{"id":3587,"date":"2019-11-18T22:13:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T02:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=3587"},"modified":"2022-03-11T14:17:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T18:17:06","slug":"can-humans-live-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/can-humans-live-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Humans Live Forever? Eventually, But at a Price"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Immortality is a tempting vision. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-immortality\/\">Can humans live forever<\/a>? If not now, will humans ever be able to live forever? And what new challenges could immortality present us with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll cover the science moving humans closer to immortality and the potential problems of being able to live forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Can Humans Live Forever?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps one of the biggest consequences of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/causes-of-the-scientific-revolution\/\">Scientific Revolution<\/a> is the way we perceive and deal with the \u201cproblem of death.\u201d <strong>Through most of history, people have regarded death as inevitable, but even that \u201cknowledge\u201d is becoming questionable as scientists openly tackle this thorniest of problems.<\/strong> Can humans live forever? It may be possible in the not-so-distant future.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One source of thorns in that most religions are meaningless without the concept or reality of death. Religion teaches us to live life in accordance with its laws so that we can find peace in the afterlife. Without death, many religions no longer make sense.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Death: Just a Technical Problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas death used to be solely a religious problem, it\u2019s now seen as a technical problem. Today, we can revive a fluttering heart with a pacemaker; we can kill cancer with drugs and radiation; we can conquer bacteria with antibiotics. We\u2019ve developed new treatments and artificial organs that can extend life, and the average life expectancy has increased from 25 years, in the centuries before the Scientific Revolution, to 67 years (80 years in the developed world). Some think that humans will become \u201ca-mortal\u201d (immune to deaths caused by \u201cnatural causes,\u201d rather than accidents) by 2050.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, today\u2019s newest and most widespread religions, such as liberalism, socialism, and feminism, make no mention of the afterlife, <strong>reflecting the growing idea that we won\u2019t ever have to die, and that what happens <em>during<\/em> life is more important than what comes after it.<\/strong> So can humans live forever? It&#8217;s looking like it may happen soon.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Future of Happiness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>But there are many downsides to living forever. Some speculate that if the answer to <em>Can humans live forever?<\/em> becomes &#8220;Yes,&#8221; we won&#8217;t be as happy as a species. As expectations continue to increase, it\u2019s possible our happiness will continue to deteriorate. As important as the question <em>Will humans ever be able to live forever?<\/em> is the question, <em>Do we want to?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, we talk about immortality as the biggest breakthrough for happiness. What could be happier than not dying? But <strong>the expectation of immortality, contrasted with reality, will bring new problems.<\/strong> The poor probably won\u2019t be able to afford the technologies that make people immortal. This will make them feel angrier and more oppressed than previously. The gap between their expectations (immortality) and reality (mortality) will widen dramatically.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rich, who <em>can <\/em>afford the technology to be immortal, will feel anxious. Although they may not die of natural causes, they could still be hit by a car or their city could be bombed by a terrorist. The gap between their expectations (immortality) and reality (the world will always contain life-threatening dangers) could make them risk-averse and paranoid. Further, when death is no longer natural, losing a child or spouse will be even more heartbreaking than it is now. Can humans live forever? We&#8217;re getting close. Will we want to? That&#8217;s yet to be determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Immortality is a tempting vision. Can humans live forever? If not now, will humans ever be able to live forever? And what new challenges could immortality present us with? We&#8217;ll cover the science moving humans closer to immortality and the potential problems of being able to live forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-3587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-sapiens","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can Humans Live Forever? Eventually, But at a Price - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can humans live forever? Science says we&#039;re getting close, but this could pose new challenges. 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