Immortality

Forestalling decesase

Perhaps the originator of all this bufoonery, Juan Ponce de León, who travelled on Columbus's second voyage, searched Florida in 1513, hoping to find the fountain of youth. His failure did not stop those who thought perhaps vitamins provided the solution to the ever-approaching end. Ever heard of Pycnogenol? It's supposed to drastically counter aging by eradicating those pesky free radicals (no, we're not talking about Timothy Leary here). The site explains that "free radicals are byproducts formed in our bodies and are harmful to cells," but the dictionary provides a little more objective definition. "An organic compound in which some of the valence electrons are unpaired, occurring as a normal byproduct of oxidation reactions in metabolism." How about DHEA? This little adrenal gland hormone is supposed to cure cancer! Conenzyme Q10 is supposed to prevent aging, too. Of course, there's always surgery to hide that pesky maturation. And if all else fails, there's freezing. Of course, those who claim that Walt Disney was frozen are lying, but that doesn't mean that cryonics isn't right for you. It's even possible to just freeze the brain. The site hosting the mailing list linked to above explains "The common difficulties of life - death, misery and scarcity - once seemed inevitable. Today, we approach them as challenges that can be overcome. Through engineering, creativity, and critical thinking, we participate in the quest to realize human potential, to grow beyond our difficulties, and become transhuman, transcending human limitation."

Symbolic Immortality

Borrowing from Kearl's research, we see that "According to Franz Kafka, "Man cannot live without a continuous confidence in something indestructible withinhimself" (Choron, 1964:15). In other words, the will for immortality is a central drive ofthe human primate. Five cultural strategies have been identified by which suchpsychological needs for indestructibility have been addressed (Morgenthau, 1967;Shneidman, 1973; Lifton, 1979; Kalish, 1985): the biological, religious, creative, naturaland mystic modes." Biology entails genetic preservation through offspring; religious possibilities involve those of life after death; creative involve art or other creations left behind; natural legacies are those provided by the recycling of one's components by nature and the maintenance of nature after one's death; and mystic possibilities involve those of being part of some sort of mysterious post-life involvement.But, of course, as the rock group Queen explains in response to the prompting of the Highlander, "Who wants to live forever?"

Forum

What do you think of trying to be immortal? Is it worthwhile? Is it going against nature to extend life? Share your thoughts and read those of others.

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