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 deal with the Ph.D., as far as we are ready for this.
RED OR BLUE PILL
Most will say that death is the worst thing that can happen to them and those they care about. They are ready to do anything to save their lives. But do we really not want to die? Imagine a wizard offering you eternal life. It is enough to take the potion 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 dementia, 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.
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.
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 oppression of tyranny does not threaten you either. 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. You can’t die, everything is like in the movie “Groundhog Day”. We chose eternal life – rejoice, even if you are tired.
UNEXPECTED MOST CHOICE
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. The same applies to the experience lived for the umpteenth time in eternal life.
When the intervals between the same impressions are long, 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
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, it is probably 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.
Overpopulation
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.
WHAT DO YOU THINK
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?