Should I Choose To Live Forever? A Debate

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I have just been made aware of a new book, Should I Choose To Live Forever? A Debate

The book is a debate between the philosophers Stephen Case–who answers the question in the negative, and John Martin Fischer—who answers in the affirmative. The book also includes a Foreword by Lord Martin Rees, the current Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom.

While I have only read excerpts from the book I am familiar with the writing on this topic by both of these philosophers. And, as my readers might also know, I am firmly on the side of those who argue for having the choice to live forever—as I wrote in my Salon essay “Death Should Be Optional.”

What I did notice in the book’s early pages was Case’s helpful distinctions between

a) moderate life extension – increasing our current longest lifespans by about 40 years;

b) radical life extension – eliminating aging such that one could only die from some outside force such as a meteor hitting the planet;

c) contingent immortality – being immortal from any possible cause and living forever unless one chooses to die;

d) true immortality – one cannot die from any cause and one cannot choose to die.

My view that death should be optional falls into group c. I find option d quite undesirable since it condemns one to live no matter what. Even a god might want to die. Moreover, many people worry about radical life extension or contingent immortality for the same reason—in such states, they will be unable to choose to die. For example, we might be kept alive by malevolent beings and tortured thus unable to put an end to our miserable existence. So I think the allure of death is that no matter how bad life is there is some way out. People find that comforting.

I don’t know how to ameliorate these worries. All I’m saying is that the option to be immortal which includes an escape clause that could be exercised at any time seems best. In that case, we are immune to aging, disease, accidents, etc. but are able to die. (Yes, I do realize that this is currently fantasy.)

I do look forward to reading the book and if any of my readers get to it first please share your findings.