I picked "immortality" over "shapeshifting" on that poll I just boosted. I'm surprised by this, given my usual "meh" attitude towards my own demise.
Guess it's a matter of which I could be of more practical help with? I'm not that attached to existence for its own sake, but I have that sense of obligation to see friends through.
And I could do a LOT more good with 100s of years of preserved knowledge than, I dunno, having cool wings and a tail. No judgement, but for me, a bit self-indulgent?
I'm a literary beast. Peggy and I joke that my eyes and brain basically function like a VT-100 terminal -- when I look around, all I see is "[prettydragon.jpg]" or "[twelvebunnies.png]" or "[lovely-pnw-sunrise.gif]" anyhow.
My ideal form is "brain in a jar," preferably with enough endocrinology intact that I still feel pleasure. If I want wings, shit, I can just write 'em. :D
But while philosophically I'm kinda GLAD I'll be recycled out eventually... 1000s of years to process data? Ok, sure!
@Austin_Dern There are complicated neurological and health related reasons behind the fact I tend to lean towards "brain in a jar." They're potentially kind of interesting in the context of this conversation, but it's 2:30 am here and I should get some rest, so this is kind of a note to myself to chat more about this later. :) (Conversational bookmark: "So why *did* you start out as an artificial vixen, zebratron?")
@zebratron2084 Better a short life in a body that I'm satisfied with than to live forever yearning painfully. :/
@Soreth Yeah, you're pretty high on my list of People Who Need The Other Option. *hug*
Shapeshifting would be selfish for *me* because I just don't feel those pangs as anything more than occasional passing wistful urges. I know a lot of my friends get emotional *pain* from these things, whether they're gender or species, and I would not only endorse the shapeshifting option for them, I might have to insist on it, desperately though I'd miss them in a few centuries. n.n;; <3
@Soreth (But then, if you get to shapeshift into a dragoness and DON'T get longevity, you got a shitty deal anyhow. I think it'd only be fair that you get at LEAST 500 extra years out of the dragon package. ^___^ )
@zebratron2084 Yeah, hopefully that comes along with. :)
@Soreth For me, I dunno, I'm so fundamentally protean and flighty that there probably *is* no physical deal that would be worth it. Eventually I'd find something I'd want to be, like a very large prime number or an entire coral reef, that would be far beyond the terms of the bargain and I'd just be grumpy anyway. Save that prize for the folks who actually *have* a self-image to clash with their appearance to begin with. ^____^;;
@zebratron2084 I suppose if you get immortality eventually the biotech gets good enough that you get can where you need to be, if it's possible.
With shapeshifting you get what you need now, and hope that biotech gets good enough that you can live forever.
So not too different, really.
(OTOH, on the grand scheme of things, I just don't give enough of a shit about my physical form on a daily basis. As noted earlier, I'm just not that *physically* dysphoric-- I just want my feminine/feline/equine/whatever personality traits acknowledged socially.
For someone who feels more seriously misembodied than I do, I don't think choosing shapeshifting over immortality is necessarily "self-indulgent" in the slightest. *I* just don't need it or know what to do with it personally, yanno?)