December 20, 2005
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Socrates CafeTopic #19: Would you want to live forever?
Would you want to live forever? The quick easy choice would be to say either yes or no, but the question is too complicated for an easy answer.
One point that needs consideration is whether or not I would be the only person who would be living forever. Studies have shown that one of the qualities which distinguishes people who live to very advanced age is the ability to adjust to change and to form new relationships as old ones are lost. I feel that I am relatively able to do that, but living forever while all my friends and family die does not appeal to me. Not only would the people I know and love now be gone, but that would happen to me repeatedly if I were living forever and everyone else was not. The prospect of continually replacing the relationships in my life is not a pleasant one.
Even if those who are near and dear to me were also living forever, there is still the issue of what that life would be like. Would we remain young and healthy, or would eternity consist of all the disabilities and frailties that accompany advanced age? Would it be a never-ending decline into infirmity? Would we live with Alzheimer’s Disease? In that case, would we even know that we were alive? Would we care?
Perhaps living forever would mean that I was forever young. On the surface, that is very attractive. Again, though, if I were the only one experiencing eternal youth, I would be watching all of the people I care about grow old. As that happened, I would have less and less in common with them. They would no longer be able to participate in or have an interest in the pastimes of youth.
If everyone were living forever and were permanently young, the world would become a very crowded place. There would be an urgent need for population control. Eventually, there would be so many people that reproduction would need to be curtailed and people would be denied the joys of raising families. Society would become an adults only group. The structure of communities would change drastically. Schools and other services for children would not be necessary. The types of jobs needed would be very different. So would the types of recreation. There would be no need for family entertainment and recreation.
Living forever would tend to cause a lack of motivation, since there would be an unlimited amount of time in which to accomplish goals. Procrastination would become a way of life. Values and priorities would change. Many things in life would have no importance without the restrictions of time. Productivity would decline dramatically. With an unlimited amount of time, there would be no need to get anything done promptly. A decline in quality of the goods produced would probably accompany the decline in productivity, since there would always be unlimited time to replace defective items.
In my mind, the disadvantages of living forever far outweigh the advantages. Even though I enjoy life and am not ready to depart it anytime soon, I cannot see any scenario in which living forever would not be fraught with problems, so my answer would have to be no, I do not want to live forever.
Comments (17)
You, and several others, raised one of the concerns I didn’t think about; whether I would be the only one living forever. However, I was not able to state emphatically yes or no even after taking that into consideration.
If you had control over the circumstances, how about then?
Has thinking about this question caused you to think about your life now more today? Do you think occaisonally thinking about death and dying in personal terms is a healthy thing ,or should we only consider it when circumstances prod our thinking in this direction?
I do not want to live forever
I like your post!!! Hmmm, I think that anyone who lives “to old age” may surpass their friends and family. The lack of motivation was a great point (something I would not have thought of). JUST GREAT!!!!
this ended up being such an enlightening topic.the fact that death is truly a good thing..that there is a reason for it. Why then so much fear?Wonderful and well thought out..
Rootbound – even if I had control over circumstances, the same problems would be there. If I was the only one living forever, I everyone I cared about would die while I went on. If everyone lived forever, the world would become overcrowded. If only people I chose lived forever, the people I chose would be losing other people that they cared about.
Miashineon – I have thought about this before. I do think that it is important to contemplate death. It comes to all of us, and the limits on our lives are part of what gives them meaning.
SunnyCalifornia – I think that we fear death because it is unknown and we tend to fear the unknown. Even if we have deep religious faith, we still don’t really know what will happen, do we? And there is always the possibilty of pain and suffering as we die. If we do not have faith, then death is the end, and that is hard to accept, I think.
Hi Nancy-
I responded to your comment on my post on this topic on my site.
As for your reply to this post, I think that even though people would be naturally immortal, they would have the chance to end their lives through some form of suicide. There would also be accidents that claim people. Through this course of natural attrition, there would still be the possibility that people would have the chance to rear a family though they may have to wait for a few centuries! I think living forever, or at least for a few millenia, would allow people greater perspective and would make many people see how far-reaching the consequences – both positive and negative – can be and thus I think people would become better stewards of both earth and one another. They would have to…
Colin – They would have to be better stewards or conflicts would arise and rage indefintely. We do see tendencies to that in the world today.
Does the concept of immortality include the possibility of death by suicide or accident? Would that really be immortality?
Hi and thanks for the comment on my site. Your question about valuing the time in life, and would that change our outlook if we lived forever was a great one, and one that I hadn’t really thought of in that perspective. I wonder if there were only a few of us that were granted immortality if our perspective wouldn’t just shift from “this is how much time I have” to “this is how much time THEY have” putting the emphasis on working with those around us that weren’t granted immortality. I think that this is the only way we could keep some perspective, and appreciation for the time we, or others, have in this existence. If everyone were granted immortality, I don’t know that we would hold the same fervor for learning, growing or, quite simply, just being.
I agree with your comment above that productivity would seem to deline if everyone was granted immortality. Again, if it were only granted to a few, or just one person, you would still be working under the “instant-gratification” situation that our society clings to so dearly. I wonder though, if having everyone being immortal would change the focus so that we allow our selves to spend time on the things that mean more to us. Maybe it would mean no more shotty mass-produced items that only last a few months compaired to the craftmansship of old….built to last a lifetime (and then some). We could take our time on projects, allowing us to get it right the first time, instead of putting out an item, and fixing forever on the backend
Very thought provoking! I really enjoyed reading this!
Thinking about your concerns for lack of motivation, I’m not sure I agree. If there were this maxed out population, we would have different needs and demands. The demands the population would put on the earth would create a need for increased productivity and, in turn, increased motivation. I’m not sure living longer would decrease my desire to enjoy my life or if living forever would change that either. I’m pretty sure if I was living forever, I’d want to enjoy that “forever.” It would be a pretty miserable existence without these things, motivation and desire for recreation. Anyway, I’m lacking good questions on this topic because I’m biased in that I do believe it’s beneficial for us to appreciate the cycles of our lives. The good questions seem to have been asked!
SunnyCalifornia has asked the question that most sticks in my mind, why all the fear? Regardless of what comes to pass after this existence, if we believe passing is a good thing, it would seem we would welcome whatever is to come. Do you think any possibility exists that the fear is instinctive and relating to evolution? Could it be our survival instincts outweighing our reason?
Simone, because I do have religious faith, and I think it is very hard to try to separate this topic from the topic of religion, although I attempted to do that, I have to continue to say that I think the fear of death is related to fear of the unknown or to fear of pain and suffering. I suppose it could be related to need for survival, but since I believe that I will survive, that is not relevant to me.
Even if one believes that death is the total cessation of life, after that happened, it would not matter to the individual, would it?
I am not sure that evolution would produce fear. Prior experience would have to do that, I think. Perhaps fear of death is increased because in our culture, experience with death tends to be very limited. I don’t think death was such a fearful thing when many people of all ages died and deaths occured at home, so that from a very young age, people were intimately involved in the deaths of those they loved. It was part of life and accepted as such. Now it is strange and fearsome.
Population control would definitely be a big issue, especially considering that the Earth is terribly overpopulated already. If immortality was a service granted to everyone, I imagine there would need to be a wholesale ban on pregnancy as well as compulsory abortions for those rare few babies who would mangage to “slip through,” leading to an even more perplexing can of worms.
Which leads to one other question to consider. Since you mentioned some of the practical problems involved with immortality, what role do you think economics would play? Would immortality be given to just anyone, regardless of social class, or would it only be offered to the “elite” of society? If the latter, what implications would it have on society?
RTC: Honestly, I do agree with Schopenhauer in that limits seem to define our entire existence. An unlimited bankbook, for example, would render all purchases practically meaningless. What would the value of owning an authentic Van Gogh mean to me or you compared to Bill Gates, for example? Would he appreciate it as much? It reminds me of what parents often say to their children regarding buying something with their own money, rather than having it bought for them. “You’ll appreciate it more.” What does a hamburger mean to you or me compared to a begger panhandling coins for food? A double whopper would taste fantastic if you haven’t eaten for days.
Even regarding something so basic as love. The old adage “absence makes the heart grow fonder” has always proven to me to be true. You never love someone more as when they’re away for a long period of time. Not to say you don’t love them when they’re always around, but the love just becomes static and normal. Absence has the effect of amplifying those emotions.
Happy Holidays, Nance! I am leaving Minnesota Friday and returning to Sacramento. Sad to leave my daughter and grandson…..but blessed to have them. Blessings to you and your hubbie. Hugs, Lisa.
excellent thoughts. i would never have thought about the motivation point.
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IT WAS A VERY NICE STORY……..
DURING I WAS READING THE STORY IT WAS NICE BUT IT SOUNDS VERY HARD OF LIFE…………..
BUT I THINK I WOULD NOT REALLY LIKE TO LIVE FOREVER…..IT CAN ALSO BE VERY STRESSFUL………