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Would you like to live forever? Let’s imagine: you are offered a remedy that guarantees immortality. Will you accept it or not? Do not rush to answer, this is not an easy choice. We are dealing with Ph.D. Iddo Landau, how ready we are for this.
Most will say that they do not want to die and that death is the worst thing that can happen to them and those they care about. They are afraid of death and are ready to do anything to save their lives.
But do we really not want to die? Imagine a medicine man or wizard offering you eternal life. It is enough to take a potion, let’s call it the elixir of immortality, and you will never die.
Let’s clarify the details. Many will refuse to take the medicine when they imagine how they will grow old and forever remain infirm, with senile insanity, excruciating pains and clumsy movements. All who take the elixir of immortality will never grow old. The body will be just as dexterous and strong, the mind will be sharp and clear.
You won’t be able to die. We chose eternal life – rejoice, even if you are tired
Your condition will not worsen, quite the contrary. If you practice yoga, flexibility and endurance will increase. If you learn a foreign language, you will be able to memorize new phrases faster. The aging process will stop.
Other possible problems are also taken into account. The wizard guarantees that in a few centuries or millennia you will not find yourself in a desert due to nuclear war or climate change. The state system will not change either, the oppression of tyranny does not threaten you. In short, the physical and political environment will be quite prosperous. Plus, you won’t get hurt in a car crash that could have permanently bedridden you. In general, the conditions are more than acceptable.
But be warned: the solution is irreversible. If you agree to take the potion, change your lifestyle as you like, but suicide is prohibited. Throw yourself under the train, jump from the roof – you won’t be able to die, just like in the movie “Groundhog Day”. We have chosen eternal life – rejoice, even if you are tired.
The surprise choice of the majority
I am not a statistician, I will not risk claiming the representativeness of the sample. I interviewed at least a thousand people, both one-on-one and at university lectures, and about 70% answered that they would refuse the elixir of immortality, and not everyone was able to clearly justify their choice. You may also be interested in understanding how you would have acted in such a case and why. Those who did not want to become immortal had reasons. Good or not, judge for yourself.
irreversibility
Several people would not take the elixir because of the irreversibility. Take a sip and you can never die. A controversial argument, because death is also irreversible: no one has yet returned from the other world.
Boredom
In his famous essay, The Makropoulos Affair: Reflections on the Boredom of Eternal Life, British philosopher Bernard Williams discusses the monotony of immortality. A person will not be able to radically change his interests and habits, sooner or later he will get bored with a meaningless existence. After all, if we are talking about eternity, then any action or experience will be repeated many times.
University of California professor John Martin Fisher disputes his opinion. In Why Being Immortal Isn’t So Bad, he doubts that people are bound to get bored with eternal life. Of course, if you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with the same dish every day, it will soon become disgusting. But if you use it once every two weeks, the pleasure returns.
When the intervals between the same impressions are long, they can be enjoyed endlessly.
The same applies to the experience lived for the umpteenth time in eternal life. When the intervals between the same impressions are large, they can be enjoyed endlessly, they do not get bored. In addition, it is doubtful that everything experienced will necessarily be repeated in a circle. You can meet new people, read new books, see new events: the world is constantly changing, and with it our perception is changing. Old experiences will be forgotten and seem new.
Death of loved ones
Some participants answered that they did not need the potion, because otherwise everyone they love would die before their eyes: friends, spouses, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren – and this is terrible. Even if they make new friends and families, they will have to lose loved ones again. They are not ready to endure such pain. And even when people were offered to take medicine not only for themselves, but also for everyone who is dear to them, the majority remained unconvinced. It’s not entirely clear to me what’s stopping them.
Moreover, when they were asked whether they would commit suicide if all their friends and relatives died in the accident, almost all answered in the negative. Although it will be hard to come to terms, we must try to live on and, if possible, find new friends and try to start a new family. There is a discrepancy with the voiced reason for the refusal, probably the matter is something else.
Unwillingness to interfere
Some said they would do without the potion because they did not want to interfere with the natural course of events. Few have been able to specifically explain why. What’s wrong with being able to influence your own destiny? Their words contradict their actions: for example, many take anti-cholesterol supplements and drugs for pressure, quit smoking, play sports – in a word, they prolong their lives. So, they are still not averse to interfering with the life cycle. And if anything, they will agree to a surgical intervention, albeit painful, if only not to die. It turns out that this reason is also not fully justified.
overcrowding
There were also those who justified their decision by saying that if everyone chooses eternal life, there will be a population explosion on Earth. Meanwhile, the experiment provided that not everyone would receive the magic potion. Only you or, alternatively, you and your loved ones.
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What about you? Would you take the elixir of immortality? If eternity is scary, maybe a weaker medicine that will allow you to live two million years will do? Or two hundred thousand? Maybe twenty thousand years or two thousand will suit you? Two hundred years? Will you agree to any means to prolong your life? Why?
The author is Iddo Landau, professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, author of the book Searching for Meaning in an Imperfect World.