How Humanity’s Desire for Immortality could shape the Future

Have you ever thought about how our world would be if we achieved immortality..or at least some of us were immortal? Now, before you brush this aside with the ‘we can’t achieve immortality’ excuse, think of what humanity has achieved in the past 100 years in terms of science and technology. If you told a person in 1920 that in 100 years, people would talk and see each other while miles apart, there is a good chance you would have been thrown into a psychiatric ward.

If there is anything we have ever dreaded as a race is death. We know it is imminent, yet we do things beyond imagination to achieve an extra second on Earth. No one wants to die! Both the old and young want to live and live forever. However, nature has always been ahead of us, and it has found a way to keep us mortal. The desire for mortality spans as far as the origin of life itself.

Alexander the Great is one of the earliest people we know of who was obsessed with immortality. He toyed with the idea of being a god. We all know how that went down for poor Alex. Fast forward in the 21st-century, humanity is yet to learn the consequences of this line of thought. Nevertheless, the research into immortality has gained momentum with ‘tremendous discoveries’ being made.

What could really go wrong if we achieved immortality?

What could go wrong if we achieved immortality?. Believe it or not, Hollywood has the answer to this very question. Hollywood, since time immemorial, has been playing god by giving us a peek into the future. Being a conspiracy theorist, I could easily believe they actually have a time-traveling machine somewhere in a basement in California. Or it could just these guys are really smart to predict the future (highly unlikely, they do have a time machine).

If you have watched Altered Carbon, you probably have an idea where I am headed with this. That’s the reason why I started by telling you how Hollywood foresaw the pandemic in The Simpsons. Now I understand this isn’t your cup of tea if you don’t like conspiracy theories, but there’s pretty much more damning evidence to come that is way beyond conspiracy theories.

It is obvious that money does run the world and those with wealth can just get and get away with anything. There is no denying the fact that the world is probably a bad place because of money. At the end of the day, our mortal nature somehow does balance things. In fact, the people you think are bad are actually less bad just because they fear death.

Now imagine a world where the mighty can buy their way to immortality. Well, your guess is as good as mine; total chaos. A group of people would rule this world as gods. Imagine the things people do for money and now think of what they would do for immortality. It wouldn’t be a world anymore. I for sure have never been to hell, but I would place my bets on that world being worse than hell.

Immortality is something not made for our race. We are weak, full of flaws, and we can’t even handle money and power. We don’t deserve immortality. I do root for more research in better healthcare and medicine to ensure people live longer but not forever. We shouldn’t also overlook the ethics card here; I mean, it’s just unethical.