Is death the only thing guaranteed in our lives?

[yomide]

The plot of the story doesn't seem to agree with it but I do. Life is so unpredictable and the only guaranteed thing would be death which we come to all of us some day. The author says 'people say so' and so I guess the author is right.

I think the author says 'people say so' because despite what the people say the author is telling a different thing via his story. If there are multiple world lines or multi universes, or ultimately multiple ways a single person can live at the same time, there should be multiple ways that he/she can die too. What if one of such possibility is immortality? Then the death will remain no more as an inevitable thing.

That's right. I also believe that is the relevance of that statement to the story. The blue and red lines for instance, Michelle is dead in one but alive in the later. Meaning death wasnt guaranteed for her.

[yomide]

This statement is not entirely true because death is a possibility but as long as we have life, we are guaranteed of seeing the next day. Death is not a guarantee, it is a one time thing but we have life on a daily basis. It is not relevant to the story.

Speaking from your perspective, I wouldn't say you are entirely right. I mean, no one knows tomorrow. If we have life, we are guaranteed to die. Even if it is a one time thing, it will eventually happen. In fact, it happens everyday all round the world, people die. So why would you say (not on a multiverse scale like you have implied) death isn't guaranteed.

[KELVIN LANGAT]

I concur, some time or another we'll all kick the bucket. That is the thing that makes life so valuable since we need to get things done and live up until that point. Concerning the significance to the story, it's certainly apparent, as the foundation of the story includes Gary submitting murder inside a fantasy and the mishap where he nearly passed on.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

The whole idea of so called quantum immortality is very engaging. It's even philosophical, I would say I learned about it from this book, and I'm very grateful to the author for this. But, yes, people use to say that death is the only thing that's guaranteed. The author tried to show that human consciousness can travel from one universe to other, thus being immortal.

Yes, the author has taken into light an interesting theory, the quantum iimmortality. Though a subjective experience of death can be felt by anyone, objectively your consciousness will be transferred to another universe, making this quote about death valid no more.

[Katherine Smith]

This phrase reminds me of the famous line that the only guaranteed in life is death and taxes. I think that the author is referring to our own mortality in that everyone will die at some point. We, as human beings are not immortal creatures, but people with expiration dates which vary depending on many factors. I have heard some people say similar lines to what is presented in the book, but they mostly are veterans or those who have fled war zones. When you see life and death up close it gives you a different perspective from most people.

[yomide]

Everyone will die, sooner or later, we will. That alone concludes that death is very much guaranteed. But in this novel, in this world Adam has created, is death even a guarantee? My answer; NO! In fact it is the only one thing that seem just a probability. If death were guaranteed, why isn't Michelle dead in every worldline.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

The story actually hints at a phenomenon called quantum immortality, which means that we are actually immortal ourselves, but only appear to die in view of the people that surround us. We just carry on living in our own immortal 'worldline'. This is actually something that intrigues me a lot.

You are correct. The author wants to remind the inevitability of death to the reader and then expose him to a crazy yet interesting theory. No one can know what will death be like until one dies. So what if this quantum immortality is a real thing and we actually live forever in different forms, in different universes?

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Death is guaranteed; everyone knows it. Rather than people say it exactly like that, they say it differently, the way they believe it to be. Well, I will not say that death is the only thing guaranteed in life. There are many other things guaranteed in life for every person.
It could be relevant to the story; it could be not. Overall, it depends on the reader. However, the statement does give depth and uniqueness to the context.

Death is a one certain thing in our lives. Other than that the only certain thing that I know as certain is uncertainty. We may have something now and at the next moment it could have gone.

When speaking about the connection of this statement to the story, the author invites the reader to think out of the box and think about a soul which will travel through universes for the eternity. For that first he reminds us the borders of the box with this common statement.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

From my understanding, the phrase "people say so" is used to set the stage for what follows with the multiverse theory. The author argues the opposite. I try to remind myself that death is not the only thing guaranteed, so is life with its infinite possibilities.

I agree. Life offers us infinite possibilities, yet none of them are neither guaranteed nor certain. But death is inevitable and certain.

Yes, as you said, the author has added "people say so" to give the message to the reader, "though people say so, I do not believe so". And then he goes on to the explaining of this marvellous theory of quantum immortality.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

The whole idea of so called quantum immortality is very engaging. It's even philosophical, I would say I learned about it from this book, and I'm very grateful to the author for this. But, yes, people use to say that death is the only thing that's guaranteed. The author tried to show that human consciousness can travel from one universe to other, thus being immortal.

I too heard this concept of quantum immortality in a scientific way from this book for the first time. Other than that I have heard it in various religious teachings. Maybe it has some truth and also a scientific validity. None of us who are alive so far do not know what happens when you die. It is possible to happen what this author suggests and our souls might be travelling through this multiverse for the eternity.

[dcruzsammy]

I do think it is relevant with the whole multiverse, but in terms of real life, it's true to some extent. It is guaranteed, but that's not all there is to life and not the only thing that defines life either.

[B Sheila Holt]

Just as others have said in this thread , answering this same question; I tend to agree with the idea here that even though death IS an absolute, as others have also stated about this same topic here in this thread, life can be thought as another absolute as well. Maybe in another worldliness, as previously mentioned above and maybe another worldliness as seen in this book. But it’s just a thought about if life could be another absolute or not.
Staying with the topic of this post about possible absolutes; and death being mentioned as one for sure.

[oluwalonimi29]

To a large extent I agree with the author.
The only thing guaranteed to happen to man in all his existence is death. Wealth, power, the future, and all man can think to have isn't guaranteed all through his existence. The only thing guaranteed is death. Although in the story, Gary escaped death, but it is guaranteed that he and all humans will one day die.

[DTamara]

I would rather focus on the existence of infinite possibilities, especially when feeling stuck in life. One small decision we make may open up infinite others, may start a chain of infinite others. We are not guaranteed that everything will happen, but we are guaranteed a lot of choices, big and small. So death is not the only thing guaranteed when looking at it from this perspective.

[Fabulous mind]

I think I agree with the author. Death is something inevitable and guaranteed so far we are still humans (mortal). Irrespective of choices, how rich we are, poor or even healthy, when the time to die comes, it is usually guaranteed.