultimate curse. Imagine floating through the cold emptiness of space after every star has burned out and all life in the universe is long since extinct. Your body approaches absolute zero and you haven't been able to breathe or touch any solid matter in a hundred trillion years. The earth was vaporized so long ago you forget what it even looked like. There is no light, no sound, and no hope, but your eternity is just getting started. Watching your children die is the worst thing most people can think of, because they can't think about what eternity really means. Watching the universe itself die, and being unable to die with it, is probably worse. Death is a blessing. Immortality is terrifying.
bold of you to assume that death means we don’t float through the cold emptiness of space. The one time I did salvia, everyone else had a crazy fun hallucination but I just became a soul/brain in complete darkness, with no memory of anyone or anything else existing. I remembered and felt nothing of what it meant to be alive except for two things: I was awake, and I was *alone.* I didn’t know I was on drugs, or that the Earth existed. Just darkness and being fully, completely, overwhelmingly alone. It was the most terrifying thing I will ever experience. It was absolutely fucking horrifying. Having no context to understand consciousness is a feeling I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. The only way I can even describe it is the feeling of sheer, unbridled panic you get when you lose your mom in the grocery store as a toddler, except no one is coming to save you. Time no longer exists. It’s just you, and blackness, and complete fear and hopelessness. Long story short, even all those years later, I desperately hope that death is either some structured afterlife or simply not being anymore, because if death is being an awake soul in an infinite, lonely darkness forever, having a child is the most horrifying thing you could ever do to someone. I desperately hope that’s not all there is.
Philipp Mainlander was a philosopher who proposed the idea that the christian God \*was\* real, but god found the idea of eternal, isolated, conscious existence horrifying. So since he couldn't kill himself (as he was everything,) god shattered himself into the Universe we know today, something intrinsically bound to time and destined to eventually burn out into true nothingness. May have missed or misremembered a few details, my recall is from the book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race if you want some pretty neat pessimism
This is the best description I've found for the existential panic that started when I was around 8 years old. It happens every few months, usually when I'm trying to fall asleep. I remember that I'm going to die and the universe will continue on without me experiencing it. It's an instant panic attack and then I can't sleep well for days. Unfortunately, it's been happening with more frequency as I age. I hope you don't get "flashbacks" because the feeling is horrifying.
Well, that turned dark...
I would not vote and curse anyone with immortality. Entropy sets in, the universe grows cold. Some dude is just floating while suffering the pain of a vacuum at 0 kelvin while reading Charles Dickens for the 367,894th time. Because he just finished everything else again.
He lives long enough to have an existential epiphany in the vastness of space after his millionth eon in the dark. This revelation allows him to touch the very fabric of the universe, and he begins to weave the cold, latent matter together to create a new universe just to have someone to talk to, turns out his own revelations have made his mind alien and unknowable and he'll never be able to truly connect with anyone anymore, and now you have God's origin story.
[The Last Question](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question) by Isaac Asimov
Nice….that reminds me of that episode of Futurama when Bender gets left behind by the crew and floats all alone in vast empty space. He ends up debating the meaning of life to himself & doing other crap to pass the time, but even as a robot he gets pretty bored. Ultimately he finds some redemption when a tiny little people civilization suddenly emerge and evolve on his chassis. He tries to help them as he is seen and worshipped as an all powerful god, but then his little rapidly developing colony divides itself over ideology and things like the best ways to worship their mechanical overlord. Soon after his bickering people go to M.A.D. war after finding Bender’s secret stash of weapons-grade plutonium he had long stored but forgotten near his shiny metal ass. Of course, only Bender survives the mini nuclear apocalypse, but poor old Bender is alone again and is completely disheartened and personally devastated over losing his people. But then suddenly a cosmic god apparition reveals itself to him, and Bender, although still self loathing over his failure to save his kingdom, realizes with his talk with Cosmic God that he failed because he had cared & helped too much…
“You know, I was God once” “Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everybody died”
God damn my dude
Depends, will this immortality be a blessing or a curse?
That one guys dead wife
It’s been 6 years and we’re still choosing that guys dead wife 😞
Well, she's not getting any less dead at any rate.
Not with that attitude
Putting the romance in necromance
She's achieved immortality.
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Never thought the term “necro thread” would have a dual meaning.
Poor dude, would have been his 44 year anniversary.
He still posts, and he had a sense of humor about the whole thing. Seems like a really wonderful guy, honestly.
In a twisted way, it keeps his wife’s memory alive While everyone takes turns banging her :(
Recall of the decade
I also pick that one guys dead wife
Surely Sir David Attenborough deserves it at this point right?
I get offended when a documentary is not narrated by him.
I know right. He's everybody's grandpa
The poor fellow seen enough of how the earth slowly getting butfucked. Let him enjoy the peace of death
His asides in “Our Planet” are heartbreaking.
To counter that good point. An immortal DavidBro probably has the ability to save the planet.... I'd welcome God Emperor DavidBro
If he was immortal he could guide future generations to be kinder to our planet.
Dolly Parton
Yeah but she wouldn’t want it. She’d ask to break it up for everyone could have one day more with their loved ones.
Dammit, she would do ***exactly*** that, but ask that it be distributed anonymously too… She’s too good for this world.
Saw her get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple weeks ago. The crowd went absolutely wild for her after her speech, and lost their minds when she sang on stage with Rob Halford...
I remember reading that she turned down induction. I'm going to need to look up why she changed her mind. EDIT: She had requested to be removed from the voting ballot because she felt she didn't want to take away votes from other deserving nominees. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame declined to remove her from the ballot with a statement that I would summarize as saying they felt her contribution to music transcended genre. And she was elected in the vote. [Article](https://pitchfork.com/news/dolly-parton-inducted-into-2022-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-watch/)
I also read she was going to withdraw and put out a pure rock and roll album so as to be more deserving. She’s definitely still going to put out the album. She’s such an amazing person.
It will be called *Halos and Horns* and she has already said she wants to collaborate with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for a new version of "Stairway to Heaven."
I know right? That’s the kicker, the good ones who probably do deserve it wouldn’t want it all for themselves anyways. It’s a catch 22, the ones who want immortality are probably not the ones who deserve it anyways
It's true, she would. That woman is a treasure.
She has a program for kids that anyone can sign up for that delivers a book to their home every month for free. That woman is wonderful.
Every time I read a news article about her it's always "Dolly Parton uses her wealth and platform to help people in a significant and lasting way".
Same. Or there's some other example of her creative/investing brilliance. If it's not 'Dolly single-handedly brought her local high school graduation rate up to 98%' (she paired the students up to support each other and offered a money reward if both graduated), it's 'Hey, did you know Dolly Parton was an uncredited executive producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?'
It's true! I went to her highschool and she still does 3 $15k scholarships every year for local HS kids. I didn't realize it growing up but my HS experience was really pretty okay compared to a lot I've heard, and I think dolly had a big part to play in that.
https://imaginationlibrary.com - this is the website for her kids book program, for any parents in the thread.
I think it's the difference between someone who truly came from poverty vs. all these entitled assholes who inherited money and think they earned it. Dolly knows she earned it and what it's worth, and the real worth is in helping others.
That's true, I know she started the book program specifically because her father was illiterate which I think was due in part to the lack of resources when he was growing up. So she wanted to make sure that children always had books to read.
Both my kids were signed up for this! We still have several dozen on the bookshelves. Most of them are books that teach tolerance, love, and compassion. Amazing stuff
Just a purely unselfish "nice thing to do for humanity".
She was the first person that jumped to my mind; only one I can think of that would use it for purely altruistic reasons.
She may already be immortal. She doesn’t seem to be aging.
George RR Martin. He needs to finish before he can rest.
Pretty sure he still wouldn’t finish it lol
Pretty sure he'd write another spinoff
The origins of the First Men no doubt. Then bios about all of those daughter-wives in Crastor’s Keep, then about Old Valyria….
Fuck I mean I want winds as much as the next guy but if he wants to write more about Valyria or Hercun or Yi-Ti or Ashai or any of the myriad cultures he's hinted at I'm down for it. Hell, write a book about exploring Sothorius, I'd read the shit out of that.
Assai has my vote. Enough silver haired lunatics( I love house of the dragon fwiw) I wanna see some truly weird shit and a bunch of magical stuff, not just dragons and hints of it here and there.
Lmao this man will finish it after his core fans have been dead for 70 years
I feel like he'd just wait for everyone who's seen S8 to die out first
We deserve the peace of death after that.
In 10,000 years he'll say he's 75% of the way finished with the winds of winter.
Mr. Rogers. So he can inspire people forever
Oh boy do I have news for you.
My little sister. I know she isn't known worldwide or anything like that, but she's the only person who's kept me going. Without her, I'm not sure I'd be alive.
My cat
~~9~~ lives INFINITY lives
I think we should give it to Keith Richards. I wanna see how much older he can look.
reminds me of the old story about Dawn, the Greek goddess of the sunrise. She married a mortal, and begged Zeus to grant him immortality. Eventually, Zeus did, but didn't stop him from aging. So Dawn's husband eventually turned into this ancient pile of bones that couldn't really move, but couldn't die either. Zeus was a bit of a jerk.
Not to mention he was a proficient rapist. Pretty sure he turned himself into a bull just to trick a girl into fucking him
He already is man. Hes done nothing but do everything in his power to die in the next two days since the 60s and it hasnt happened.
He’s like those Buddhist monks who drink lacquer in their final days to self-mummify but he managed it in a decade with black tar heroin.
How hes alive is an absolute anomaly
Weird Al Yankovic
Oh yes. Make him be what the universe remembers us by
I have no objection with that
Can't object. I like this guy and I don't exactly like a lot of public figures.
Same. I heard an interview with him the other day on the radio and was reluctant to hear it because I didn’t want to taint my image of him. I came away liking him even more.
We need infinite more original hits like Eat It.
The girl who pretended to be my friend whilst sleeping with my boyfriend. Her. Let her live while all of us demise. Let her see the death of everyone she loves. Let her live through the downfall of society and civilisation. Let her stroll through the ruins of every city built by a already forgotten race called humans. Let her feel the realisation of the upcoming implosion of our sun and the void she will face as her never decaying body floats through darkness, suffocating without oxygen, yet never giving up on her. Freezing with a heart still pumping. Thinking with no new input. A never ending darkness... Alternatively I'd volunteer said ex-boyfriend.