Thanks to some great discussion in the forums, I decided to talk more about about immortality this week. Last week I talked about transhumanism, a possible way for humans to become immortal. But now I have asked myself: why should we even want to be immortal?

I think a lot of people want to be immortal because they are afraid of death. Often we all fear what we do not understand, so we long for some way to prolong our deaths. I think another, perhaps more important reason, is that people want to break the rules. We humans don't like to be told we can't do something. Einstein pointed out that nothing can go the speed of light. So some scientists try to figure out ways to travel through wormholes, so we could traverse a cerain distance faster than light could travel that distance. We do not want rules, we must defy what is certain, accomplish the impossible.

But would it really be so great? After pondering it for a while, I don't think so.

First of all, there would not be enough room on this planet if people could live forever. If no one dies, our population will grow until we have filled the earth, run out of food, and exhausted all of our resources. Even if we can someday travel to and populate other planets, the same thing will happen to these planets.

Death can be a great thing! Without death, none of us would seize the day! Take this very simple example. I have a homework assignment due tomorrow, so I'm going to do it today. But if this assignment did not have to be turned in to the teacher, I would not do it. Another example on a greater scale: someday I want to sail around the world. If I were immortal, I could see myself just putting it off: "Eh, I'll do it next year." But because I am mortal I am going to seize the day and do it as soon as I can! In both examples, it's obvious that having a deadline is what drives us to accomplish tasks. Last week I mentioned being immortal so that I could read every book in every library. Well now I have realized that it is only my "deadline," my death, that will make me actually get off my butt and read every book I can.

The last thing is, wouldn't you want some rest after a while? Think about it - we work most of our lives to support our families, etc, then we retire when we have saved enough money. Imagine being immortal, retiring from your job, and then running out of money because you don't die. It's kind of rediculous, actually...you'd have to work forever. The other, main reason, is that life is pretty hard. I love life, I love learning, I love having love in my life, but in the end I think I need to be able to die. The simple fact is I couldn't do this forever.

The scientists will keep working on it, and maybe someday even achieve it. But I'll pass.