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RE: Thought of the Day #1: What If You are Immortal...
Well, I'm a Transhumanist, so I fully expect that within a few decades many people will be asking this question as technology allows us to live exponentially longer lives, even possibly forever if aging can be ceased altogether. I, for one, welcome and embrace the monumental day when we defeat the disease that is aging, and move into a world where time is no longer a limiting factor for man to pursue his endeavors!
I'm just glad that more people like you exist. There was a time people achieved sainthood for refusing to take medicine. Source The biggest challenge would actually be how we handle memory. If we could boost cell regeneration to live few hundred years, how would we handle all that newly acquired information. But then again take a look back at your childhood and think about how things have changed. This massive changes are going to end up being a common thing in the memories of those who live long.
When money is not a concern people can make magnificent things just as people's activities changed when starvation was no longer a real concern. When there is at least 20,000 years or even more(at this point current max human life would seem like 2 seasons passing) I think things like world peace could end up being an inevitability. https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@vimukthi/imagine-there-was-a-war-and-everybody-would-rather-watch-netflix
You are absolutely correct. For the vast majority of human existence on this planet, poverty and self-denial were regarded as the ultimate in virtue. Only the Greeks in Antiquity, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment brought with them a new system of virtues, not built on self-denial but on self-accomplishment.
As for memory, the human brain/mind is already capable of filtering out a vast majority of content that is witnesses and processes, mostly stuff that is unimportant and not worth remembering. Add to this the ability for something akin to a computer-aided memory add-on, and you could easily allow humans to mentally handle their minds for 1000's or 10,000's of years without issue.
People seem to think that death is the only motivator in life. I fundamentally disagree! If this was the case, then shouldn't our ancient ancestors have spent 100% of their time gathering and hunting for food? Why then did they take time to make cave paintings and carve small animal and fertility statues? Why then was writing created? What about art, science, philosophy? Death was not a motivator for the creation of these things, but instead it was to either serve as innovation, fulfillment, entertainment, or simply happiness and joy. Death is not a motivator, but life is. When people realize this, their whole outlook on their lives change drastically.