Category: Let's talk
this morning on tv there was a guy who claimed that in a hundred years from now, with the advances in stem cell treatments etc, it will be possible to live for ever. Well aside from the fact that the world probably couldn't really handle it, would any of you really want to live for ever?
what was it actually about?
I can't imagine dying to be honest or what it would be like. I can't imagine a feeling of absolute nothing, because you wouldn't even feel that. It's hard to imagine it at all. I can't imagine myself been dead. The technology may be there to keep people alive for ever, but there's nothing to stop people been shot in the head or killed in other ways. Also, If I was to live to an age when I can't do anything for myself, then I'd rather be dead than in one of those homes that they have for such people. Once a person has got to such a standard, they're practically incapable of been of more importance than a bear in a zoo. They're just there to be visited by people outside the home and looked after by people in there. They have no life, they cannot do anything for themselves, and they shouldn't be allowed to live in such a condition.
I don't think I'd want to, but who's to say? There's so much more than a lifetime's worth of stuff I want to do... would the extra experiences be worth the artificiality of the continued existence? I also wonder what sort of physical condition we'd be alive in, as we had to replace more and more parts of ourselves, how much time would we end up spending in surgery as we grew older and older? Could we claim never-ending retirement, or would we have to stay in the workforce forever since there would be no physical reasons to retire? Would we never be spontaneous or wreckless about anything because we were too busy planning for eternity? How different would human relationships be if they went on indefinitely and were never cut short by death? Would we see killing people as more pointless and barbaric, knowing we end an impossibly long life rather than a shorter one? Sorry to go pseudo-philosophical on you, but it's been that sort of friday. I'll add something coherent when I'm more with-it. Erin.
Those are very good questions actually. I don't think I'd want to live forever if it was a choice. In a way, I'd wonder about what things will happen way in the future, but if all my friends and family were dying while I was still alive, I don't think I'd be able to handle that, knowing that even though I could always find new friends or whatever, those people I grew up with and were dearest to me could never ever be replaced.
Leilani
well I guess the prospect of living for ever would have major implications. after all, you would no longer have to commit to someone until "death us do part", when you married someone, it would, literally be, for ever. and replacing parts would be that much more difficult, after all, if no one ever died, where would organs come from - they'd have to be created in laboratories. and what would we do once the population exploded - after all, there would be no balance because the older people wouldn't die and be replaced by younger ones, there would just be more and more people. also, would living forever be affordable to everyone? or would only the rich be entitled to live for ever.