If the World Became Immortal…
If you could live forever would you change your life?
Recently I read "The Postmortal" by Drew Magary. The book is a fictional autobiography of a man living at a point in history when science finds a genetic ‘cure’ for death which completely changes relationships and society.
In effect:
1. People have a whole new reason to create social and religious factions:
- Should God decide who lives or dies or is he complicit in the discovery of this new treatment by giving humans the reasoning and capability to understand and use science?
- Is it ecologically responsible or feasible to allow a population to live forever?
3. The state can no longer support retirement funding for those who have the treatment. Those treated for their mortality can never retire from working.
4. Might people make life decisions based on radically different values? In "The Postmortal", for example:
- Now that there is no reliable mortality age many people no longer want marriages "'til death do us part".
To stem the tide of bitter and angry divorces, temporary marriages are 'invented'.
These marriages come with all the legal benefits but need to be renewed after 20 years or they will automatically be dissolved.
- Those people who get immortality treatment won't need someone to take care of them in their old age nor need to leave a posterity to carry on after they die.
Would people continue to have children at the same rate or would they decide to postpone having children indefinitely?
- Would people assess the time spent in recreation or education as more or less important than they do now?
How would 'The Cure' affect financial decisions such as the immediacy of ‘getting a good job’ early in life?
Would people spend more time doing things like travelling knowing that they have lots of time to do serious financial gathering later?
Now... With an unending future in front of you, would you make decisions that you wouldn't make now?
You can't change the past and future injuries can still harm or kill you but would you change the way your life is directed?
I think that the things I would postpone indefinitely is changes to the life I have.
Welll this book is seems to be great and I wish that I would read it .
The story's ideas were more interesting than the story's plot (it was a little boring by the end). Sometimes boring books can be good for the concepts they introduce.
Ever read the similarly themed "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan" by Aldous Huxley? Not a cheery book but it dances around the subject of immortality and its effects.
I haven't but I'll take a look while my mind is on the topic! Thanks!