Do any of you think there are fates worse than death? I for one think so.

Going mad is the one I'm worried about.

Losing my body I've already been through and it was horrible, but I survived it. And I survived by taking pride in what I did have - my mind.

The thought of losing control of myself is the second-scariest thought I could think. The first scariest is that maybe I was never in control to begin with. When you stop and think about everything that drives you, and how much of it was formed when you had no control over it...

It's things like that, that keep me up late when I ought to be sleeping.

Yes, there is.

The hell that is highschool for all eternity. That would make me wish for death pretty fast!

Losing control.

Got that right. And like Hell it's a Seductive path.

Death is highly over-rated in my estimation. Dying has the potential to be a royal pain in the neck, among other places, and some people believe the 'afterdeath' will be pretty nasty for some (usually other) people but death itself is just the point where you shut down and, under normal circumstances, don't start up again.

So basically anything that A: is less pleasant than taking a nap and B: stands little or no chance of ever getting better is a fate worse than death. A is subjective for most cases and, fortunately, B is pretty hard to substantiate in practice. So long as you have hope death will generally be a sub-optimal option.

And that's my long winded over-thinking-of-a-topic for the day!

(oops!)

Betrayal is worse than Death.

Mediocrity.

Oh, and by the way? The world was here long before us and will be here long after life proves we're all temporary. Just so you know.

Interesting. I've seen your work. You need not worry.

Worse fate then death? Getting caught by certian people.

To lose faith.

Unending loneliness.

My answers range from the humorous to the sad, and many of them I've been through:

Living with Caestus Pax.

Being dosed with mox and valium so that I lose half my wits and I'm drugged out of the rest of them.

Feeling Singularity fade from my mind with no explanation.

Losing someone I love.

Going to school.

Being married to my ex-husband.

Listening to terr'r in a confined space.

Kashmir.

Yes, there can be fates worse than death. Mileage will vary.

Amongst others, making a stupid mistake that led to one of the things Samhra mentioned.

Living my life the way it was before I was enlightened.

I might be splitting hairs here but it sounds like some people are descending into hyperbole. A "fate worse than death" implies that you would seriously prefer death to the fate in question. So before naming something that is merely "really really bad" be sure that, given the option, you would actually rather die than experience it (again).

I was, essentially, dead in the situation I named. Does that count? :p

Really? Do you think you could explain that again, only this time go really slow for me.

I know what hyperbole is. My answer wasn't.

I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, except I'm very interested to see where people really hang the value of their lives. ...not that I'm taking notes on all of your greatest fears so I can subject each of you to elaborate traps that force you to chose between death and your selected fate. Nope. Not even considering it.

But you got better? Out of respect for the essentially deceased, by the authority arbitrarily vested in me, I will say yes that counts.

Actually it hadn't occurred to me that yours would be. Though, while we're on the subject, could you settle for being 'good' at something merely in the way that the nodeless are good at their specialties? (This assumes you were talking about personal, rather than situational, mediocrity)

Depends on what you mean.

I suck at all kinds of things. Computers. Simplest things in the world according to Gerry and Whore, but I haven't managed to make one last longer than 4 days before it blows. Following rules is another. I mean, I can follow a rule but... Okay, the sign says don't walk but there isn't a car that can hit me when I'm paying attention so of course I'm going to walk. Putting up with stupid shit is another one. Doesn't matter if its some rule I can't figure out without a lawyer doing translation or just some dickhead getting aggro in my face. If the sign says don't push the button, I'm going to push the button. It's just a question of when I'm going to get around to pushing it.