Is Immortality Immoral?

[Dagda]

If so, why?

[Kuldeep]

You need to open your mind a little bit so that it would be clear:

Immortality of what ??

What is Immoral according to you??

To me, both Immortality and Immoral are properties. Immortality relates to existence of living or, non-living thing while, Immoral relates to behaviour of living things only, humans in particular. Now the point of debate should be whether these properties are related to each other or not ! If these are related then how and if not why ??????

Let me give you my opinion that I do not think these are related as I think now. The reasons would follow since I may change this view on hearing from you your answers to my questions on Immortality and Immoral.

[Jack]

Immortality is a fantasy. No living thing we know of is immortal. Fantasies are not subject to the judgments of morality.

[Dagda]

No living thing we know of is immortal.

Wrong. There is a sertain kind of jellyfish which never groes old as well as a kind of alge and there is a species of tree which can certianly survive thousands of years and has never been known to die of age related problems (only fire, deiseas, logging etc)

[Jack]

I'd like to see specific names of those so I can look into that.

[D Sretenovic]

Maybe if you would stop acting as nerds, you would get the question right: I think that Dagda`s question could be rephrased like this: It there was cure for death of humans, would it be moral for people to use it?

[Jack]

I cannot deny my basic nature.

My previous answer still applies. There's no moral element to extending lifespans. We've done that with advanced medicine. If somehow we could eliminate death (which I still consider a fantasy) there would be no reason to apply a moral judgment on those who took advantage of it. Theists may have an issue as it would put into question their belief in the afterlife. We non-believers have no such preconception to disturb.

[Dagda]

With the names I would put if I could but there in latin and I can never remember them. Try looking up immortal algey or jellyfish, sorry. Its really starting to bug me

[Jack]

Thanks for the lead. I did find the following but nothing yet on algae.

The hydrozoan Turritopsis nutricula has evolved a remarkable variation on this theme, and in so doing appears to have achieved immortality. The solitary medusa of this species can revert to its polyp stage after becoming sexually mature (Bavestrello et al., 1992; Piraino et al., 1996). In the laboratory, 100% of these medusae regularly undergo this change. Thus, it is possible that organismic death does not occur in this species! How does Turritopsis accomplish this feat? It can do this because it can alter the differentiated state of a cell, transforming it into another cell type. Such a phenomenon is called transdifferentiation, and it is usually seen only when parts of an organ regenerate. However, it appears to occur normally in the Turritopsis life cycle (Figure 2). In this transdifferentiation process, the medusa is transformed into the stolons and polyps of a hydroid colony. First, the umbrella everts and the tentacles and mesoglea (the middle layer) are resorbed. The everted medusa attach to the substrate by the end that had been at the opposite end of the umbrella, and spawning occurs shortly thereafter. The cnidarian then secretes a perisarc (stolon covering) and stolons. Two days after the stolons are first seen, polyps differentiate. These polyps feed on zooplankton and soon are budding off new medusae.

Developmental Biology Online: Cheating Death

See, I learned something new today. From now on I'll have to be careful to specifiy complex life forms when debating immortality.

[stardust]

I wouldn't consider it immoral. I have no reason to.

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: D Sretenovic Maybe if you would stop acting as nerds, you would get the question right: I think that Dagda`s question could be rephrased like this: It there was cure for death of humans, would it be moral for people to use it?

Has it to do something with my thread "In case Birth & Death stops, then what????...In that defintely immorality would not be immoral !!!

[D Sretenovic]

Has it to do something with my thread "In case Birth & Death stops, then what????...In that defintely immorality would not be immoral !!!

Haven`t seen your thread unfortunately, haven`t been on Volconvo for some time, so I`ve skipped it...

Anyway, I think human immortality IS immoral. Because:

- it is against nature, nature created us with all the others things around, and it knows best what is good for us. Mortality is one of those.

- if people wouldn`t die, there wouldn`t be room for ``new people``, babies. We can`t be so selfish to disallow others to take our places. Our planet is slowly becoming overpopulated already, and the only reason it still isn`t overcrowded is because people die.

- this one is just a presumption: People are often more effective when they know ``time is running out for them``. What would happen if you knew you have all the time of universe to finish your ``chores``? I guess you wouldn`t be in a hurry. It`s a fact people appreciate their time more when it`s limited.

- what would you gain being immortal? OK, we`re all afraid of death, as Woody Allen says, but it isn`t always that bad. For example, when a person dies knowing he accomplished everything he hoped in his life, leaving adult children behind him, well grown and educated, secured, etc, etc, when he ``does his job here`` in few words, I guess death isn`t anything more than an end to a good story. Of course, that`s just a guess.

``Cure for death`` would do more harm than good, and would make people more miserable than happy, because people wouldn`t use it in a good cause. That`s in human nature, unfortunately. They would use it because they`re spoiled, scared, or because they wouldn`t think enough through it. ``Would I like to live forever? Of course!``. But, if you think twice, what is the gain in the end?

[D Sretenovic]

Little correction regarding my last post: I` ve listed some of the arguments first to cross my mind against human immortality. Not all of them stand for ``Immortality is immoral`` issue, but they do stand for my ``Immortality is bad`` belief. Cheers!

[Dagda]

- if people wouldn`t die, there wouldn`t be room for ``new people``, babies. We can`t be so selfish to disallow others to take our places. Our planet is slowly becoming overpopulated already, and the only reason it still isn`t overcrowded is because people die.

Who said it would ve a universal right? Why give it to those who wouldn't fully apriciate the gift of immortality? This is, of course, eliteist but as long as I am in the select few. The advocators of elitism always are.

[D Sretenovic]

People who appreciate life would get this privilege? Or, people with ``deeper pockets``?

[Dagda]

Exactly my point. The elite always dress there concerns up as a noble cuase-in this case better appriciation of immortality- but the real reason os always the same-a selfish greed to have something and deny the object of there passion from the masses.