Radical Ideas: Can Humans Achieve Immortality?

Many people think, why do we have to die? Religious believers and theologians reckon that death is simply the transition from this stage of life to the next. In this perspective, death is simply “God’s will,” and the transition to the other side, where their morality is ultimately graded and they receive retribution or punishment.

On the other side of the spectrum, scientists are more realists about death. To them, death is all a part of nature and two components:

1. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, which entails that as exists with time, all systems, including the Universe itself, dies eventually

2. The Logic of Evolution, which suggests the idea that we all die so others may live. Our genes are immortal due to natural selection-- passed down generation by generation in simply mortal bodies.

The logic of evolution is particularly interesting. While we retain the features of our immediate ancestors, such as facial features and inheritable diseases, genetic variation allows the advantageous features to pass on to the newer generations. Individuals who are best suited to their environment are more likely to find resources, avoid disease, and are more likely to survive, which makes them most likely to reproduce to pass on these genes. Over the years, natural selection has been a huge aspect of nature and evolution, and it can be deduced that the more likely we are to survive, the closer we are towards immortality.

Should we view immortality as something we will achieve, or as an asymptote that we can only approach closer and closer?

We can also take a look into the perspectives of several different types of scientists who believe in extending the human lifespan into centuries, millennia, or even for eternity.

Cryonicists

Cryonics is a science that vies to be able to freeze people in time, and then to reanimate them, meaning to freeze their body, as well as their mind. Could this really work? Several renowned neuroscientists have voiced their concerns over cryonics and seem adamant that nobody currently frozen to date will ever be reanimated back alive.

Extropians

Extropians believe in eliminating political, cultural, and economic limits to personal progress, which they say promises intelligence, improved physicality, and ultimately longer lives. However, science says that mortality is practically programmed into our every cell. Even if we make it past 125 years old, who knows what new medical issues would arise then.

Transhumanists

Transhumanists intend to alter the human condition through diet, exercise, and more, and then phasing into body replacements (can’t get colon cancer without a colon!) and genetic engineering. This way, humans may hopefully transform into a species that is healthier, stronger, smarter, and ultimately lives longer.

Well, what is the final verdict? Can we ever achieve immortality?

There are so many ways to view the aspect of immortality. Is it the physical immortality that we are looking for? The immortality of our imprint on this world? Is immortality even worth striving for? Is this paper even large enough to consider everything?

There may be people you miss who succumbed to the unfortunate price of being mortals. However if you look at the big picture, is immortality that great? Do I really want to live on forever, watching the human race change and evolve, instead of moving on?

If I just live a good life filled with great things every day, will immortality make me any more satisfied?

References

• https://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-evolution#:~:text=In%20biology%2C%20evolution%20is%20the,the%20process%20of%20natural%20selection.&text=Evolution%20relies%20on%20there%20being,(phenotype)%20of%20an%20organism.

• https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/the-immortalists-can-science-defeat-death/