I think it’s a good idea for a few reasons. Mainly, that death is bad in the abstract, since there is no afterlife and it is the end of experience and thus happiness; and bad for me personally, since I don’t think there is an afterlife and I want to continue to experience happiness. There is also the associated grief from those who loved the departed, and the decrepitude of age that makes life not worth living for some.
The only aspect of immortality I don’t like is the population problem, and I have no reply for that; but I’m mainly concerned with those who oppose it on ideological grounds—like those who might say “death gives meaning to life”. To which I say: what meaning? Are your experiences enhanced by the looming prospect of you and everyone you love ceasing to exist forever—or does this provide sadness and anxiety? For almost everyone, it is the latter. My life would seem even more* worthwhile if I did not have a mere ~76 years.
*(Even if you are religious, there is a chance you are wrong, so this is still a distinct possibility.)
To use an example of Eliezer’s, if the benefit of death is so much greater than that of immortality, would an immortal want to die? Probably not, unless they were tired of life. And that, I can understand; when I say immortality, I really mean the ability to choose when you die. I object not to dying when one wishes to, if one ever does, but to the dying being forced upon us, with no concern for our desires. So the question becomes, would an immortal want to be subject to an arbitrary death date? I cannot imagine this ever being the case.
Of course, if you are a theist, then this argument would become about the afterlife. I would certainly question a God who sets up a system like this universe, but that’s a different debate.
The only aspect of immortality I don’t like is the population problem, and I have no reply for that
I used to worry a lot about overpopulation, but not so much anymore. We don’t have an overpopulation problem, we have a resource overconsumption problem. This is most likely easier to engineer around than death is; it’s not like we haven’t jacked up the human carrying capacity of the earth several times already.
Why not?
I think it’s a good idea for a few reasons. Mainly, that death is bad in the abstract, since there is no afterlife and it is the end of experience and thus happiness; and bad for me personally, since I don’t think there is an afterlife and I want to continue to experience happiness. There is also the associated grief from those who loved the departed, and the decrepitude of age that makes life not worth living for some.
The only aspect of immortality I don’t like is the population problem, and I have no reply for that; but I’m mainly concerned with those who oppose it on ideological grounds—like those who might say “death gives meaning to life”. To which I say: what meaning? Are your experiences enhanced by the looming prospect of you and everyone you love ceasing to exist forever—or does this provide sadness and anxiety? For almost everyone, it is the latter. My life would seem even more* worthwhile if I did not have a mere ~76 years.
*(Even if you are religious, there is a chance you are wrong, so this is still a distinct possibility.)
To use an example of Eliezer’s, if the benefit of death is so much greater than that of immortality, would an immortal want to die? Probably not, unless they were tired of life. And that, I can understand; when I say immortality, I really mean the ability to choose when you die. I object not to dying when one wishes to, if one ever does, but to the dying being forced upon us, with no concern for our desires. So the question becomes, would an immortal want to be subject to an arbitrary death date? I cannot imagine this ever being the case.
Of course, if you are a theist, then this argument would become about the afterlife. I would certainly question a God who sets up a system like this universe, but that’s a different debate.
I used to worry a lot about overpopulation, but not so much anymore. We don’t have an overpopulation problem, we have a resource overconsumption problem. This is most likely easier to engineer around than death is; it’s not like we haven’t jacked up the human carrying capacity of the earth several times already.
That’s true. Thanks for pointing it out! The U.S.A, for instance, is still mostly empty space, and that goes even for Europe, I think.