“Immortality” Robert A.Hefner III Collection, Aspen
I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.”
-Woody Allen
Today, the class watched a segment of a video highlighting the progression of modern science, and the pursuit of “immortality” in the sense that we may not need to pass on from old age. Although I was not horribly offended by the clip, I certainly viewed it with a large amount of skepticism, and truth be told, I found the ideas very short sighted.
First and foremost, everyone interviewed were middle aged or younger. They expressed concern about dying, and some gave personal narratives on why they were interested on the subject. I would have found it interesting to hear from more elderly individuals and hear their viewpoints on the concept of inevitable death. In addition, it would have been nice to hear from theologians, ethicists and philosophers to give at least a semblance of well-roundedness. Death is a tricky topic, and it was obvious from the opening credits that the documentary would be a bit.. biased and selective. But that is no surprise, really!
I also think that the concept of medical immortality odd. Although we may could potentially live to thousands of years, the human being can still die from violence or starvation. It matters not if a fair part of the population is 1200 years old if we are all wiped out in a nuclear holocaust. Not even mentioning the social impact on population. That’s a dissertation in itself.
Finally, I think it comes down to limitations. I remember, when I was a child, I wanted to become an artist. Not just a good artist, a -great- artist. However, I just didn’t have the “eye” for visual art. My dexterity and my visual acuteness, my raw “talent” didn’t develop into prodigy levels. Sure, I can draw, but I’m certainly no Van Gogh. Every person has personal limitations. In facing these limitations, we have a few choices. One is to accept our limitations, strive to do our absolute best, and accept what we can’t change. The other is to futilely work against and deny our own limitations. I argue that death is the final limitation. Humanity can work within these boundaries, or we can swim against the stream.
