Whether some grim reaper takes your soul away or you just perish away. Well whatever your belief is, It is a fact that death is a reality. A reality that no one can escape.
Everyone has to leave this world one day whether they want to or not, immortality aka eternal life would allow you to counter this.
Now whether that would be a blessing or curse, that’s what you’ll have to decide after checking both perspectives!
Background
Humanity has progressed to an extent where the global life expectancy span has gone from 47 years (1950) to 72 years (2020) with the help of science. Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
We have access to such advanced tools that can bring a person back to life from the brink of death….but what if we go a step further?
What if we could say everyday, to the God of death: “Not today” and attain eternal life aka immortality!
However, would immortality be a blessing or a curse?
I think it depends, so I’ll include everything about immortality that could make it either a blessing or a curse along with what kind of immortality are we looking at.
Immortality as a Blessing
It’s 2024 and some billionaires have already come to a point where spending all their money in their remaining lifetime would be a daunting task.
Good news is that you can’t die, so you don’t suffer from this. As for how to become a billionaire…I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to figure that out!
If you want to live for others, especially your loved ones, it wouldn’t be less than a blessing to see them happy.
Like supporting your current and future family, no matter what happens, you’ll be there for them.
The world is vast and even a life-time is probably not enough to visit it all, with immortality, this would be the perfect blessing for someone who loves travelling.
You could enjoy all kinds of food and experience life all over the world.
Sounds good so far, so let’s check up on what could make immortality a curse:
Immortality as a Curse
Losing your loved one is one of the most tragic moments one could experience, with immortality you’ll likely go through this numerous times.
To see someone from their birth to the very end of their life, your mental state would be constantly tested. Could an immortal remain sane without cutting off their emotions?
Let’s say, as an immortal, there comes a point where you believe you have lived long enough , and just want it to be over….but it will never be over—a curse indeed.
Another scary thing to consider for an immortal would be the fear of being caught by the your own or foreign governments for experiments like a lab rat.
For the last point, immortality sounds like a cool concept but doesn’t it disrupts the nature’s course?
Typical growth and decay in nature is displayed well in a flower’s life cycle, where it grows from a seed to a flower that eventually withers away.
Now let’s apply the nature laws to us. As a baby we require constant care, but we are at our best when we grow into an adult. Still, we eventually grow old and leave this world.
Defying death would be like defying nature, even a single person surviving when he isn’t supposed to be, may bring unimaginable changes to the world…
But, before we finally reach to a conclusion if it’s a blessing or a curse, let’s put on our imagination hat and explore some kinds of immortality we’ll be looking at:
Kinds of Immortality
The first kind of immortality that comes in mind is that you will continue to live, but won’t catch any disease ever and won’t die a natural death. Gunshots or a major accident could still end you though.
The second kind of immortality would be totally unrealistic (Ha!), where you can’t die no matter what, like any injury would get instantly healed etc.
Third kind of immortality would be related to sci-fi. What if science advances to a point where we can simply transfer our consciousness to other artificial bodies?
Lastly, since we are shooting away at the fantasies (for now), may as well include attaining immortality by becoming a ghoul or similar creature.
Realistically, Wouldn’t Immortality Have Limits?
Ironic that I’m mentioning realism in this fantasy write but, if one does attain immortality, to what extent are they really immortal?
Like when we suffer a light wound, our body eventually heals it up. But when we suffer a major wound like detachment of a body part, does it regenerate?
No it doesn’t. Similarly, an immortal person wouldn’t regenerate their heart or other vital organs if they get damaged. So…not really immortal?
Looking closely, true immortality can’t come without omnipotence which is absolute unlimited power, otherwise there’s always a way to be ended.
A better term for a human immortal could be a “pseudo-immortal”, which could be defined something like:
A person who will never age and die (naturally) unless their major vital organs are damaged by an accident or other outside source.
Since we are talking about pseudo-immortality now, this should make your answer to our last question easier:
Would You Still Do It?
A survey among 900 US adults showed that only 33% would be willing to take the pill for immortality if it existed, but what about you?
If you ever have the chance to attain immortality, after you have seen both sides of the coin, would you still do it?
Or it depends if other people are able to attain immortality too or its just gonna be you?
Maybe you have some preference for what kind of immortality you would want?
Whatever’s the case, it’s interesting to think about!
This was a fantasy read to try explain immortality, so let us know if such content is interesting to you.