In this blog post, we will look at various perspectives on whether humanity would be happier if we were to achieve eternal life, or whether social and personal anxiety would increase.
Death is a terrible thing that humans would like to avoid if possible. That is why humans have always longed to overcome death. In ancient times, Qin Shi Huang drank mercury to live forever, and alchemists studied how to create gold and live forever. Even in modern times, people work out hard and eat tasteless food to live a little longer, and numerous studies are being actively conducted to extend human life. But even if these wishes come true and humans live forever, will they be happier than they are now?
Before we begin our discussion, we would like to define the scope of “eternal life.” First, not all of humanity will enjoy eternal life. If humanity does enjoy eternal life, it will surely be thanks to technological advancements. However, historically, when a breakthrough technology has been developed, it has rarely been given to everyone equally. For example, it has been more than ten years since the smartphone was developed, but not everyone is using it yet. Only some people who can afford to buy a smartphone can use it. Similarly, even if eternal life technology is developed, only some wealthy people are likely to enjoy eternal life.
Second, the technology for eternal life will not prevent “unnatural” deaths such as accidental or murder deaths. The technology for eternal life is likely to be a technology that stops human aging, not a technology that turns humans into gods. Therefore, the technology for eternal life is likely to be a technology that only prevents natural deaths.
Let’s first look at the happiness of humanity in the context of material stability during eternal life. Of course, happiness does not depend solely on material wealth, but as Harari mentioned, there is a certain correlation between material wealth and happiness. The difference in happiness between someone who eats steak every day and someone who eats hamburgers every day may not be significant, but there will be a significant difference in happiness between someone who can eat every meal and someone who cannot. In other words, for a person to be happy, the problems of clothing, food, and shelter must be solved to a certain extent.
So, if humanity becomes immortal, will it become materially rich? Simply put, if immortality becomes possible, the population will explode and suffer from a severe shortage of resources. However, this logic is similar to the mistake made by Malthus in 1798. In his book, “On the Origin of Species,” Malthus predicted that food shortages would eventually occur because the population would increase exponentially, but crop production would increase linearly. However, in reality, thanks to technological advances, crop production has increased exponentially, and there is even a phenomenon of food abundance. In other words, this discussion was erroneous because it did not take into account the pace of technological development of mankind.
Similarly, if humanity becomes immortal, the population will increase much faster than the current rate of population growth, but if humanity has the technology to achieve immortality, it is likely that advanced technology for crop production has already been developed. This will also solve the problem of food shortages. In addition, the development of construction technology will solve the problems of clothing and housing. Therefore, in terms of material abundance, it seems that there will be no major problems if humanity becomes immortal.
Second, let’s see if society can be stabilized if humanity becomes immortal. According to Hara, family and community have a greater impact on our happiness than money and health. In other words, the stability of the community has a greater impact on human happiness than material wealth. Therefore, it is necessary to consider whether society can be stabilized if humanity becomes immortal. Can the advent of immortality contribute to the stability of society? My answer is “no.” There are four reasons for this. They are the formation of new social grievances, the maximization of the gap between the rich and the poor, the social maladjustment of the older generation, and the clash of values between generations.
First, let’s look at the formation of new social grievances. When everyone is equal in the face of death, no one is dissatisfied with it. This is because death comes to everyone equally. However, the situation will change when eternal life technology is developed. As mentioned earlier, even if humanity can live forever, only a few people will actually be able to enjoy eternal life. If this is the case, those who do not enjoy eternal life will feel dissatisfaction with death that they did not originally have and dissatisfaction with the inequality of eternal life when they see those who do enjoy eternal life. A society with such dissatisfaction is unlikely to be considered stable.
Second, since those who live forever are not limited by time, it would be easier for them to accumulate wealth than for finite people. Of course, even among finite people, there may be those who develop groundbreaking technologies or demonstrate outstanding business acumen and accumulate great wealth in a short period of time, and there may be those among those with infinite time who fail to accumulate wealth. However, this is likely to be the case for only a small number of people. In general, the gap between those with infinite time and those with finite time is likely to be even greater than it is now. The gap between the rich and the poor is already emerging as the biggest social problem, and if the gap widens further, society will become even more unstable.
Third, the social maladjustment of the old generation is a problem that can arise after a long period of time after the development of eternal life technology. Social maladjustment of the old generation refers to the inability of people who have lived for a long time to adapt to the current society because they cannot break away from their old ways of thinking. This is because they do not feel the need to change their already stable lives. For example, a person who has been working in accounting since the 1970s may be accustomed to using an abacus and want to continue using it rather than learn how to use a computer. This older generation is increasingly unable to keep up with changes in society, and this is an issue that is still present today. However, the pace of technological development will be much faster in the future. It is difficult to overcome a generation gap of just 20 years, but how can we overcome a generation gap of 100, 1,000, or 10,000 years? Probably impossible. If the older generation fails to adapt to a rapidly changing society, normal social life will become impossible. This will result in the younger generation having to pay more taxes to support the older generation, which will lead to dissatisfaction.
Fourth, there is the clash of values between generations. People usually make judgments based on their own experiences, and the events experienced by a person who has lived for 1,000 years and a person who has lived for 20 years are completely different, so a clash of values is inevitable. Even now, the clash of values between the elderly and the young is manifested as a social problem, with gender discrimination being a typical example. Currently, the older generation in our society finds it difficult to accept men working in the kitchen or women working outside. This is because they have always lived that way. However, the younger generation believes that gender equality is a given. Of course, some who are sensitive to change easily accept new values, but most people do not. If humanity is to live forever, this conflict of values will become more intense, and conflicts between generations will become more frequent. Therefore, society will become more unstable than it is now and people will not be able to live happier lives than they do now for the reasons above.
Finally, let’s look at the possibility of individual self-realization if humanity lives forever. Self-realization is the realization of one’s desires, and as Harari mentioned, if happiness is “subjective satisfaction,” self-realization and happiness are closely related. Self-realization can be divided into two main categories. The first is self-realization through achievement and growth, and the second is self-realization through small leisure activities.
First, let’s look at self-realization through achievement and growth. If you were to live forever, self-realization through achievement and growth would be impossible. For example, if you were to ask someone to make a plan that would take decades, most people would feel the desire to achieve it. But what would you feel if you were to ask someone to make a plan that would take thousands of years? Most people would feel bored rather than the desire to achieve it.
