#and don't even get me started on inches and fahrenheit and pounds

[xiuhunsoo]

honestly the only wish i have for world domination is to take over the world so i can get rid of all fucking other measurements and implement the metric system worldwide bc i cannot fucking deal with this cups and ounces nonsense any longer just use fucking scales and litre measurement cups like any sane person does fuck's sake

[kafkaoftherubble]

看到别的《不灭》粉针对“长生不死”的看法，在下小感

// Some thoughts on Immortality vis-à-vis To Your Eternity

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Why is there a (sometimes hidden) assumption that being immortal automatically means the following expectations:

being incredibly intelligent

hella knowledgeable

an expert generalist

"the one with the answer" in the entire group?

It's prevalent in pop culture which, I'm gonna guess, is a product of tons of fiction and myths that "say so."

But I think people take these assumptions for granted way too much and start to impose a universality that I don't think holds up to immortal characters who are human or possess human brains.

The qualifiers "human" and "possessing human brains" (or human cognition) are very important here. If this immortal is non-human, then this critique isn't aimed at them. Read on if you like, though.

The (human) brain is simply not an infinite memory space the way a computer database could theoretically be. Limitations are one of the most important factors that shape the course of a brain's evolution; hell, I once wrote a ramble regarding the difference between an AI's information processing vs. human cognition.

(Yes, it was outfitted with citations. Yes, it was completely unprompted and no one asked for it. At all. You may start to notice a pattern regarding me.)

Children generally get to learn and absorb as much information as they like with minimal cost until they're of a certain age, and then the pruning of neurons starts. The number of neurons we have is reduced because the brain now favors depth instead of breadth of knowledge. You cut off the things you don't actually need in your life to free new neurons for any domain that needs it.

This isn't just about memories. It's about things like your optical sense, your auditory sense, the whole shebang. Every part of your brain is constantly vying for free real estate to bolster its own domain; it's a relentless competition for neurons.

What does that mean?

It means even if you're immortal—so long as you're human or possess a human brain—you'll always be limited in your knowledge and skills. You can try to learn as many things as you want, but you're doing it at a cost, all the time.

Think about it. How well do you remember everything you've ever learned in school?

Do you remember the details of, say, the differing carbon pathways for C3 and C4 plants? Do you remember there are two kinds of mechanisms?

Do you remember how to calculate a region's longitude and latitude using their timezone via employing the Greenwich Meridian Line as a reference point, or a region of a known timezone?

Do you remember how to exchange inch to centimeter, or pound to kilogram, or Celsius to Fahrenheit, without using a converter?

How about recalling the detailed history of all four ancient civilizations and their ways of life: the Mesopotamian, the Egyptian, the Indus, and the Chinese?

So on, so forth. I don't know what everyone studied in their respective education system, but chances are, there is a lot of shit we have all "forgotten" even if we spent an inordinate amount of time committing them to memory back then. If you know the answer to any of these^ questions, then chances are you either just read/learn about them, or you regularly engage in this domain. Knowledge is never permanently stored in an individual's brain... because it can't. That's right; even skills and knowledge are not permanent in one's head. Impermanence, baby!

And that's my problem with the assumption of The All-Knowing Immortal.

While it's true that an immortal human has all the time in the world to study every knowledge humanity has accumulated as a whole, they can never have all knowledge at their fingertips, because at every acquisition of something new, they disregard what is judged to be unimportant and unnecessary by the brain to free up new neurons. There is always something the Immortal doesn't know—not because they have never heard of it, but because they have forgotten about it.

But surely immortality shapes someone such that they are different from a mortal being, right?

Correct! It does, and I think in at least two major ways:

(1) Expertise

Even a mortal being could gradually become an expert in one or—in the case of a polymath—various domains. Again, a mature brain favors depth instead of breadth. The more you practice, the more your neurons refine and develop, and the more skilled you become. That's how experts are created.

Since an Immortal has a lot more time (and with time comes resources and opportunities) to hone their skills in several domains, it stands that they will be incredibly expert in these domains over a long period.

The catch, though, is that they are only an expert in the domains they frequently engage in. It doesn't translate to being an expert in literally every other trade under the sun. It doesn't even mean they will become an instant expert after some light-reading about those trades because expertise ≠ genius. Some domains' knowledge may afford the Immortal an easier path to understanding related domains, but it still doesn't mean the Immortal is gonna be a pro and galaxy-brain at it without effort and cost.

(2) Experience

Experience is gained from how long one experiences life, so naturally, an Immortal is gonna have a lot of that. This is why I do agree that an Immortal should likely be one of the wisest in the group... but I don't think this rule should be universal to all immortal beings either.

What if an Immortal spent 40 years of their life in isolation, as a hermit, whose only occasional companion was a phantom-like observer who called them out anytime he felt like the Immortal was underwhelming?

The human brain's growth and learning depend on sociality. An isolated Immortal loses its most important source of learning, so of course, they would now be even less experienced than a poison-tasting woman who traveled around and recorded her adventures and knowledge in a book.

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That's right. This post has always been about Fushi... because To Your Eternity was in the title of this ramble. Ha! Read the signpost before you enter next time, you dorks! I gotcha good!

While some criticisms against Fushi's suboptimal intelligence and knowledge are warranted (and even those that aren't warranted are still interesting arguments to think about), I think people's expectation of what an Immortal being should be has gotten in the way of them seeing/appreciating Fushi as a "different kind of Immortal."

Fushi's default form is a 14-year-old boy who, for the longest time, has been living alone. That's a boy who's been deprived of social learning for a long enough time that it might have caused some brain damage (technical). That's not counting the fact that a 14-year-old brain simply isn't mature and is easily overtaken by impulses. I'm of the hypothesis that Fushi's beholden to the form they take; the proof is in how, whenever they change into one, they begin to exhibit their attributes.

Fushi's saddled with quite a lot of trauma—in fact, their trauma starts almost immediately and constantly after they are active beyond being a piece of rock or moss. What's the second word they learn after "Arigatou?" Wasn't it 痛い ("it hurts")? All of that stuff can indirectly hamper their social learning.

Fushi's base Nameless Boy form may also just be... well, not good at social learning. Or, Fushi themself isn't good at it. In other words, Fushi might just be... autistic. Bit of a headcanon there, though.

That's not all. While Fushi might have chosen to read a ton of books and whatnot, what do you think their interest will be? I don't think it's science, or politics, or philosophy, or looksmaxxing—the point is, they choose their own domains to engage in.

And even if they had read things like, I don't know, Trigonometry and Beauty or The Philosophy of Algebra or Sun Tzu's Art of War—my previous point about how knowledge can still be forgotten when those neurons fall into disuse still apply. And that's if Fushi was paying attention to what they were reading in the first place, because if you're not attentive, then good luck encoding things into your long-term memory effectively.

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So what does all of this amount to?

Well, it means one may think Fushi is a dull-witted Immortal,...

...or think Fushi is a different kind of Immortal.

An Immortal that isn't as common a depiction as most others we knew in pop culture, to boot. Stil, they exhibit the two things Immortals should possess in abundance compared to a mortal being.

Firstly, they display expertise in wielding their powers (they are actually a very competent fighter come the Modern Arc and the Future Arc when they want to be). They are skilled at cooking and are generally the best at remembering the quirks, characteristics, and inclinations of every person they know well enough.

Why? Because these are the domains they engage in all the time.

Secondly, they exhibit an abundance of experience accumulated through their long lives. But here's the twist that I adore To Your Eternity for:

While the experience of an Immortal is usually depicted as a net benefit that shapes that Immortal into becoming wise, Fushi's abundance of experience as an Immortal is sometimes detrimental to them.

I'm talking, of course, about trauma as one of the main components of their experience.

We've discussed previously that Fushi's growth might have been hampered by the sheer trauma they had undergone at the start of the story. But here's the thing: their experience since then didn't exactly improve all the time. The grueling trial that was The Assault on Renril? Their previous attempts at fighting back Nokkers with varying results? Being stuck in a molten iron Prison Gate oh wow it's like Gojo ohmygod cube? Kahaku? You can list them yourself.

Even as normal human beings with limited timespan, we often find our own less-than-savory experience—including trauma—debilitating or even unbearable. Now imagine being an Immortal who keeps collecting experiences like these. Imagine yourself saddled with the suffering you've already gone through and beholden to more trauma and suffering as part of your experience living forever.

These are your experiences.

Have they made you exceptionally wise?

Not really?

Aye, that's the point.

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If I have to give a TL;DR for this, I guess it's:

"Guys, I think we should give Fushi a wee bit of break, doncha think, lads?"

I know they are an Immortal. And people expect an Immortal various things in a story. But they are also a lot more than what common depictions of eternal beings are like.

Fushi is, to me, a very interesting exploration of being an immortal, and one I appreciate for

deconstructing the assumptions people make about Immortals in general

and deconstructing the "shouldn't an Immortal be wise because of their experience" understanding most of us might have.

Thank you for reading my ramble. Check your eyesight when you have the chance just in case reading all of this gave you a myopia. Don't say I didn't warn ya!

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I'm... gonna pretend this is my "Happy Fumetsu Tuesday/Wednesday" post of the week—which I haven't been doing for a while now. I might as well retroactively pretend this ramble was part of a tradition-that-is-never-really-observed-for-real, too.