True. It’s the best outcome if they’re unable to make it home. Gross, though.
But it IS a problem for the astronaut, as “I don’t want to die!” implied they didn’t want to lose sapience. Only a problem until it happens, of course, but then, so is death.
By definition, an immortal should not be able to die, but it depends on the writer. You’re correct that nothing says they can’t experience pain, though.
I’ve always seen the two as different but like you said it depends on the writer.
In my experience though “immortal” is mainly used in the sense that there’s no physically possible way for a mere human to kill said immortal.
It could also be the difference between something that’s biologically immortal (like lobsters who could theoretically grow forever due to their ability to reconstruct telomeres) and something physically immortal like certain atoms. Or event potentially something “essentially immortal” where by all accounts to human life they will outlive us by eons and there’s nothing we can do to even affect them let alone cause damage.
“Mortal” means “subject to death,” so without qualifiers “immortal” should mean something cannot die at all. But of course everything in the real world dies eventually, so when used on real things it’s being hyperbolic. Since there’s a supernatural being in the comic, all bets are off.
You mistake invulnerability with immortality.
An immortal can still die they just aren’t effected by time.
Invulnerability would mean you can still die of age but your body is physically invincible.
I don’t know what scenario you think we’re discussing here. If the astronaut is capable of dying from damage then the comic doesn’t work.
My interpretation is that they are not, but they can be in eternal agony or be rendered a chunk of living meat that’s too damaged to sustain sapience.
If the astronaut is unable to sustain sapience then there’s no problem. It’s no different from regular death.
True. It’s the best outcome if they’re unable to make it home. Gross, though.
But it IS a problem for the astronaut, as “I don’t want to die!” implied they didn’t want to lose sapience. Only a problem until it happens, of course, but then, so is death.
By definition, an immortal should not be able to die, but it depends on the writer. You’re correct that nothing says they can’t experience pain, though.
I’ve always seen the two as different but like you said it depends on the writer.
In my experience though “immortal” is mainly used in the sense that there’s no physically possible way for a mere human to kill said immortal.
It could also be the difference between something that’s biologically immortal (like lobsters who could theoretically grow forever due to their ability to reconstruct telomeres) and something physically immortal like certain atoms. Or event potentially something “essentially immortal” where by all accounts to human life they will outlive us by eons and there’s nothing we can do to even affect them let alone cause damage.
“Mortal” means “subject to death,” so without qualifiers “immortal” should mean something cannot die at all. But of course everything in the real world dies eventually, so when used on real things it’s being hyperbolic. Since there’s a supernatural being in the comic, all bets are off.
Fair enough