What If We Don't Die?: The Morality of Immortality (Springer Praxis Books)

This book deals with the very real possibility of earthly immortality and the human and societal implications of such immortality, including whether it is desirable. It looks at what makes immortality appear so attractive and at the possibility that we would be better served with longer lives and the freedom to terminate our lives at the time when life has given us all the joy, inspiration and personal development it possibly could. What If We Don’t Die? - Presents major moral dilemmas associated with human immortality, something which seems imminent due to rapidly progressing biomedical research. - Touches on big questions: is it acceptable that the immortal generation will be the last? How much life do you want? What is the purpose of life if life never ends? - Will trigger your imagination by putting a new spin on free will, current concepts of time and eternity, the possibility of multiple universes and multiple yous. What If We Don’t Die? draws extensively on philosophical and religious thought on the purpose of life and introduces novel perspectives on existence, personality and immortality based, for instance, on quantum mechanics and multiverse theory. Front Matter....Pages i-viii Immortality Again?....Pages 1-4 Is That Really a Question??....Pages 5-7 Choices, Choices....Pages 9-12 What Is Eternity?....Pages 13-18 The Timeless and the Ageless....Pages 19-21 Time and Existence....Pages 23-25 Pantheism and Spirit as Substance....Pages 27-28 Communitarian Happiness....Pages 29-31 Ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas....Pages 33-37 Immortality Through Parallel Universes....Pages 39-43 Death of Compassion?....Pages 45-46 Identity and Infinity....Pages 47-48 God, Spacetime and the Mathematical Universe....Pages 49-51 Winston Decides Not to Die....Pages 53-56 God Is and Is Not....Pages 57-58 Linear and Non-linear Logic....Pages 59-62 What Is Immortality?....Pages 63-74 Is Anything Forever Existing?....Pages 75-76 The Limits of You!....Pages 77-78 The Mind/Body Problem Resolved?....Pages 79-83 So Why We Were Not Created Immortal?....Pages 85-86 Ego, Todestrieb and Immortality....Pages 87-89 Why Immortality Is Death....Pages 91-92 Why Seize the Day?....Pages 93-94 Loss and Value....Pages 95-96 Are the Gods Immortal?....Pages 97-99 Immortality of the Devil....Pages 101-103 The Immortality of Not Being Born....Pages 105-106 Oh, Jerusalem!....Pages 107-109 The Twilight Zone Between Death and Immortality....Pages 111-112 Movement and Immortality....Pages 113-114 So, What Is So Horrible About Death?....Pages 115-119 Lust for Life or Fear of Non-existence?....Pages 121-122 Immortality and Intergenerational Justice....Pages 123-127 A Return to Immediacy?....Pages 129-130 Personal Relativity and Time....Pages 131-134 A World of Immortals....Pages 135-136 Natural Selection and Immortality....Pages 137-139 The Tragedy of the Longest Life!....Pages 141-143 Choosing Life!....Pages 145-147 Humans and Humankind....Pages 149-151 Immortality for Humanity, Darwin for Everybody Else?....Pages 153-155 Gaia and Dystopia....Pages 157-158 Beyond the Limits of Rationality....Pages 159-162 Longer Life or Immortality?....Pages 163-165 Birth Undone....Pages 167-167 The Medicated Good Death....Pages 169-171 Death Elective....Pages 173-176 Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Have Believed....Pages 177-177 So .......Pages 179-180 An Afterthought – The Fifth Dimension....Pages 181-183 This book deals with the very real possibility of earthly immortality, and the human and societal implications of such immortality, including whether it is desirable. The book looks at what makes immortality appear so attractive, and at the possibility that we would be better served with longer lives and the freedom to terminate our lives at the time when life has given us all the joy, inspiration and personal development it possibly could. What If We Don’t Die? - Presents major moral dilemmas associated with human immortality, something which seems imminent due to rapidly progressing biomedical research. - Touches on big questions: is it acceptable that the immortal generation will be the last? How much life do you want? What is the purpose of life if life never ends? - Will trigger your imagination by putting a new spin on free will, current concepts of time and eternity, the possibility of multiple universes and multiple yous. What If We Don’t Die? draws extensively on philosophical and religious thought on the purpose of life and introduces novel perspectives on existence, personality and immortality based, for instance, on quantum mechanics and multiverse theory