Immortality and the Fear of Losing Loved Ones

 

Immortality and the Fear of Losing Loved Ones

Premise 1: People own pets knowing they will live for a relatively short time (around 15 years).

• Bernard Williams: In "The Makropulos Case," Williams explores how humans value relationships even when they are temporary, drawing parallels with how people value relationships with pets despite their shorter lifespans.

Premise 2: The fact that pets will die relatively soon does not deter people from loving and caring for them.

• Martha Nussbaum: Nussbaum’s work on human capability and emotional resilience, particularly in "Creating Capabilities," supports the idea that people continue to form relationships despite the knowledge that they are temporary, much like with pets.

Premise 3: Therefore, the fear of outliving loved ones should not deter people from wanting immortality.

• Henri Bergson: In "Creative Evolution," Bergson emphasizes the continuity of life and the constant evolution of experiences, suggesting that new relationships and experiences in an immortal life could continuously provide meaning, overcoming the fear of outliving loved ones.

Conclusion: The argument that people wouldn’t want to be immortal because of the pain of outliving loved ones is not strong, given that people already accept the short lifespans of pets.

• Heraclitus: Heraclitus’ doctrine of change, as cited in Fragments, suggests that life is a process of continuous renewal, supporting the idea that in immortality, new relationships and experiences can offset the pain of loss, just as people accept the loss of pets while continuing to form new bonds.