Death – Taking the fun out of life for 600 million years

"A recent survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. Somehow this ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy?" – Jerry Seinfeld

All living things attempt to ensure immortality through reproduction, whether subconsiously or subconsiously as well as consciously.  Each individual, whether single or multi celled, is programmed to reproduce before dying off.  This system of longevity is archane, inefficient and responsible for selfish and barbaric behavior.

Let’s accept the primary objectives of all living things as survival first, and reproduction second.  Reproduction is solely the byproduct of cell decay and death.  In the absence of decay and death from old age, reproduction would be either on a much reduced scale meant as a backup plan in the case of unnatural or natural untimely damage or death – car accidents, murders, Tsunamis etc. – or non-existent.  Decay without death would require reproduction as existing individuals would not possess the vigor for continuing survival.  If you’re a 200 year old who has continued to decay since 21, which is the human physical peak, you won’t have much left in your social security fund past the age of 100.

The inefficiency of this system of survival and reproduction stems from the following:  Much of what is learned by individuals disappears upon death.  Imagine if from birth, offsprings of individuals were beneficiaries of their parents’ vast knowledge and skills acquired throughout a life time.

Moreover, special individuals who contribute mightily to advancement of our understanding of the universe and harnessing its forces to our benefit, e.g. Albert Einstein, are wasted away by decay and death.  Most highly gifted mathematicians contribute their brightest and most useful ideas in their youth.  So decay is partly responsible for wasting valuable human resources in making the world a better place to live, and death seals it.

Now then, death is a natural order of all things in the universe, whether living or not.  The universe itself is projected to be lifeless in a few billion years as all sources of its energy, stars, burn out.  To make matters worse, dark energy is tearing the universe apart, and if this pattern continues, all remaining matter will eventually fall apart as well.

So it may be futile to assume a system can be devised devoid of death, but one can come to fruition, and very plausibly so, whereby decay and death of the living can be postponed indefinitely.  Imagine a world where a young Einstein powers forth with his youthful vigor for thousands of years if not more.  An Einstein who transforms to Einstein squared by combining his mind with those of powerful computers; the merging of biology and machines.

In the near future, decay and death will be postponed indefinitely, man and machine will merge to form more powerful versions of humans, and eventually, we may all exist as just our minds on Verizon’s wireless network.  Our physical bodies are prone to decay and death from a plethora of natural and unnatural causes.  The sooner we can do away with them, the better off we are.  A more powerful mind can then exist in a wireless world with backups in case a computer virus infects the grid.  Badabing, we will then be in business and await the inevitable billions of years later with the destruction of our universe.  Perhaps we can achieve immortality by leaping to parallel universes should they exist, or somehow sneak into the next big bang and the birth of another universe.  And perhaps the assumption that all good things must come to an end is not necessarily so.