Immortality: In its medical and philosophical dimensions: is it the goal of every human being?

Perhaps the pharaonic inscriptions and the ancient civilizations that left us traces of expression of one desire, ancient and as old as the entire human species. Since the dawn of history, mankind has had one basic desire, to conquer death. Paradoxically, in trying to achieve that desire, they managed to achieve miracles. From myths and archeology, through arts and religions, to the era of science, technology and space travel. All these human accomplishments share one desire, which is immortality.


Analyzing man into his basic elements: what is immortal and what dies?

“To be mortal is the most basic human experience, and yet man has never been able to accept it, grasp it, and behave accordingly. Man doesn't know how to be mortal. And when he dies, he doesn't even know how to be dead”

The Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote these words in his novel Immortality, expressing a fact that man denies and exaggerates, so that he lives as if he is an immortal who does not die. Psychologist Alfred Adler has expressed this famous human fallacy; For a person to live without taking death into account as a fact that happens to all people, and when it occurs, it surprises everyone as if it is a supernatural event, without them acting in their lives and that fact in mind.

But what does a person aspire to in his immortality? If we address this question, we will turn to human analysis of basic elements. Philosophy has wondered since antiquity of what a human being is made of, is it only a body or only a soul, or both, and this question was pivotal in the history of philosophy until the schools of philosophy were divided into realism and idealism. Perhaps the artists and kings of the ancient Pharaonic state aspired to immortalize souls and memories, through inscriptions, drawings, literature and the pyramids. But this trend changed with the progress of science, until the immortality of human bodies became a possibility that researchers and scientists talked about, and travel to Mars became a testable possibility.

Immortality in biology and medicine: how does man envy animals?

At the moment, the reader is wondering about the possibility of immortality, after all these medical research and studies, which we will address in another section of the article. But have you ever wondered about something else, about the fact that immortality in the world actually happened? Biologists have made this joke by studying some living species, so let's dive into this world of biology that I love, and I hope you will too.

Bacteria and binary fission

The term “bacteria” denotes these microscopic microorganisms, which evokes coughing, sneezing, and sore throats. Only those diseases are associated in one’s mind. Bacteria is a Latin word meaning Bacillus organisms; When they were discovered, these organisms were composed of a single cell in the form of a stick, and they are located in groups. Some scientists argue that the bacterial cell is immortal, or the expression of immortality in biology, when divided by binary fission produces two identical cells.

Cancer cell

Human cells have not left the subject of immortality alone, so how can bacteria do something that humans cannot do? But when it made its way into immortality, and turned into many dividing cells, it turned into a cancerous cell. Under normal circumstances, the human body would pick up any attempt at division out of order, and nip it in the bud. Some cells also commit systematic suicide, to maintain cellular homeostasis. But when a cell tried to be immortal, it completely wiped out the human being, in what is known in modern medicine as cancer.

The word of modern medicine in immortality

In his novel Death with Interruptions, the writer José Saramago opens by saying: “The next day no one died....” Contrary to all dystopian novels, apocalyptic films, and epidemics or wars and famines, Saramago presents the idea of a genius contrast, what if there was a day when he did not die anyone? This is a confusing matter at all levels. How can the train driver and passengers not die after overturning, and people with critical illnesses and conditions do not die? How can no one die on the operating bed? As man faces death and disease through modern medicine, Saramago asks the question: Is man really ready for immortality?

Medicine has made advances in diagnosing and treating diseases, and trying to save people injured in accidents. But what about aging? Modern medicine works to achieve immortality by resisting its opposite. Aging is caused by damage to RNA (the component of genes) through damage to the chromosomal ends responsible for a feature of cell division, known as telomeres. Science is busy trying to repair those telomeres without falling into the trap of turning into a cancerous cell. This process is built by an enzyme that repairs telomeres, called telomerase. But this work has not yielded tangible results so far.

Immortality is philosophical: manifestations and implications

Living in the Westworld park or why man seeks immortality

The American series West World talks about a garden designed by robots, which you cannot differentiate from humans, as they were designed ingeniously and with the highest possible technology to completely mimic humans, and each of them is called the host. The second element is the visitors, who are the people or the wealthy people who come to the park to play and have fun. With this dramatic background, the series deals with a number of deeper issues, perhaps the most important of which is our conversation about immortality, awareness, and the relationship between them.

Scholars and Aristotle like to describe man as a rational animal, and if reason means many connotations, then it means, among them, awareness. Man is perhaps the only unique being with his consciousness; Awareness of existence and awareness of mortality as the essential pillar of this being. Man is aware that he exists, as the philosopher Descartes says, “I think, therefore I am.” This awareness of existence collapses into morals and possessions, thinking about the past, present and future, and making time in general. He is also aware of his own mortality, even if he temporarily overlooks this awareness, as we mentioned in the beginning of the article.

This awareness of existence and mortality has been the driver of many human behaviors and desires. Beginning with procreation as a conscious desire to preserve the family line, inheritance, artistic products to preserve the soul in the abstract and memorialize, religions and the immortality of the soul in the afterlife. All the way to trying to perpetuate consciousness itself, as the series presented. If the robot is an immortal body that cannot be defeated by death, why not copy consciousness into bodies that are exactly like our own, and thus achieve the desired immortality?

The possibility of morality under the interruptions of death

Perhaps Saramago in his novel asks the question: Does man really desire immortality? Imagine with me that people woke up one day and were immortal, unconquered by death, would they care about following morals? Then there is no fear of punishment in the hereafter and eternity in Hell, nor paradise and bliss that the righteous desire. Ethics aims at improving the lives of the oppressed, preserving the rights of others and giving preference to oneself, wishing for a better world in this world, and bliss in the hereafter. Otherwise, the world will turn into the abode of torment and the hereafter into a raging flame.

While eternity promises complete liberation, everything can be fixed, and opportunity will turn into millions of achievable opportunities. But it raises several questions about the true desire of man. While morality is linked to awareness of death and annihilation, and we read the evidence for this in the Holy Qur’an “Say, then wish for death if you are sincere.” The idea of immortality raises terrifying perceptions of unlimited desires, and actions without consequences, then the world will turn into a large Westworld park, in which there is no difference between the host and visitor.