The conference season is over and I’m guessing we’ve all had enough of politics for now. I know I have … at least until the Sunday papers are out.
Instead of politics, I thought I would for a change regale you with another of my favourite subjects — immortality.
I knew you’d be pleased. It does affect you, you know. Yes, you.
On the 22nd of May, 2005, The Observer newspaper published an article by Ian Pearson, Head of the Futurology Unit at BT (British Telecom). It was titled: “2050 – and immortality is within our grasp.”
The indefatigable Pearson wrote, “If you draw the timelines, realistically by 2050 we would expect to be able to download your mind into a machine, so when you die it’s not a major career problem. … If you’re rich enough then by 2050 it’s feasible.
you’re poor you’ll probably have to wait until 2075 or 2080 when it’s routine. We are very serious about it. That’s how fast this technology is moving: 45 years is a hell of a long time in IT.”
But is downloading the contents of your brain to a computer, immortality? An alternative approach is to fix our bodies so that we live to 200. Strictly speaking that’s not immortality either, just a very long innings. Even so, some people would settle for it, despite the tedium of an almost endless dotage.
Other commentators believe we will become posthumans if we simply live long enough to understand all things. George Bernard Shaw wanted to exist for 300 years, convinced he would know everything by then. Many agree with him, even though it seems more like a fear of death than a step in the right direction. In the end he lived to a ripe 94, quite long enough for most people.
Interestingly, our psychology changes as we get older. The Swiss thinker and psychiatrist C.G. Jung realized that our deep mind prepares us for physical death with intimations of immortality. It acts as if we were going to live forever.
So what is immortality if not bodily survival? The gnostic Gospel of Thomas is quite clear: “Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death. Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. The kingdom is within you and it is outside you. Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.”
