Immortality
Immortality is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite or indeterminate length of time. Throughout history humans have had the desire to live forever. Before the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the only seriously considered methods of achieving immortality involved a continued existence of a person in one form or another after physical death. Most people still believe in immortality of this type today. However, with the dawn of the modern technological and scientific revolutions, a new breed of "immortalist" emerged, one who believes it may be possible to avoid death altogether. These people believe in the possibility of immortality in a true physical sense, rather than or in addition to immortality in a spiritual sense. Others take a broader view of immortality believing that they can achieve it through their legacy and achievements they leave behind. This view of immortality is vastly different than the others in that it places more value not on the continuity of one's consciousness but rather on how one will be remembered by generations to come.
Obstacles to physical immortality
There are three main causes of death, all of which must be eradicated in order for the human race to achieve true, unambiguous physical immortality. They are: Aging, disease and trauma.
As science progresses the causes of aging are increasingly better understood, and the biochemical principles underlying the process can be unraveled and reversed. In theory it seems possible that some medical technique can be introduced that simply replaces dead cells, that can be taken at regular intervals, and completely level off the otherwise steady deterioration of the body.
Disease also is theoretically surmountable via technology. (stub paragraph)
Most likely the hardest cause of death to overcome is trauma. The problems of aging and disease usually at least provide ample time to solve them, if the technology exists. Whether you get treated for old age today or next week is not an extremely pressing decision. But even in a world where aging and disease are easily correctable conditions, getting shot in the head is not. In situations where time available to provide treatment is extremely short, the success rate of even advanced paramedical technology will remain disappointingly low. Unless technology advanced to the point (via perhaps nanotechnology) that a body can automatically treat itself for severe trauma, then the time it takes to deliver a patient to a care facility will remain the single overriding factor. If this does not occur, then one unexpected side effect of the two previous developments may be that humans become extremely risk averse. For example, being a soldier and risking one's life to defend something they believe in may seem reasonable if one only expects to live another few decades in their full capacity. However, if you expect to live 1000 years in prime health, unless you run into an unfortunate accident, then the desirability of even slightly risky activities will drop precipitously.
Types of immortality
Technological immortality is the name given to the prospect for much longer life spans made possible by scientific advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics, human physiology, engineering, regenerative medicine, microbiology, and others. Contemporary life spans in the advanced industrial societies are already markedly longer than those of the past because of better nutrition, availability of health care, standard of living and bio-medical scientific advances. Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term. An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension (for example, some suggest we may be able to create tiny "nanobots" that could go through our blood streams, find dangerous things like cancer cells, and kill them). Many anticipate that gene-therapies and nanotechnology will eventually make the human body effectively self-sustainable and capable of living indefinitely, short of severe trauma. Some suggest we will be able to continually create biological or synthetic replacement parts to replace damaged or dying ones.
Some believe that biological forms have inherent limitations in their design--primarily, their fragility and inability to immediately morph to fit the environment. A way around that predicament may someday present itself in the ability to "exist" outside of the biological form. Over the long term, the biological nature of humanity is only temporary; should technology permit, people may circumvent death and evolution, simply by taking artificial forms. One interesting possibility involves uploading the personality and memories via direct mind-computer interface. Some extropian futurists propose that, thanks to exponentially accelerating computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human consciousness onto a computer system, and live indefinitely in a virtual environment. This could be accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer hardware would initially be installed in the brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes. Gradually more and more components would be added until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, without any sharp transitions that would lead to some identity issues mentioned below. At this point, the human body would become only an accessory and the mind could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. A person in this state would then be essentially immortal, short of cataclysmic destruction of the entire civilization and their computers.
Quantum immortality is the name for the speculation that the Everett many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that a conscious being cannot cease to be. The idea is highly controversial. Theoretically given any potentially fatal event that could happen to, say, a quantum physicist, there will be possible universes in which the physicist indeed dies and other possible universes where the physicist somehow survives. As time goes on the physicist is dead in more and more of all possible universes due to random accidents and aging, however because there are infinite possibilities, there will always be at least one universe in which the physicist miraculously lives another day. The idea behind quantum immortality is that the physicist would only be able to experience the universes in which he survives, even though they may be an increasingly small subset of the possible universes. In this way, the physicist would appear from his own standpoint to be living forever.
Some people believe physical immortality would not be possible or even desirable. Jacques Cousteau, in the preface to his book The Ocean World, expressed his meditations on physical immortality, as a part of life and its adaptive processes: 'Death,' Cousteau states, 'is fundamental to evolution;' and 'evolution is fundamental to survival'. He concludes that, biologically speaking, 'immortality does not present a possible means to avoid death': "Mortal or immortal, [an organism] must die." A counter argument to Mr. Cousteau is that if we were to have the amazingly advanced technology to sustain our lives indefinitely, it is not too far a stretch we could also have the technology to evolve within a single generation, without the need for survival of the fittest style evolutionary pruning of the gene pool. Michael Shermer believes there is no significant scientific evidence for the proposed methods of achieving physical immortality. He says about them, "All have some basis in science, but none has achieved anything like scientific confirmation."
Spiritual Immortality, on the other hand, is a belief that is expressed in nearly every religious tradition. In both Western and Eastern religions, the spirit is an energy or force that transcends the mortal shell, and returns to either the heavens or the cycle of life, directly or indirectly depending on the tradition. Below we consider the perspective some of the world's most popular religions on spiritual immortality.
Christians believe that every person has a nonphysical soul that will continue to exist after a person is dead for all eternity. A Christian who lives their life in the ways expressed by the Bible will be granted eternal life with Jesus their savior. If a person rejects the teachings of the Bible, they will suffer eternal damnation in Hell, which although commonly depicted as a realm of constant physical torture, is best described theologically simply as the total absence of God's love. Some denominations, such as Catholics, believe in a third realm called Limbo, which is the final destination of unbaptized infants and those who were never exposed to Christianity in their life times. Purgatory is another possible place for a Christian to go after death, but the stay here is only temporary, and belief in it has faded since the Middle Ages.
Judaism claims that the righteous dead will be resurrected in the "messianic age" with the coming of the messiah. They will then be granted immortality in a perfect world. The wicked dead, on the other hand, will not be resurrected at all. This is in contrast to Christianity where the wicked dead are still immortal and exist forever in Hell. This is not the only Jewish belief about the afterlife. Others do believe in a version of Hell. The Torah is not specific about the afterlife, so there are differences in views among believers.
Islam believes that everyone has an immortal soul that will live on in either Paradise or Hell depending on how one lives their life. Like Christianity and Judaism their are no second chances in Islam. On judgement day one's place of existence for all eternity is decided.
Hinduism believes in an immortal soul. However, unlike the previously mentioned religions Hinduism believes in reincarnation. A Hindu repeats a cycle of life, death, and rebirth (a cycle called samsara). If they live their life well, their Karma increases and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live their life poorly. Eventually after many life times of perfecting one's karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and gets to live forever with God. Hinduism has no version of Hell, although if a soul consistently lives very evil lives, they could work their way down to the very bottom of the cycle and then cease to exist.
Buddism is similar to Hinduism in the sense that a person goes through a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. However in Buddism their is no belief in an eternal soul, but rather a collection of habits, desires, and memories. After death a person is either reborn on Earth or obtains a state of nirvana.
Shinto claims that except for those who chose or are dispatched to the underground world of Yomi, every living and non-living beings may lose their body but not their Tamashii (soul) and they live together with mortal souls as an immortal being called Kami. Unlike the previously mentioned religions, Shinto lets anything to attain Kami status regardless of its existence before becoming Kami. Therefore, even those that do not believe in Shinto may choose to become Kami, as well as things like a rock, a tree, or even a robot. Some may be reincarnated for various reasons. Shinto has no version of Hell or a judgement day.
Concepts of immortality
Considerations of immortality usually bring to mind the idea of unending existence, a freedom from the concerns of annihilation and death. Often times, talk of the immortality of the soul arises in conjunction with talk of immortality. The ideas of science and religion find common goals in the perpetuity of man's existence.
Unending existence is too simple a condition for immortality
As a thought experiment, suppose that clinical immortality was possible, in which through advanced life support machinery or similar, the bodily functions of a comatose human could be kept running in perpetuity. Is it good news to keep a vegetative human's heart pumping for eons? According to the vast majority of ethicists, "Not at all," since unending biological functioning is not what is at issue in immortality. Ultimately, what one desires is some sort of permanent preservation of personal identity, not just unceasing metabolic integrity.
This brings up the philosophical issue of the meaning of consciousness. As another thought experiment, suppose a surgeon replaces part of a man's brain with a pacemaker (this is actually done to treat Parkinson's). After this procedure is done, the patient comes out of his anesthesia feeling like the same person. For the intentions of this experiment, suppose that doctors have already fully understand the brain and are able to successfully move sections of the brain's neural network and memories onto hardware where they can perfectly emulate the "architecture" of the brain. Over a period of time, suppose that the individual has many more operations with the intent of gradually replacing parts of his brain with computer hardware. Eventually, the man has a brain made entirely out of computer parts. The man comes out claiming that he is the same person as before. He has the same memories and acts the same.
Now suppose that instead of replacing parts of his brain with hardware, he copies the entire brain onto hardware. The computerized version of this man's brain acts the same way, and claims that it is the same man who underwent the procedure. The original man is still alive, however. Are the machine and the man the same person? Are they somehow linked in conscious? These are the types of situations that illustrate the lack of knowledge concerning the meaning of consciousness that we as a civilization currently possess.
The freedom from concerns of annihilation and death is insufficient for immortality
Essential to many of the world's religions is a doctrine of an eternal afterlife. But well known narratives from Christianity and Islam show why freedom from annihilation and death could (in principle) not be desirable:
- "The rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence."- (Luke 16:22-26 King James Bible Translation)
- "Those who are wretched shall be in the Fire: There will be for them therein (nothing but) the heaving of sighs and sobs: They will dwell therein for all the time that the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord willeth: for thy Lord is the (sure) accomplisher of what He planneth. And those who are blessed shall be in the Garden: They will dwell therein for all the time that the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord willeth: a gift without break." - (The Noble Quran, 11:106-108)
Instances from other religions could be adduced. Mere perpetual existence is not enough. Ultimately, one desires that this existence be of a desirable quality. As the prevalence of suicide suggests, people would often prefer not to exist at all, than exist in a severely unpleasant environment.
When talk of a "soul" arises
When talk of a "soul" arises, immediately, concerns of psychology and metaphysics become relevant. Suppose, as yet, another thought experiment:
An engineer produces a wondrous, new, nanotechnology machine. At two key moments during life, he might eagerly announce, a human would step into this device. At the first trip into the device, a full molecular scan of all 1027 atoms (or so) in the body is recorded. At the second trip into the device, ideally many years later, the molecular structure is instantly dissimilated. Furthermore, during this second trip, a reference is taken of the earlier scan, and an appropriate amount of organic goo is added or subtracted to precisely match the configuration of materials original to the 1027 atoms as configured at the first scan. As an application—Jones at 30 walks in; Jones at 30 walks out. Years later, Jones at 80 walks in; Jones (allegedly) at 30 walks out. Has the engineer done Jones a favor?
According to most ethicists, the engineer has not done Jones a favor even if Jones could, as it were, "wash, rinse, and repeat" this whole cycle indefinitely. First off, it is anything but clear that the human exiting the machine at the second trip is Jones. Call the person who steps out (whether he is Jones or not) "Jones*". Presuming that memory is a physiological structure encoded by neural pathways, Jones* would not preserve the memory of Jones, since Jones* would not have the encoded neural pathways of an 80-year-old, but only of a 30-year-old. Hence, all that Jones was (after 30, anyway) as the collection of memory experiences upon second entry into the device is lost; thus, Jones is effectively dead. Immortality would offer little if the best results obtainable were a recurring coda of temporal duplicates.
Second, even if the eager engineer were to modify his machine (due to popular demand) so as to configure all the neural pathways of Jones* to match Jones, this would still present problems. Jones does not want a perfect duplicate to exit the machine at the second trip, but Jones himself wants to exit the machine. Granted, if all were done discretely, Jones' wife, Jones' mistress, and Jones' poker buddies would think that Jones* was Jones, and even Jones* himself might think he was Jones, but thinking that X is true is hardly a guarantee that X really is true.
Third, the Jones/Jones* problem is at issue in religious accounts of resurrection. Since humans share substantial quanta of their atoms with others who have preceded them in history (i.e., coffins leak, eventually, and nature cycles the organic material back through the biosphere), any resurrection cannot use all the original atomic collection for each individual to be resurrected. New material would be required; thus, worries about a duplicate thinking that s/he was the original person arise for the pious as well as for the pagan. The theological answer to this objection is that either: A) it doesn't matter if all your exact biomatter is exactly the same at the time of resurrection as when you died, so long as your soul is inside. Or B) if God is going to use divine power to resurrect a slew of people he can use divine power to redivvy up the biomatter as well if that's important.
Apparently, on any account where immortality requires a remanufacture of a body in order to maintain character identity, seemingly insurmountable difficulties present themselves, especially due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Some views of quantum immortality approach the general issue of immortality differently.
Symbols of immortality
Their are numerous symbols representing immortality. Pictured below is an Egyptian symbol of immortality, the ankh (left) and a Buddist symbol of immortality Kuan Yin holding a vial containing nector of immortality (right).
Immortality quotations
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work ... I want to achieve it through not dying." Woody Allen
"Being born is not a crime so why must it carry a sentence of death?" Robert Ettinger
"Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." Susan Ertz
"The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever." Herb Caen
"A man looking onward to an immortal life, on whatever grounds, exhibits to us the human soul in an enobled attitude." Whewell
"I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it." Albert Einstein
"We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it." Harriet Martineau
Immortality in fiction
Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels have Gulliver visit the island of Immortals (near Japan). These people won't die but they age and became ill, demented and a nuisance to themselves and those surrounding them. Swift presents immortality as a curse rather than a blessing.
The film Highlander and its sequels present the Immortals as chosen few who live among humans. They don't age but die if decapitated. They are impulsed to kill the rest of Immortals because, when only one is remaining, that will receive "the Prize". Immortality often causes the Immortals to grow cynical, after seeing their loved mortals age and die.
Some of the vampyre films and books explore the aspects of their immortality.
Tezuka Osamu's lifework Hinotori had a phoenix whose blood would provide immortality, in various age, many "heroes" and "heroines" would strive for immortality only to realize that there is something beyond eternal life. In a story titled "Raise hen", lit. "next world story", the last remaining human male who survived a holocaust and blessed or cursed with immortality through the phoenix blood, would create another beginning of life. In a immortal form, he would see slugs who gained intelligence to yet destroy themselves again in another holocaust. He would seed the earth again with life that would become present day human, meaning us and leave the earth for good to join his sweetheart who passed away billions of years ago in something like a heaven.
See also
Afterlife, Bioethics, Nanotechnology, Cryonics, Religion, Life, Life extension
External links
Further reading
- Ben Bova. 2000. Immortality: How Science Is Extending Your Life Span-and Changing the World. New York: Avon. ISBN 0380793180
- R. Michael Perry. 2000. Forever For All: Moral philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific Prospects for Immortality. New York: Universal Publishers. ISBN 1581127243