Personally I am all about well-being and quality of life - you bring up an interesting question about the brain and our inner experience - would we even be able to distinguish what is ours and what is not? I do not fear death - as someone that has experienced many metaphysical and trans personal experiences I look forward to “going home” when it’s my time. I suppose in the near future when interventions to continue to extend life may become abundant and normalized (potentially forever) — the question is will we have agency to opt out or the choice to pass on? I hope so.
Mika, I’m with you on hoping we preserve agency, not just function. The idea of choosing to pass on — rather than being medically suspended in something like a prolonged existential gray zone — might become one of the most ethically complex challenges we face.
I keep thinking back to "Altered Carbon," where living “forever” becomes a kind of trap for the elite — a life extended far beyond meaning, often at the cost of humanity itself. I wonder how we ensure that dignity and sovereignty aren’t lost in the pursuit of endurance. Maybe true longevity has to include the freedom to say “enough.”
Thanks for this awesome comment! Talk to you shortly, like normal.
Personally I am all about well-being and quality of life - you bring up an interesting question about the brain and our inner experience - would we even be able to distinguish what is ours and what is not? I do not fear death - as someone that has experienced many metaphysical and trans personal experiences I look forward to “going home” when it’s my time. I suppose in the near future when interventions to continue to extend life may become abundant and normalized (potentially forever) — the question is will we have agency to opt out or the choice to pass on? I hope so.
Mika, I’m with you on hoping we preserve agency, not just function. The idea of choosing to pass on — rather than being medically suspended in something like a prolonged existential gray zone — might become one of the most ethically complex challenges we face.
I keep thinking back to "Altered Carbon," where living “forever” becomes a kind of trap for the elite — a life extended far beyond meaning, often at the cost of humanity itself. I wonder how we ensure that dignity and sovereignty aren’t lost in the pursuit of endurance. Maybe true longevity has to include the freedom to say “enough.”
Thanks for this awesome comment! Talk to you shortly, like normal.