Saying NO To The Reaper

My name is Adam Rounisto and I absolutely disdain the notion of death. The idea of the slow deterioration of a once youthful body disgusts me, while of the shear fact that we take it for granted, pisses me off. Every since I was a wee boy, I never felt that it made any sense, and all of the jack-ass things that people argue would be the "negative" side affects of immortality, are as flimsy as a piece of paper. I argue that our ultimate purpose of being on this earth is unrelated to a need to die, while the factors which cause our body to fail us, are preventable. I submit to the notion that death, much like cancer and Alzheimer's, is a disease that can and should be sought out to be cured. I am going to break this into two separate posts because it would otherwise be overwhelming in size I'm sure. I will focus mainly on my interpretation of death and it's misconceptions in this post, and then talk about my proposal to search for a solution in the following post.

My Rant

First and foremost, when I say that I want to be immortal, I'm referring to, and only referring to, existing in a physical, biological form, that is capable of full locomotion and thought. I don't give a shit about the kind of immortality that people talk about when they are referring to when they create something that lasts longer than themselves. I also don't care about having immortality though the power of a soul which lives on beyond our physical body. I am exclusively concerned with the continuation of this human experience while in a healthy and vigorous state of being. Whether or not the afterlife has more to bring to us or if we re-spawn into other beings after expiration, is irrelevant in my opinion. People will always ponder and give their two cents about what happens to us after death, but I would much rather spend my time preventing it, or should I say curing it, so that I won't have to rely on the abstract and unknown. With that said, let's continue...

The Misconceptions of Death

Whenever you hear people speaking about death, they always phrase it in such a way that implies that it's an unstoppable force that takes all; an inescapable fate the comes upon each and everyone of us regardless to what we do. Why is this though? Is it because they have heard from all of their peers that no one can escape the reaper? It is because they have seen their family members pass away in front of them without any fight left in their final hours? Or, perhaps is it because they have fallen victim to the societal ignorance passed on through multiple generations that led them to the conclusion that everything must come to an end, therefore, humans must pass away at some point?

Obviously, base around the above paragraph, I am under the impression that, as for the majority of people, death is essential because we have been taught that it is, not because it is. In a matter of fact, I doubt anybody could really offer a good explanation as to why we have to die without diving into the realm of philosophical fodder or religious conviction. Whats more, is the fact that we are, one some level, expected to deal with it in a graceful matter. We are taught that it is of natural order and that if an animal doesn't contest their own mortality, who are we to think we are above it. This absolute nonsense. Not only does a thing not become true because we call upon it, but the fact that we shouldn't be contrarian to the ideals of death, is arrogant. It's arrogant because it assumes that we know the absolute boundaries of this universe and therefore shouldn't question anything that steps beyond those lines. In addition, it teaches people poor habits of not questioning what we consider common knowledge while training them to accept the futility of their own actions. Honestly, I think it is irresponsible to treat the matter like we do, and I believe that no one should have ever suggested that we need to die, because that mere suggestion is potentially what is causing us to die.

Our Words Craft Our Realities

Words, hold within themselves great power beyond their initial meanings. The words that we know, are the things that we focus on, and the words that we don't know, can't exist within our conceptional understanding of this reality. Further more, the things that do not have words exist even more beyond our awareness. Considering the effects of placebo and self image, words in this sense are solely responsible for our interpretation of what exists. History has shown us countless times that we are subject to the words that we use and the words that others use to communicate about the world around them. I don't want to digress from the main topic here, but in short, what we hear is what what we believe, and what we believe affects what we do and how we act. If you are interested in reading more into it, I wrote a post yesterday on the power of thought that you can read here. I will also be writing more specifically on the power that words have in themselves very soon. But, to get on topic, I want to cover some of the common concerns about living forever and touch on the irrational- rationalizations people make about it. But, without further ado, lets get into some of the concerns

Evolution Will Go On Without You

Surprisingly, one of the biggest things that a lot of people are saying would be a bad about living forever, is that evolution will persist while you stay stagnant. I'm not really why I should have to explain the flaws in this, but to be thorough , consider this question: Assuming we have the capability to sustain life indefinitely, do you really think that we would be tripped over the simple problems that we could probably already solve today? Remember, we are already very technologically evolved. Some argue that we will only de-evolve if anything, because technology has become a huge part of our lives. Any situation that would become a problem, would only become a problem that arises over the course of several millions of years. It is very doubtful that anything would thwart our efforts in finding a solution. On this same topic, a fear would be dismemberment and/or, being seriously injured. Much the same, these things would have already have been considered prior to being capable of being immortal because it is primitive by comparison. A technology capable of creating infinite life, would be able to repair the flesh, bone, muscle, ligament, and organs of a person. As I already said, we aren't that far away from doing so already.

You Would Go Crazy

One concern that a lot of people are worried about is this idea that as time keeps moving on, there will be too many memories to keep track of and the time would seem to go faster and faster until you would go crazy. This problem is one that I have heard the most, but it makes very little sense. Think of it this way, when you were in high school, you learned a lot of stuff. In fact, you were studying for the better part of 8 hours a day, not including homework. When you consider your life right now and how little you remember from that time, it becomes obvious that it isn't essential to hold on to every single memory to be a functional member of society. We are constantly learning and forgetting things everyday. It is a normal process of our brain that keeps us from worrying about things that don't matter any more. Worrying about this would assume that by being immortal we all of a sudden lose this ability to move on from our past and to adapt to our present. This simply isn't the case. It's an assumption that doesn't have any solid foundation behind it.

One other concern that is very similar to this, is the worry that time would get to fast to function. As everyone likes to say, "Time goes by faster as you get older."....well, no, it doesn't, it's just that you are not doing as much anymore. The only reason that time seems to move faster is because of reference. See, as you are growing up, you have way more encounters with situations that are unique to you than you do when you are an adult, and even more so compared to the elderly. Therefore, as you get older, you have less points of impotence to look back on over the last couple of years than a child does. You aren't ever going to experience time going impossibly fast, because it never speeds up to begin with.

You Will Experience The End Of The World

If you are capable of living forever and science is correct about an immanent disaster taking out the future world, you have a couple things to consider. First off, when this event would take place, it would be so far from now, that it may be avoided entirely. If that isn't the case, then whats to say you have to be on the planet when it is destroyed? Think about it. Issues of over population would already have been addressed because our one planet only has a limited amount of resources and room for people. At some point we would only be able continue on by preventing re-population, or the better solution, populating beyond earth.

Terra-forming other planets and space exploration may seem like an incredible idea, but it isn't outside of our capability. Not only are we working towards ways to create self-contained atmospheres, but we are only a few years out from making a more expansive space station. One thing that could be considered is that even if you can't make a different planet inhabitable, we could simply make a planet. It doesn't need to be the size of our current one, but over time, I'm positive that one even larger could be constructed as we master AI and swarm robotics.

Everyone Around You Will Die

It's pretty grim to think that if you live thousands of years, that any lasting relationships that you would ever have would end countless times. It would be a very disheartening idea to think about if everyone you ever loved would die before your very eyes as you keep on living . This, is of course, assuming that they aren't going to keep living as well...which is most likely the case. See, when I read this shit online that talks as if you are going to live forever, but everyone around you are dropping like flies, I wonder to myself who is making this stuff up? The fact that anyone even suggests this means that they haven't put any serious consideration into the matter. Seriously, immortality isn't going to happen in a vacuum. It would happen on a mass scale with many of people. You might have some people you care about pass away, but you will undoubtedly also have those that will continue on with you.

Society Would Never Progress

If people don't die, then society power structures will never change. The poor will remain poor and powerless while the rich remain rich and in control. That's the argument though at least. I'll admit, this is a fair concern to consider unlike the previous flimsy ones, but it still isn't that great of reason to condemn everyone to death to prevent it. I'm not saying that changes wouldn't have to be made in accommodation to an increased life span we are talking about, but it doesn't mean that it is impossible. I've got ideas for this problem, but I'll save that for a future post. For now, think about people in general. whether or not they are successful or not isn't fully reliant to their social status. Yes, people who have an advantage from the start have an advantage, but those who are driven, overcome these obstacles. Especially in this age where more open source programs become accessible and knowledge is more readily available, the advantage between the rich and the poor is dwindling. We are exiting an age where the rich succeed because they can afford education, and entering a new age where information is no further than a click of a button. More and more highly proficient programs and tools are becoming increasingly available to people with less of an income making the real indicator of success based around desire and not privilege....which leads me to my last point.

Life Would Become Meaningless

One of the most motivational things in the world is knowing that you have a limited amount to time on this Earth to do the things you want to do. Some may argue that if we never died, none of us would get anything done. After all, what is the point in doing anything if you have forever to do it? What would be the point?

Out of all of the concerns that people have, this one makes me the saddest. The reason for this is because of this idea that it's because of death that our life has value. What a sad idea. You know, there is so many people out there who believe that since life is fleeting, the beauty of life is evermore beautiful. They are under the impression that it's a matter of contrast; that without death you can't truly live.... what a bunch of bullshit! Seriously, when you consider the fact that people are dying, right now, and are still not doing a damn thing with there life, do you really think it's their lifespan that is the issue? the fact they are going to die isn't obviously motivating them to do anything with their lives and much the same, people with a purpose and a sense of being, aren't going to automatically lose that purpose due to being immortal. This is just a cop-out, not a real reason. It's easy to argue that it would get boring after a while, or that you would run out of things to do, but that is coming from an incessant need to always desire non-stop stimulation which is a problem from attitude, not lifespan. People who don't seek out new experiences will never find them, and people who do will always find them in abundance. These matters are a derivative of the individual, which will always be an issue so long as they conduct themselves a particular way, and separate from the passing of time.

Finding The Solutions To Questions We Aren't Asking

If it isn't apparent by now, I don't believe that death is necessary. It's easy to consider all of the terrible things that could happen due to venturing into an immortal society, but so is it easy to complain about anything in life. The point here that I'm trying to drive in, is that we are always more prone to worry about all of the reasons why we can't do something, that we don't allow ourselves the room to consider how it could be done. We are always focused on the problems and not the solutions, which needs to be addressed. Do you find pride in your death? Do you think it's becoming of you to accept your death as a badge of honor? I personally choose to pass on that award, because I value my life. I value my life, not because it is going to end, but because I am comfortable in my own skin enough to want to continue thriving and contributing to this universe. I want to live, so to do so with the greatest effectiveness, I choose to seek out Immortality.

I have seen through many stories of other people's successes, and by my own experiences, that what we often believe is possible or impossible, quickly changes as we discover more information. I feel that people are so brain-washed into believing that death is suppose to happen, that nobody is putting in a real effort to avert it. We hide the dead underground and the sick behind curtains. We dramatize death in movies in an unrealistic way so that there is a wedge created from the idea of what death really is. Is death a motivator for me? You're damn right. But instead of trying to play some bullshit kind of noble card, I'm using that effort towards creating a new world for us all. I'm sure that I'll find more people willing to contribute to this cause and even if I don't, (even though I eventually will,) I'm going to do everything in my power to come to that discovery on my own. Will I succeed? Well, let's just say that I'm going to succeed, or die trying.... but at least, I'll be trying. I would rather try than just accept everything as we assume it to be. It's always good to question everything.

Thank you for reading this and I apologize if it puts you in a grim mood. Sometimes, some things, need to be said, that can't be put in any other way. I will make a 2nd part to this post that will go further into this topic and my proposal. Keep in mind that I am very serious and am looking for more interested people. I learn, you learn, but we learn faster together. Thanks again, and take care.