Saturday, March 26, 2011

Immortality?

Talking about medical science the top priority is obviously to increase the number of healthy living years. But how far can we go in the future? The average lifespan worldwide is already double in comparison what it was 200 years ago, according to this article. And there isn't any signs of slowdown. Is it really immortality we are going for? Atleast for the maximum limit I suppose. In my point of view it would be amazing if I could live over a century, healthy of course.

While the life expectancy increases, the gap between socioeconomic groups is also increasing. The ones with higher educational levels are expected to live longer and those with higher earnings are also in better position when it comes to health care. Especially in Finland the development of this difference hasn't gone in the right way being the main challenge for health care in the next couple of decades.

What comes to immortality, I really don't know whether it's actually as fashinating as it sounds. Imagine yourself as a tree for instance. An old tree living next to some younger plants in a dark forest. Do you feel happy? Don't you feel like you've already filled all of your goals? I think it's definitely the quality and not the amount you should be looking for.

11 comments:

  1. Quality before amount, indeed.
    In my opinion Immortality is for Gods, not for humans, no, i'm not Huge Christian. But still.. Just think about it...
    Achieving immortality would be great, but not necessary. When we are getting older and older, there are those ''Karsinogenesis'' or something (Don't know english word for it!) which increases chance of Cancer, ofc there would be cure for cancer for a price. After all there would be so much cancer that one would run out of money and die to it.
    No one can achieve immortality.

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  2. Hopefully immortality won't come about. I know no one wants to die and it's a egocentric ideology but if you think about it, it makes no sense and would be full of disaster. Food shortages, health care (depending that people still get sick and such), population issues, overcrowding. The list could go on and on. So unless theres solutions to all those problems, even if it's possible it's not feasible.

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  3. Immortality seems great, but after a few thousand years it just seems like even life would get boring. I dunno, but forever seems like a long time!

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  4. Quality > quantity. At least I think so.

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  5. totally agree, man. it's really living your life that counts, but if you could do that for twice as long, why not. often it's possible to really live even if you're old. like in the movie harold and maude. i'd like to be like her.

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  6. Sign me up for a few thousand years, 70+ years aren't enough, plus the last 20-30 will be tough.

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  7. Definately quality over quantity. I've worked as a nurse and I've always treid to keep people from making desisions just to get some more time...

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  8. I cant really decide weather or not I'm would want immortality or not... There are so many implications :o

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  9. I would hate to be immortal. I think knowing that we have to eventually die it was makes us alive and fully human. Death of the opposite of life. And if death didn't exist, life would have no meaning or value.

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  10. I wouldnt like to life forever... :/

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  11. I remember reading somewhere that scientists have already agreed that the person who will live until they are 1000 has already been born.

    I for one, believe we are all immortal, but not in the physical sense.

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