Have you ever watched a movie where characters are on a quest to live forever? It sounds pretty cool, right? But let’s think about it for a moment. Is living forever really as amazing as it seems?
Imagine you’re a young boy, and a year feels like a really long time. But for your mom, who is much older, a year doesn’t seem as long. This is because the older you get, the smaller a year feels compared to your whole life. If you lived to be 82 years old, you’d have about 30,000 days to experience. Now, imagine living for 30,000 years! A whole year might feel as short as a single day.
If you lived for millions of years, you might get bored. Even worse, you could feel lonely and sad because you’d outlive everyone you care about. But what if everyone else was immortal too? Earth isn’t big enough for everyone to live forever, so where would we all go?
Think about your earliest memories. It’s hard to remember things from when you were really young, right? Now, imagine trying to remember things from a thousand or even a million years ago! Our brains can only hold so much information, so we often forget less important things to make room for new memories. If you had a new friend or partner every hundred years, you’d have thousands of relationships over a million years. How many of those people would you actually remember?
Humans change over time. For example, if taller people are more attractive, they might have more children, and future generations could be taller. If you were the only person who never aged, you might end up looking very different from everyone else as they evolve.
Being immortal means you can’t die, but it doesn’t mean you won’t get hurt. Look at your body and count your scars. Now, imagine how many scars you might have after living for a thousand years! In the U.S., about 185,000 people leave the hospital each year after losing a limb due to accidents or illnesses. If you lived for a million years, the chances of keeping all your body parts would be pretty low.
Think about your eyes, nose, ears, fingers, and teeth. How likely are you to keep them healthy for hundreds or even thousands of years? You might end up looking very different from how you started.
So, do you still want to live forever? Or would you rather explore other superpowers or scientific concepts? You could think about changing your body size, moving at super speed, flying, having super strength, or even becoming invisible. The possibilities are endless!
Imagine how time feels different as you age. Create a timeline of your life so far, marking significant events. Then, predict future milestones and how your perception of time might change as you grow older. Share your timeline with the class and discuss how time perception might differ if you were immortal.
Join a class debate on the pros and cons of immortality. Split into two groups: one advocating for immortality and the other against it. Use points from the article, such as loneliness and memory limitations, to support your arguments. Conclude with a reflection on whether immortality is desirable.
Think about your earliest memories and write a short story about a significant event from your past. Then, imagine you are immortal and write a story about a memory from 1,000 years in the future. Discuss with classmates how memory might change if you lived forever.
Create an art project that illustrates how humans might evolve over thousands of years. Consider traits like height, skin color, or other physical features. Present your artwork to the class and explain how being immortal might make you feel different from future humans.
List the parts of your body and brainstorm ways to keep them healthy for a long time. Create a health plan that includes diet, exercise, and other activities. Discuss with the class how maintaining your body would be crucial if you were immortal and the challenges you might face.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
Immortality. In movies, characters often seek the secret to immortality. But is living forever truly a good thing? For a ten-year-old boy, one year represents a significant portion of his life, while for his forty-year-old mother, it’s a much smaller fraction. The same span of time can feel vastly different depending on one’s age. If we live to be 82, that amounts to about 30,000 days. If this boy were to live for 30,000 years, a year might feel like just a day to him.
If he can endure the potential monotony of living for millions of years, he might find himself feeling incredibly lonely and sad, outliving everyone he loves. But what if everyone were immortal? Space on Earth is limited, so where would everyone live?
Consider how much of your past you can remember. If recalling events from when you were five is challenging, how would you remember experiences from a thousand or even a million years ago? Our brains have a limited capacity, and we often replace less relevant memories with more significant ones. If this immortal boy finds a partner to love every hundred years, he could have ten thousand relationships over a million years. How many of those names would he be able to remember? This raises questions about the nature of meaningful relationships.
Another aspect of immortality to consider is human evolution. Over time, physical traits change based on factors like attraction. For example, if taller individuals are preferred, they may have more offspring, leading to taller descendants. If you were the only immortal person while everyone else evolved, you would eventually look quite different from those around you.
Additionally, consider the implications of scars. Immortality means you cannot die, but it doesn’t guarantee you will be in perfect condition. Look at your body and count your scars. If you have accumulated a certain number of permanent scars in your lifetime, imagine the extent of damage you might have after living for a thousand years!
In the U.S., there are approximately 185,000 hospital discharges related to amputations each year due to accidents or illnesses. While this number is small compared to the total population over a century, if you lived for a million years, the chances of retaining all your limbs would be quite low.
What about other body parts, like your eyes, nose, ears, fingers, or teeth? How likely are you to maintain your dental health over a hundred years? A thousand years? A million years? You might end up looking quite different from your original self.
So, are you sure you want to live forever? What superpower or physics concept will you explore next? Options include shifting body size, super speed, flight, super strength, immortality, and invisibility.
Immortality – The ability to live forever or eternal life. – Philosophers often debate whether immortality would truly make people happy.
Loneliness – A feeling of sadness because one has no friends or company. – In psychology, loneliness is studied to understand its impact on mental health.
Memory – The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. – Memory plays a crucial role in how we learn and retain knowledge over time.
Relationships – The way in which two or more people or things are connected. – Building strong relationships is important for emotional well-being.
Evolution – The gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form. – The evolution of human thought has been a topic of interest for many philosophers.
Change – To make or become different. – Change is a constant theme in both philosophy and psychology, as it affects how we perceive the world.
Scars – Marks left on the skin or within the mind after a wound or emotional experience has healed. – Emotional scars can influence a person’s behavior and outlook on life.
Body – The physical structure of a person or an organism. – Philosophers often discuss the relationship between the mind and the body.
Time – The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. – Time is a central concept in philosophy, often explored in relation to existence and change.
Experience – Practical contact with and observation of facts or events. – Experience shapes our understanding and influences our decisions.
