TheFountain of Eternal Life inCleveland, Ohio, United States, is described as symbolizing "Man rising above death, reaching upward to God and toward Peace."[1]
From at least the time of theancient Mesopotamians, there has been a conviction that gods may be physically immortal, and that this is also a state that the gods at times offer humans. InChristianity, the conviction that God may offer physical immortality with theresurrection of the flesh at the end of time has traditionally been at the center of its beliefs.[5][6][7] What form an unending human life would take, or whether an immaterialsoul exists and possesses immortality, has been a major point of focus of religion,[8] as well as the subject of speculation and debate. In religious contexts, immortality is often stated to be one of the promises of divinities to human beings who performvirtue or followdivine law.[9]
Some scientists,futurists and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immortality may be achievable in the first few decades of the 21st century with the help of certain speculativetechnologies such asmind uploading (digital immortality).[10]
Life extension technologies claim to be developing a path to completerejuvenation.Cryonics holds out the hope that the dead can be revived in the future, following sufficient medical advancements. While, as shown with creatures such ashydra andPlanarian worms, it is indeed possible for a creature to bebiologically immortal, these are animals which are physiologically very different from humans, and it is not known if something comparable will ever be possible for humans.[11][12]
Immortality in religion refers usually to either the belief in physical immortality or a more spiritualafterlife. In traditions such as ancient Egyptian beliefs, Mesopotamian beliefs and ancient Greek beliefs, the immortal gods consequently were considered to have physical bodies. In Mesopotamian and Greek religion, the gods also made certain men and women physically immortal,[13][14] whereas in Christianity, many believe that all true believers will beresurrected to physical immortality.[5][6] Similar beliefs that physical immortality is possible are held byRastafarians orRebirthers.
Physical immortality is a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life, such as a computer.
There are three main causes of death:natural aging,disease, andinjury.[20] Such issues can be resolved with the solutions provided in research to any end providing such alternate theories at present that require unification.
Aubrey de Grey, a leading researcher in the field,[21] definesaging as "a collection of cumulative changes to themolecular andcellular structure of an adultorganism, which result in essentialmetabolic processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt metabolism, resulting inpathology and death." The current causes of aging in humans are cell loss (without replacement),DNA damage,oncogenicnuclearmutations andepimutations, cellsenescence,mitochondrial mutations,lysosomal aggregates, extracellular aggregates, random extracellular cross-linking,immune system decline, andendocrine changes. Eliminating aging would require finding a solution to each of these causes, a program de Grey callsengineered negligible senescence. There is also a huge body of knowledge indicating that change is characterized by the loss of molecular fidelity.[22]
Disease is theoretically surmountable by technology. In short, it is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism, something the body should not typically have to deal with its natural make up.[23] Human understanding ofgenetics is leading to cures and treatments for a myriad of previously incurable diseases. The mechanisms by which other diseases do damage are becoming better understood. Sophisticated methods of detecting diseases early are being developed.Preventative medicine is becoming better understood. Neurodegenerative diseases likeParkinson's andAlzheimer's may soon be curable with the use ofstem cells. Breakthroughs incell biology andtelomere research are leading to treatments for cancer.Vaccines are being researched for AIDS andtuberculosis. Genes associated withtype 1 diabetes and certain types of cancer have been discovered, allowing for new therapies to be developed. Artificial devices attached directly to thenervous system may restore sight to the blind. Drugs are being developed to treat a myriad of other diseases and ailments.
There has been a push recently to classify aging as a disease.[citation needed]
Physical trauma would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, as an otherwise immortal person would still be subject to unforeseen accidents or catastrophes. The speed and quality ofparamedicresponse remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma.[24] A body that could automatically repair itself from severe trauma, such as speculated uses fornanotechnology, would mitigate this factor. The brain cannot be risked to trauma if a continuous physical life is to be maintained. This aversion to trauma risk to the brain would naturally result in significant behavioral changes that would render physical immortality undesirable for some people.
Organisms otherwise unaffected by these causes of death would still face the problem of obtaining sustenance (whether from currently available agricultural processes or from hypothetical future technological processes) in the face of changing availability of suitable resources as environmental conditions change. After avoiding aging, disease, and trauma, death through resource limitation is still possible, such ashypoxia orstarvation.
If there is no limitation on the degree of gradual mitigation of risk then it is possible that thecumulative probability of death over an infinite horizon is less thancertainty, even when the risk of fatal traumain any finite period is greater than zero. Mathematically, this is an aspect of achieving'actuarial escape velocity'.
Biological immortality is an absence of aging. Specifically it is the absence of a sustained increase inrate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal.[25]
Biologists have chosen the word "immortal" to designate cells that are not limited by theHayflick limit, where cells no longer divide because ofDNA damage or shortenedtelomeres. The first and still most widely used immortal cell line isHeLa, developed from cells taken from the malignant cervical tumor ofHenrietta Lacks without her consent in 1951. Prior to the 1961 work ofLeonard Hayflick, there was the erroneous belief fostered byAlexis Carrel that all normalsomatic cells are immortal. By preventing cells from reaching senescence one can achieve biological immortality; telomeres, a "cap" at the end of DNA, are thought to be the cause of cell aging. Every time a cell divides the telomere becomes a bit shorter; when it is finally worn down, the cell is unable to split and dies.Telomerase is an enzyme which rebuilds the telomeres in stem cells and cancer cells, allowing them to replicate an infinite number of times.[26] No definitive work has yet demonstrated that telomerase can be used in human somatic cells to prevent healthy tissues from aging. On the other hand, scientists hope to be able to grow organs with the help of stem cells, allowing organ transplants without the risk of rejection, another step in extending human life expectancy. These technologies are the subject of ongoing research, and are not yet realized.[27]
Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes of death besides aging, including disease and trauma, as defined above. Notable immortal species include:
Bacteria – Bacteria reproduce throughbinary fission. A parent bacterium splits itself into two identical daughter cells which eventually then split themselves in half. This process repeats, thus making the bacterium essentially immortal. A 2005PLoS Biology paper[28] suggests that after each division the daughter cells can be identified as the older and the younger, and the older is slightly smaller, weaker, and more likely to die than the younger.[29]
Turritopsis dohrnii, a jellyfish (phylumCnidaria, classHydrozoa, orderAnthoathecata), after becoming a sexually mature adult, can transform itself back into apolyp using the cell conversion process oftransdifferentiation.[30]Turritopsis dohrnii repeats this cycle, meaning that it may have anindefinite lifespan.[30] Its immortal adaptation has allowed it to spread from its original habitat in the Caribbean to "all over the world".[31][32]
As the existence of biologically immortal species demonstrates, there is nothermodynamic necessity for senescence: a defining feature of life is that it takes infree energy from the environment and unloads itsentropy as waste. Living systems can even build themselves up from seed, and routinely repair themselves. Aging is therefore presumed to be a byproduct ofevolution, but why mortality should be selected for remains a subject of research and debate.Programmed cell death and the telomere "end replication problem" are found even in the earliest and simplest of organisms.[35] This may be a tradeoff between selecting for cancer and selecting for aging.[36]
Modern theories on the evolution of aging include the following:
Mutation accumulation is a theory formulated byPeter Medawar in 1952 to explain how evolution would select for aging. Essentially, aging is never selected against, as organisms have offspring before the mortal mutations surface in an individual.
Antagonistic pleiotropy is a theory proposed as an alternative byGeorge C. Williams, a critic of Medawar, in 1957. In antagonistic pleiotropy, genes carry effects that are both beneficial and detrimental. In essence this refers to genes that offer benefits early in life, but exact a cost later on, i.e. decline and death.[37]
The disposable soma theory was proposed in 1977 byThomas Kirkwood, which states that an individual body must allocate energy for metabolism, reproduction, and maintenance, and must compromise when there is food scarcity. Compromise in allocating energy to the repair function is what causes the body gradually to deteriorate with age, according to Kirkwood.[38]
Individual organisms ordinarily age and die, while the germlines which connect successive generations are potentially immortal. The basis for this difference is a fundamental problem in biology. The Russian biologist and historianZhores A. Medvedev[39] considered that the accuracy ofgenome replicative and other synthetic systems alone cannot explain the immortality ofgermlines. Rather Medvedev thought that known features of the biochemistry and genetics ofsexual reproduction indicate the presence of unique information maintenance and restoration processes at the different stages ofgametogenesis. In particular, Medvedev considered that the most important opportunities for information maintenance ofgerm cells are created byrecombination during meiosis andDNA repair; he saw these as processes within the germ cells that were capable of restoring the integrity ofDNA andchromosomes from the types of damage that cause irreversible aging insomatic cells.
Some[who?] scientists believe that boosting the amount or proportion oftelomerase in the body, a naturally forming enzyme that helps maintain the protective caps at the ends ofchromosomes, could prevent cells from dying and so may ultimately lead to extended, healthier lifespans. A team of researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Centre (Madrid) tested the hypothesis on mice. It was found that those mice which were "genetically engineered to produce 10 times the normal levels of telomerase lived 50% longer than normal mice".[40]
In normal circumstances, without the presence of telomerase, if a cell divides repeatedly, at some point all the progeny will reach theirHayflick limit. With the presence of telomerase, each dividing cell can replace the lost bit ofDNA, and any single cell can then divide unbounded. While this unbounded growth property has excited many researchers, caution is warranted in exploiting this property, as exactly this same unbounded growth is a crucial step in enabling cancerous growth. If an organism can replicate its body cells faster, then it would theoretically stop aging.
Embryonic stem cells express telomerase, which allows them to divide repeatedly and form the individual. In adults, telomerase is highly expressed in cells that need to divide regularly (e.g., in the immune system), whereas mostsomatic cells express it only at very low levels in a cell-cycle dependent manner.
Technological immortality, biological machines, and "swallowing the doctor"
Technological immortality may be possible by scientific advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics,biological engineering,regenerative medicine,microbiology, etc. Contemporary life spans in the advanced industrial societies are already markedly longer than those of the past because of better nutrition, availability of health care, standard of living and bio-medical scientific advances.[citation needed] Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term.[citation needed] An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination ofhuman cloning, cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension.Robert Freitas, a nanorobotics theorist, suggests tiny medicalnanorobots could be created to go through human bloodstreams, find dangerous things like cancer cells and bacteria, and destroy them.[41] Freitas anticipates that gene-therapies and nanotechnology will eventually make the human body effectively self-sustainable and capable of living indefinitely in empty space, short of severe brain trauma. This supports the theory that we will be able to continually create biological or synthetic replacement parts to replace damaged or dying ones. Future advances innanomedicine could give rise tolife extension through the repair of many processes thought to be responsible for aging.K. Eric Drexler, one of the founders ofnanotechnology, postulated cell repair devices, including ones operating within cells and using as yet hypotheticalbiological machines, in his 1986 bookEngines of Creation.Raymond Kurzweil, afuturist andtranshumanist, stated in his bookThe Singularity Is Near that he believes that advanced medicalnanorobotics could completely remedy the effects of aging by 2030.[42] According toRichard Feynman, it was his former graduate student and collaboratorAlbert Hibbs who originally suggested to him (circa 1959) the idea of amedical use for Feynman's theoretical micromachines (seebiological machine). Hibbs suggested that certain repair machines might one day be reduced in size to the point that it would, in theory, be possible to (as Feynman put it) "swallow the doctor". The idea was incorporated into Feynman's 1959 essayThere's Plenty of Room at the Bottom.[43]
Cryonics, the practice of preserving organisms (either intact specimens or only their brains) for possible future revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are almost completely stopped, can be used to 'pause' for those who believe that life extension technologies will not develop sufficiently within their lifetime. Ideally, cryonics would allow clinically dead people to be brought back in the future after cures to the patients' diseases have been discovered andaging is reversible. Modern cryonics procedures use a process calledvitrification which creates a glass-like state rather thanfreezing as the body is brought to low temperatures. This process reduces the risk of ice crystals damaging the cell-structure, which would be especially detrimental to cell structures in the brain, as their minute adjustment evokes the individual's mind.
This could be accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer hardware would initially be installed in the brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes. Components would be added gradually until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, avoiding sharp transitions that would lead to issues ofidentity, thus running the risk of the person to be declared dead and thus not be a legitimate owner of his or her property. After this point, the human body could be treated as an optional accessory and the program implementing the person could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer.
Another possible mechanism for mind upload is to perform a detailed scan of an individual's original, organic brain and simulate the entire structure in a computer. What level of detail such scans and simulations would need to achieve to emulate awareness, and whether the scanning process would destroy the brain, is still to be determined.[a]
It is suggested that achieving immortality through this mechanism would require specific consideration to be given to the role ofconsciousness in the functions of themind. An uploaded mind would only be a copy of the original mind, and not the conscious mind of the living entity associated in such a transfer. Without a simultaneous upload of consciousness, the original living entity remains mortal, thus not achieving true immortality.[45]Research onneural correlates of consciousness is yet inconclusive on this issue. Whatever the route to mind upload, persons in this state could then be considered essentially immortal, short of loss or traumatic destruction of the machines that maintained them.[clarification needed][citation needed]
Transforming a human into acyborg can includebrain implants or extracting a human processing unit and placing it in a robotic life-support system.[46] Even replacing biological organs with robotic ones could increase life span (e.g., pacemakers), and depending on the definition, many technological upgrades to the body, like genetic modifications or the addition of nanobots, would qualify an individual as a cyborg. Some people believe that such modifications would make one impervious to aging and disease and theoretically immortal unless killed or destroyed.[citation needed]
As late as 1952, the editorial staff of theSyntopicon found in their compilation of theGreat Books of the Western World, that "The philosophical issue concerning immortality cannot be separated from issues concerning the existence and nature of man's soul."[47] Thus, the vast majority of speculation on immortality before the 21st century was regarding the nature of the afterlife.
Christian theology holds thatAdam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants throughthe Fall, although this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition".[48]
Christians who profess theNicene Creed believe that every dead person (whether they believed in Christ or not) will be resurrected from the dead at theSecond Coming; this belief is known asuniversal resurrection.[5]Paul the Apostle, in following his past life as aPharisee (a Jewish social movement that held to a future physical resurrection[49]), proclaims an amalgamated view of resurrected believers where both the physical and the spiritual are rebuilt in the likeness of post-resurrection Christ, who "will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body" (ESV).[50] This thought mirrors Paul's depiction of believers having been "buried therefore with him [that is, Christ] by baptism into death" (ESV).[51]
N.T. Wright, a theologian and formerBishop of Durham, has said many people forget the physical aspect of what Jesus promised. He toldTime: "Jesus' resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete uponhis return. Part of this will be theresurrection of all the dead, who will 'awake', be embodied and participate in the renewal. Wright saysJohn Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: 'God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.' That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death (theIntermediate state) is a period when we are in God's presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administeringChrist's kingdom."[52] This kingdom will consist ofHeaven and Earth "joined together in a new creation", he said.
Christian apocrypha include immortal human figures such asCartaphilus[53] who were cursed with physical immortality for various transgressions against Christ during the Passion. The medievalWaldensians believed in the immortality of the soul.[54] Leaders of sects such asJohn Asgill andJohn Wroe taught followers that physical immortality was possible.[55][56]
Many Patristic writers have connected the immortal rational soul to the image of God found in Genesis 1:26. Among them is Athanasius of Alexandria and Clement of Alexandria, who say that the immortal rational soul itself is the image of God.[57] Even Early Christian Liturgies exhibit this connection between the immortal rational soul and the creation of humanity in the image of God.[57]
"Every soul will taste death, and you will receive your full reward on theJudgement Day."Al-Imran (3:185)
Islamic beliefs include the concept of spiritual immortality. Following death, Islam teaches a that a person will be judged consistent with their beliefs and actions and will embark unto their everlasting place. TheMuslim who holds thefive pillars of Islam will make an entrance into theJannah, where they will inhabit eternally. In contrast, thekafir goes to hell.
But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that their portion is gardens, beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom, they say, 'Why, this is what we were fed with before,' for they are given things in similitude; and they have therein companions pure (and holy); and they abide therein forever.
Angels in Islam are reckoned as immortals from the perspective of Islam but most people believe that the angels will die and that the Angel of Death will die, but there is no clear text concerning this. Rather there are texts which may indicate this, and there is the well knownhadeeth (narration) about the "trumpet", which is amunkar hadeeth (rejected report).[58] Alternatively,Jinn have a long lifespan between 1000 and 1500.[59]Khidr, a prominent figure inSufism is given immortality but an exception.Jesus in Islam was summoned to the sky by Allah's sanction to preserve him from the cross[60] and endow him with long life until the advent of theDajjal.[61]Dajjal is, additionally, given a long life. Jesus Christ dispatches theDajjal as he stays after 40 days, one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and the rest of his days like normal days.[62][63] TheQur'an states that it is the ultimate fate of all life,including humans, to die eventually.
The traditional concept of an immaterial and immortal soul distinct from the body was not found in Judaism before theBabylonian exile, but developed as a result of interaction withPersian andHellenistic philosophies. Accordingly, the Hebrew wordnephesh, although translated as"soul" in some older English-language Bibles, actually has a meaning closer to "living being".[64][need quotation to verify]Nephesh was rendered in theSeptuagint asψυχή (psūchê), the Greek word for 'soul'.[citation needed]
The only Hebrew word traditionally translated "soul" (nephesh) in English language Bibles refers to a living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul.[b]In the New Testament, the Greek word traditionally translated "soul" (ψυχή) has substantially the same meaning as the Hebrew, without reference to an immortal soul.[c]"Soul" may refer either to the whole person, the self, as in "three thousandsouls" were converted inActs 2:41 (seeActs 3:23).
TheHebrew Bible speaks aboutSheol (שאול), originally a synonym of the grave – the repository of the dead or the cessation of existence, until theresurrection of the dead. This doctrine of resurrection is mentioned explicitly only inDaniel 12:1–4 although it may be implied in several other texts. New theories arose concerning Sheol during theintertestamental period.
The views about immortality in Judaism is perhaps best exemplified by the various references to this inSecond Temple period. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.[66] Resurrection of the dead is specified in detail in the extra-canonical books ofEnoch,[67] and inApocalypse of Baruch.[68] According to the British scholar in ancient JudaismP.R. Davies, there is "little or no clear reference ... either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in theDead Sea scrolls texts.[69]BothJosephus and theNew Testament record that theSadducees did not believe in anafterlife,[70]but the sources vary on the beliefs of thePharisees. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not.[71] According toJosephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will bereincarnated and "pass into other bodies", while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment."[72]TheBook of Jubilees seems to refer to the resurrection of the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.[73]
Rabbinic Judaism believes that the righteous dead will be resurrected in theMessianic Age, with the coming of themessiah. They will then be granted immortality in a perfect world. The wicked dead, on the other hand, will not be resurrected at all. This is not the only Jewish belief about the afterlife. TheTanakh is not specific about the afterlife, so there are wide differences in views and explanations among believers.[citation needed]
Representation of a soul undergoingpunarjanma. Illustration fromHinduism Today, 2004
Hindus believe in an immortal soul which isreincarnated after death. According to Hinduism, people repeat a process of life, death, and rebirth in a cycle calledsamsara. If they live their life well, theirkarma improves and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live their life poorly. After many life times of perfecting its karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and lives in perpetual bliss. There is no place of eternal torment in Hinduism, although if a soul consistently lives very evil lives, it could work its way down to the very bottom of the cycle.[citation needed]
There are explicit renderings in theUpanishads alluding to a physically immortal state brought about by purification, and sublimation of the 5 elements that make up the body. For example, in theShvetashvatara Upanishad (Chapter 2, Verse 12), it is stated "When earth, water, fire, air and sky arise, that is to say, when the five attributes of the elements, mentioned in the books on yoga, become manifest then the yogi's body becomes purified by the fire of yoga and he is free from illness, old age and death."
Another view of immortality is traced to the Vedic tradition by the interpretation ofMaharishi Mahesh Yogi:
That man indeed whom these (contacts) do not disturb, who is even-minded in pleasure and pain, steadfast, he is fit for immortality, O best of men.[74]
To Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the verse means, "Once a man has become established in the understanding of the permanent reality of life, his mind rises above the influence of pleasure and pain. Such an unshakable man passes beyond the influence of death and in the permanent phase of life: he attains eternal life ... A man established in the understanding of the unlimited abundance of absolute existence is naturally free from existence of the relative order. This is what gives him the status of immortal life."[74]
An Indian Tamil saint known asVallalar claimed to have achieved immortality before disappearing forever from a locked room in 1874.[75][unreliable source?][76]
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One of the three marks of existence in Buddhism isanattā, "non-self". This teaching states that the body does not have an eternal soul but is composed of fiveskandhas or aggregates. Additionally, another mark of existence is impermanence, also calledanicca, which runs directly counter to concepts of immortality or permanence. According to oneTibetan Buddhist teaching,Dzogchen, individuals can transform the physical body into an immortalbody of light called therainbow body.[77]
Immortality inancient Greek religion originally always included an eternal union of body and soul as can be seen inHomer,Hesiod, and various other ancient texts. The soul was considered to have an eternal existence in Hades, but without the body the soul was considered dead. Although almost everybody had nothing to look forward to but an eternal existence as a disembodied dead soul, a number of men and women were considered to have gained physical immortality and been brought to live forever in eitherElysium, theIslands of the Blessed, heaven, the ocean or literally right under the ground.Among those humans made immortal wereAmphiaraus,Ganymede,Ino,Iphigenia,Menelaus,Peleus, and a great number of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars.Asclepius was killed by Zeus, and byApollo's request, was subsequently immortalized as a star.[78][79][80]
Inancient Greek religion a number of men and women have been interpreted as being resurrected and madeimmortal.Achilles, after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine motherThetis and brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, theElysian plains or theIslands of the Blessed.Memnon, who was killed by Achilles, seems to have received a similar fate.Alcmene,Castor,Heracles, andMelicertes, are also among the figures interpreted to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According toHerodotus'sHistories, the seventh century BC sageAristeas of Proconnesus was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. He would reappear alive years later.[81] However, Greek attitudes towards resurrection were generally negative, and the idea of resurrection was considered neither desirable nor possible.[82] For example,Asclepius was killed by Zeus for using herbs to resurrect the dead, but by his fatherApollo's request, was subsequently immortalized as a star.[78][79][80]
Writing hisLives of Illustrious Men (Parallel Lives) in the first century, theMiddle Platonic philosopherPlutarch in his chapter onRomulus gave an account of the king's mysterious disappearance and subsequent deification, comparing it to Greek tales such as the physical immortalization of Alcmene and Aristeas theProconnesian, "for they say Aristeas died in a fuller's work-shop, and his friends coming to look for him, found his body vanished; and that some presently after, coming from abroad, said they met him traveling towards Croton". Plutarch openly scorned such beliefs held in ancient Greek religion, writing, "many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal."[83] Likewise, he writes that while something within humans comes from the gods and returns to them after death, this happens "only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled."[84]
The parallel between these traditional beliefs and the later belief in the resurrection of Jesus was not lost on early Christians, asJustin Martyr argued:
"when we say ... Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus."[85]
The philosophical idea of an immortal soul was a belief first appearing with eitherPherecydes or theOrphics, and most importantly advocated byPlato and his followers. This, however, never became the general norm in Hellenistic thought. As may be witnessed even into the Christian era, not least by the complaints of various philosophers over popular beliefs, many or perhaps most traditional Greeks maintained the conviction that certain individuals were resurrected from the dead and made physically immortal and that others could only look forward to an existence as disembodied and dead, though everlasting, souls.[13]
Zoroastrians believe that on the fourth day after death, the human soul leaves the body and the body remains as an empty shell. Souls would go to either heaven or hell; these concepts of the afterlife in Zoroastrianism may have influenced Abrahamic religions. The Persian word for "immortal" is associated with the month "Amurdad", meaning "deathless" in Persian, in theIranian calendar (near the end of July). The month of Amurdad orAmeretat is celebrated in Persian culture as ancient Persians believed the "Angel of Immortality" won over the "Angel of Death" in this month.[86]
It is repeatedly stated in theLüshi Chunqiu that death is unavoidable.[87]Henri Maspero noted that many scholarly works frame Taoism as a school of thought focused on the quest for immortality.[88] Isabelle Robinet asserts that Taoism is better understood as away of life than as a religion, and that its adherents do not approach or view Taoism the way non-Taoist historians have done.[89] In the Tractate of Actions and their Retributions, a traditional teaching, spiritual immortality can be rewarded to people who do a certain amount of good deeds and live a simple, pure life. A list of good deeds and sins are tallied to determine whether or not a mortal is worthy. Spiritual immortality in this definition allows the soul to leave the earthly realms of afterlife and go to pure realms in the Taoist cosmology.[90]
Philosophical arguments for the immortality of the soul
Alcmaeon of Croton argued that the soul is continuously and ceaselessly in motion. The exact form of his argument is unclear, but it appears to have influenced Plato, Aristotle, and other later writers.[91]
Plato'sPhaedo advances four arguments for the soul's immortality:[92]
TheCyclical Argument, or Opposites Argument explains thatForms are eternal and unchanging, and as the soul always brings life, then it must not die, and is necessarily "imperishable". As the body is mortal and is subject to physical death, the soul must be its indestructible opposite. Plato then suggests the analogy of fire and cold. If the form of cold is imperishable, and fire, its opposite, was within close proximity, it would have to withdraw intact as does the soul during death. This could be likened to the idea of the opposite charges of magnets.
TheTheory of Recollection explains that we possess some non-empirical knowledge (e.g. The Form of Equality) at birth, implying the soul existed before birth to carry that knowledge. Another account of the theory is found in Plato'sMeno, although in that case Socrates implies anamnesis (previous knowledge of everything) whereas he is not so bold inPhaedo.
TheAffinity Argument, explains that invisible, immortal, and incorporeal things are different from visible, mortal, and corporeal things. Our soul is of the former, while our body is of the latter, so when our bodies die and decay, our soul will continue to live.
TheArgument from Form of Life or The Final Argument explains that the Forms, incorporeal and static entities, are the cause of all things in the world, and all things participate in Forms. For example, beautiful things participate in the Form of Beauty; the number four participates in the Form of the Even, etc. The soul, by its very nature, participates in the Form of Life, which means the soul can never die.
Plotinus offers a version of the argument that Kant calls "The Achilles of Rationalist Psychology". Plotinus first argues that the soul issimple, then notes that a simple being cannot decompose. Many subsequent philosophers have argued both that the soul is simple and that it must be immortal. The tradition arguably culminates withMoses Mendelssohn'sPhaedon.[93]
Theodore Metochites argues that part of the soul's nature is to move itself, but that a given movement will cease only if what causes the movement is separated from the thing moved – an impossibility if they are one and the same.[94]
The full argument for the immortality of the soul andThomas Aquinas' elaboration of Aristotelian theory is found in Question 75 of the First Part of theSumma Theologica.[100]
René Descartes endorses the claim that the soul is simple, and also that this entails that it cannot decompose. Descartes does not address the possibility that the soul might suddenly disappear.[101]
In early work,Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz endorses a version of the argument from the simplicity of the soul to its immortality, but like his predecessors, he does not address the possibility that the soul might suddenly disappear. In hismonadology he advances a sophisticated novel argument for the immortality of monads.[102]
Moses Mendelssohn'sPhaedon is a defense of the simplicity and immortality of the soul. It is a series of three dialogues, revisiting the Platonic dialoguePhaedo, in whichSocrates argues for the immortality of the soul, in preparation for his own death. Many philosophers, including Plotinus, Descartes, and Leibniz, argue that the soul is simple, and that because simples cannot decompose they must be immortal. In the Phaedon, Mendelssohn addresses gaps in earlier versions of this argument (an argument that Kant calls the Achilles of Rationalist Psychology). The Phaedon contains an original argument for the simplicity of the soul, and also an original argument that simples cannot suddenly disappear. It contains further original arguments that the soul must retain its rational capacities as long as it exists.[103]
The possibility of clinical immortality raises a host of medical, philosophical, and religious issues and ethical questions. These includepersistent vegetative states, the nature of personality over time, technology to mimic or copy the mind or its processes,social and economic disparities created bylongevity, and survival of theheat death of the universe.
Physical immortality has also been imagined as a form of eternal torment, as in the myth ofTithonus, or inMary Shelley's short storyThe Mortal Immortal, where the protagonist lives to witness everyone he cares about die around him. For additional examples in fiction, seeImmortality in fiction.
Kagan (2012)[104] argues that any form of human immortality would be undesirable. Kagan's argument takes the form of a dilemma. Either our characters remain essentially the same in an immortal afterlife, or they do not:
If our characters remain basically the same – that is, if we retain more or less the desires, interests, and goals that we have now – then eventually, over an infinite stretch of time, we will get bored and find eternal life unbearably tedious.
If, on the other hand, our characters are radically changed – e.g., by God periodically erasing our memories or giving us rat-like brains that never tire of certain simple pleasures – then such a person would be too different from our current self for us to care much what happens to them.
Either way, Kagan argues, immortality is unattractive. The best outcome, Kagan argues, would be for humans to live as long as they desired and then to accept death gratefully as rescuing us from the unbearable tedium of immortality.[104]
If human beings were to achieve immortality, there would most likely be a change in the world'ssocial structures. Sociologists argue that human beings' awareness of their ownmortality shapes their behavior.[106] With the advancements in medical technology in extending human life, there may need to be serious considerations made about future social structures. The world is already experiencing a globaldemographic shift of increasingly ageing populations with lower replacement rates.[107] The social changes that are made to accommodate this new population shift may be able to offer insight on the possibility of an immortal society.
Sociology has a growing body of literature on the sociology of immortality, which details the different attempts at reaching immortality (whether actual or symbolic) and their prominence in the 21st century. These attempts include renewed attention to the dead in the West,[108] practices of online memorialization,[109] and biomedical attempts to increase longevity.[110] These attempts at reaching immortality and their effects in societal structures have led some to argue that we are becoming a "Postmortal Society".[111][112] Foreseen changes to societies derived from the pursuit of immortality would encompass societal paradigms and worldviews, as well as the institutional landscape. Similarly, different forms of reaching immortality might entail a significant reconfiguration of societies, from becoming more technologically oriented to becoming more aligned with nature.[113]
Immortality would increase population growth,[114] bringing with it many consequences as for example the impact of population growth on the environment andplanetary boundaries.
Although some scientists state that radical life extension, delaying and stopping aging are achievable,[115] there are no international or national programs focused on stopping aging or on radical life extension. In 2012 in Russia, and then in the United States, Israel and the Netherlands, pro-immortality political parties were launched. They aimed to provide political support to anti-aging and radical life extension research and technologies and at the same time transition to the next step, radical life extension, life without aging, and finally, immortality and aim to make possible access to such technologies to most currently living people.[116]
Some scholars critique the increasing support for immortality projects. Panagiotis Pentaris speculates that defeating ageing as the cause of death comes with a cost: "heightened stratification of humans in society and a wider gap between social classes".[117] Others suggest that other immortality projects like transhumanist digital immortality, radical life extension and cryonics are part of the capitalist fabric of exploitation and control,[118] which aims to extend privileged lives of the economic elite.[119] In this sense, immortality could become a political-economic battleground for the twenty-first century between the haves and have-nots.[117][118]
There are numerous symbols representing immortality. Theankh is an Egyptian symbol of life that holds connotations of immortality when depicted in the hands of thegods andpharaohs, who were seen as having control over the journey of life. TheMöbius strip in the shape of atrefoil knot is another symbol of immortality. Most symbolic representations of infinity or the life cycle are often used to represent immortality depending on the context they are placed in. Other examples include theOuroboros, the Chinese fungus of longevity, thetenkanji, thephoenix, thepeacock in Christianity, the bill cipher,[124] and the colors amaranth (inWestern culture) and peach (inChinese culture).
^The basic idea is to take a particular brain, scan its structure in detail, and construct a software model of it that is so faithful to the original that, when run on appropriate hardware, it will behave in essentially the same way as the original brain.
^"Even as we are conscious of the broad and very common biblical usage of the term"soul", we must be clear that scripture does not present even a rudimentarily developed theology of the soul. The creation narrative is clear that all life originates with God. Yet the Hebrew scripture offers no specific understanding of the origin of individual souls, of when and how they become attached to specific bodies, or of their potential existence, apart from the body, after death. The reason for this is that, as we noted at the beginning, the Hebrew Bible does not present a theory of the soul developed much beyond the simple concept of a force associated with respiration, hence, a life-force."[65][full citation needed]
^In theNew Testament, "soul" (orig.ψυχή) retains its basic Hebrew sense of meaning. "Soul" refers to one's life: Herod sought Jesus'soul (Matt. 2:20); one might save asoul or take it (Mark 3:4); death occurs when God "requires yoursoul" (Luke 12:20).
^Marshall Fredericks (2003)."GCVM History and Mission". Greater Cleveland Veteran’s Memorial, Inc. Archived fromthe original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved14 January 2009.
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^Robinet, Isabelle.Taoism: Growth of a Religion (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997 [original French 1992]), p. 3–4.
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^Aspects of Islamic Civilization. Translated by Arberry, A.J. London, UK: George Allen & Unwin. 1964. p. 153.
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^abKagan, Shelly (2012).Death. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 238–246. Kagan notes that his argument is an adaptation of a similar argument given by the British philosopherB. Williams (1973).[105]
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