Lets say sometime in the not-too-distant-future, some biological scientist found a way to keep our bodies from aging and even replace old aged tissue with new, so that you could never die. Would you do it?
Posted: November 22nd 2010
Eric_PK
Forever, probably not.
Longer than I am likely to now, probably.
Posted: December 6th 2010
bitbutter www
Sure, I’d do it. Assuming that it was a simple procedure, and assuming that in this future it would still be in my power to end my life deliberately, and that this wouldn’t unnecessarily burden any of my relatives I left behind.
I wouldn’t be choosing to live forever, instead I’d be choosing to avoid a particular kind of death; death through the breakdown of my body through aging.
This kind of technology would bring with it concerns about unsustainable population growth. Just like any general increase in health, people will be living longer. But to intervene to remove a person’s ability to peacefully extend their own life (by passing laws for example) is to kill that person. I find the idea of killing old people to make room for new ones pretty horrific. In my view, however a potential overpopulation problem is handled, we shouldn’t be comfortable with that kind of solution.
There’s also the worry that we will lose focus or purpose in our lives if we know we’re going to live for a very long time. The lure of procrastination might become much stronger. What strikes me though is that, if this was true, there are already numerous things we could do to 'improve’ our current situation in this respect. We could adopt a policy of refusing medical care for instance (except perhaps for painkillers). We’d die sooner, with a corresponding increase in focus and productivity. Not many take this route of course, which makes me question how important we really believe this risk to be.
Posted: December 2nd 2010
Paula Kirby www
No, I wouldn’t. I am not afraid of death and, being a terribly last-minute kind of person, it is only the presence of deadlines (no pun intended!) that forces me to get down and actually DO things. If I knew I was going to live for ever, I would have no sense of urgency at all and would end up not using my time wisely.
No: the fact that life is finite creates a real incentive to use time well, and to make the best possible use of the limited number of years we have. Or to try to, at least.
Besides which, it would be a terribly dangerous thing to do. The world is already overpopulated, and we simply cannot afford to allow the kind of population explosion that such a development could lead to. It’s a basic fact of life: we have to die, to make space and release resources for the next generation. I don’t have a problem with that. We just have to make the best use we can of the lives we have.
Posted: November 26th 2010
logicel
If such immortality was open to all (even if they chose not to be immortal), yes, I would want it. However, in that case, I would also want assisted suicide to be legal.
Posted: November 25th 2010