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Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite, or indeterminate, length of time. Throughout history, many humans have had the desire to live forever. What form an unending or indefinitely-long human life would take, or whether it is even possible, has been the subject of much speculation, fantasy, and debate. When considering the lifespan of any living thing, the assumption is often made that death is an inevitability, something that is 'hard-wired' into the organism from its moment of conception. Thus, mortality is seen as a 'default state', that only through extraordinary measures (expensive medicine, nanotechnology and the like) could be overcome. However, arguments that do not start from the assumption 'mortality is default', and instead treating 'immortality as default', can come to the novel but somewhat mundane conclusion that healthy eating and outdoor exercise could be the key to immortality. Definitions (See also 'Concepts of immortality', below): Types Immortality can be divided into two main types: physical and spiritual. Physical immortality is the unending existence of the mind from a physical source such as a brain or computer. Spiritual immortality is unending existence of a person after physical death such as a soul. Physical Technological immortality is the name given to the prospect for much longer life spans made possible by scientific advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics, human physiology, engineering, regenerative medicine, microbiology, and others. 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. Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term. An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination of human cloning, cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension. Robert Freitas, a nanorobotics theorist, suggests we may be able to create tiny medical nanorobots that could go through our bloodstreams, find dangerous things like cancer cells and bacteria, and destroy them. Freitas anticipates that gene-therapies and nanotechnology will eventually make the human body effectively self-sustainable and capable of living indefinitely, short of severe trauma. Some suggest we will be able to continually create biological or synthetic replacement parts to replace damaged or dying ones. Some people believe that such treatments will not be available in their natural lifespan. Cryonics is 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. Ideally this would allow clinically dead people to be brought back in the future after cures to the patients' diseases have been discovered and aging is reversible. Modern Cryonics procedures use a process called vitrification which creates a glass like state rather than freezing as the body is brought to low temperatures. This process reduces the risk of ice crystals damaging the brain structure. Many people who wish to become physically immortal think of cryonics as a backup plan in case the emerging life extension technologies don't develop rapidly enough. Some believe that biological forms have inherent limitations in their design--primarily, their fragility and inability to immediately morph to fit the environment. A way around that predicament may someday present itself in the ability to "exist" outside of the biological form. Over the long term, the biological nature of humanity may only be temporary; should technology permit, people may circumvent death and evolution, simply by taking artificial forms. One interesting possibility involves uploading the personality and memories via direct mind-computer interface. Some extropian futurists propose that, thanks to exponentially growing computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human consciousness onto a computer system, and live indefinitely in a virtual environment. 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. Gradually more and more components would be added until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, without any sharp transitions that would lead to some identity issues mentioned below. At this point, the human body would become only an accessory and the mind could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. A person in this state would then be essentially immortal, short of cataclysmic destruction of the entire civilization and their computers. However, some argue that although the computer consciousness would be an exact copy of the original (and thus undetectable to others and to the new computer consciousness itself), the original mind would no longer exist. And therefore, the original died. Quantum immortality is the name for the speculation that the Everett many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that a conscious being cannot cease to be. The idea is highly controversial. Theoretically given any potentially fatal event that could happen to, say, a quantum physicist, there will be possible universes in which the physicist indeed dies and other possible universes where the physicist somehow survives. As time goes on the physicist is dead in more and more of all possible universes due to random accidents and aging, however because there are infinite possibilities, there will always be at least one universe in which the physicist miraculously lives another day. The idea behind quantum immortality is that the physicist would only be able to experience the universes in which he survives, even though they may be an increasingly small subset of the possible universes. In this way, the physicist would appear from his own standpoint to be living forever. Some of the potential ultimate fates of the Universe could present an eventual death with no means of avoidance no matter how unlikely, but even then in an infinite universe there could be some means of working around such a limit. Long before modern science made such speculation feasible, people wishing to escape death sought what we might term mystical immortality, turning to the supernatural world for answers. Examples include the medieval alchemists and their search for the Philosopher's Stone, or more modern religious mystics such as Sri Aurobindo, who believed in the possibility of achieving physical immortality through spiritual transformation. Rastafarians believe in physical immortality as a part of their religious doctrines. They believe that after God has called the Day of Judgement they will go to what they describe as Mount Zion in Africa to live in freedom for ever. Instead of having everlasting life, which implies an end in the word last, the rastas look forward to having everliving life. Another group that believe in physical immortality are the Rebirthers, who believe that by following the connected breathing process of rebirthing they will live forever physically. Some people believe physical immortality would not be possible or even desirable. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, in the preface to his book The Ocean World, expressed his meditations on physical immortality, as a part of life and its adaptive processes: 'Death,' Cousteau states, 'is fundamental to evolution;' and 'evolution is fundamental to survival'. He concludes that, biologically speaking, 'immortality does not present a possible means to avoid death': "Mortal or immortal, an organism must die." Michael Shermer believes there is no significant scientific evidence for the proposed methods of achieving physical immortality. He says about them, "All have some basis in science, but none has achieved anything like scientific confirmation." In Hinduism, one feat that advanced Yogis (practitioners of Yoga) can supposedly perform is "body jumping" - the ability to jump into another host and therefore live a longer life. Many Indian fables and tales include instances of this, and some believers treat the frequent recurrence of this idea as evidence that such an "immortality" method cannot be dismissed outright. There are also entire Hindu sects devoted to the attainment of physical immortality by various methods, namely the Naths and the Aghoras. Spiritual Spiritual immortality, on the other hand, is a belief that is expressed in nearly every religious tradition. In both Western and Eastern religions, the spirit is an energy or force that transcends the mortal shell, and returns to either the heavens or the cycle of life, directly or indirectly depending on the tradition. Below we consider the perspective some of the world's most popular religions on spiritual immortality. Buddhists believe that there is a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and that the process is according to the qualities of their actions. This constant process of becoming ceases at the fruition of enlightenment (Bodhi) at which a being is no longer subject to causation (karma) but enters into a state that the Buddha called amata (deathlessness). However, in Buddhism there is no belief in an eternal soul (anatta), and some sects also believe in rather a collection of habits and memories in a dynamic process of constant change. At enlightenment the kammic seeds (sankharas or samskaras) for all future becoming and rebirth are exhausted. After biological death an arhat or buddha enters into what is called parinibbana. Christians believe that every person will be resurrected; some believe the resurrection will be bodily (a renewed physical body), some spiritually (a changed, "spiritual" body). After Judgment, those saved will live forever in the presence of God, and the lost will be abandoned to never-ending consciousness of guilt, separation from God, and punishment for sin. Eternal damnation is depicted in the Bible as a realm of constant physical and spiritual anguish in a lake of fire, and a realm of darkness away from God. Some suggest that the fires of Hell are a theological metaphor, standing for the inescapable presence of God endured in absence of love for God; others suggest that Hell represents complete destruction of both the physical body and of spiritual existence (annihilation). Catholic theology also teaches that there is a realm called Purgatory where souls who have accepted Jesus are purged of their sins before they are admitted into Heaven. Some Christian sects also believe in a third realm called Limbo (Latin: border), which is the final destination of souls who have not been baptised, but who have been innocent of mortal sin. Souls in Limbo include unbaptised infants and those who lived virtuously but were never exposed to Christianity in their lifetimes. Hinduism believes in an immortal soul which is reincarnated after death. According to Hinduism, people repeat a cycle of life, death, and rebirth (a cycle called samsara). If they live their life well, their Karma increases and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live their life poorly. Eventually after many life times of perfecting one's karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and lives in perpetual bliss. There is no never-ending Hell in Hinduism, although if a soul consistently lives very evil lives, they could work their way down to the very bottom of the cycle. Islam believes that everyone has an immortal soul that will live on in either Paradise or Hell depending on how one lives their life. Like Christianity and Judaism, there are no second chances following death in Islam. On judgement day one's place of existence for all eternity is decided. Judaism claims that the righteous dead will be resurrected in the "messianic age" with the coming of the messiah. 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 in contrast to Christianity where the wicked dead are still immortal and exist forever in Hell. This is not the only Jewish belief about the afterlife. Others do believe in some version of Hell. The Torah is not specific about the afterlife, so there are wide differences in views and explanations among believers. Shinto claims that except for those who choose or are dispatched to the underground world of Yomi, every living and non-living beings may lose their body but not their Tamashii (soul) and they live together with mortal souls as an immortal being called Kami. Unlike the previously mentioned religions, Shinto allows anything to attain Kami status regardless of its existence before becoming Kami. Therefore, even those that do not believe in Shinto may choose to become Kami, as well as things like a rock, a tree, or even a robot. Some may be reincarnated for various reasons. Shinto has no version of Hell or a judgement day. Concepts Considerations of immortality usually bring to mind the idea of unending existence, a freedom from the concerns of annihilation and death. Often, talk of the immortality of the soul arises in conjunction with talk of immortality. The ideas of science and religion find common goals in the perpetuity of man's existence. Unending existence As a thought experiment, suppose that clinical immortality were possible, in which through advanced life support machinery or similar, the bodily functions of a comatose human could be kept running in perpetuity. Is it good news to keep a vegetative human's heart pumping for aeons? According to the vast majority of ethicists, "Not at all," since unending biological functioning is not what is at issue in immortality. Ultimately, what one desires is some sort of permanent preservation of personal identity, not just unceasing metabolic integrity. This brings up the philosophical issue of the meaning of consciousness. As another thought experiment, suppose a surgeon replaces part of a man's brain with a pacemaker (this is actually done to treat Parkinson's). After this procedure is done, the patient comes out of his anesthesia feeling like the same person. For the intentions of this experiment, suppose that doctors already fully understand the brain and are able to successfully move sections of the brain's neural network and memories onto hardware where they can perfectly emulate the "architecture" of the brain. Over a period of time, suppose that the individual has many more operations with the intent of gradually replacing parts of his brain with computer hardware. Eventually, the man has a brain made entirely out of computer parts. The man comes out claiming that he is the same person as before. He has the same memories and acts the same. Now suppose that instead of replacing parts of his brain with hardware, he copies the entire brain onto hardware. The computerized version of this man's brain acts the same way, and claims that it is the same man who underwent the procedure. The original man is still alive, however. Are the machine and the man the same person? Are they somehow linked in consciousness? These are the types of situations that illustrate the lack of knowledge concerning the meaning of consciousness that we as a civilization currently possess. Undesirable Essential to many of the world's religions is a doctrine of an eternal afterlife. But well known narratives from Christianity and Islam show why freedom from annihilation and death could (in principle) not be desirable: "The rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence."- (Luke 16:22-26 King James Bible Translation) "Those who are wretched shall be in the Fire: There will be for them therein (nothing but) the heaving of sighs and sobs: They will dwell therein for all the time that the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord willeth: for thy Lord is the (sure) accomplisher of what He planneth. And those who are blessed shall be in the Garden: They will dwell therein for all the time that the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord willeth: a gift without break." - (The Qur'an, 11:106-108) Instances from other religions could be added, especially from Buddhism, which considers the eternal rebirth, caused by ignorance, an essentially undesirable condition that is to be overcome, and there is still a rich debate today concerning whether the goal is the attainment of a higher level of consciousness or the ceasing of existence, with several interpretations existing today, with mainstream Buddhism generally leaning towards the attainment of a higher level of consciousness called Nirvana. Mere perpetual existence is obviously not enough. Ultimately, one desires that this existence be of a desirable quality. As the prevalence of suicide suggests, people would often prefer not to exist at all, than exist in a severely unpleasant environment. In Tolkien's Middle-earth mythos, the immortal Elves were said to view the mortality of Men to be a gift. This was chiefly due to the Elves' clear faculty of memory, which could accumulate millenia of sad experiences. Immortality of just one person will eventually grow to torture, as everyone you care about will die around you. However author Jorge Luis Borge explores the consequences of a whole society becoming immortal in the book The Immortal. There, having achieved immortality, there is no motivation for any action, for time becomes infinite. For the immortals, time is unimportant. Borges here is highlighting the idea that life gets its meaning from death. When a person is tired of life, even death is shut off to them, creating an endless torture, as evidenced in the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. Desirable Immortality may appear desirable for many obvious reasons. Here are some less obvious ones If the memories of a living being could be partially or totally erased, he would then be able to rediscover what he had willingly forgotten, maybe even since birth. He would then be able to live a new "life". Scientists are already considering pills that would be designed to forget specific experiences (currently, traumatic ones), and studies of current amnesias are progressively unraveling the mechanisms of forgetfulness. In the more futuristic context of mind uploading, erasing of selected memories would almost surely be relatively easy. When talk of a soul arises When talk of a "soul" arises, immediately, concerns of psychology and metaphysics become relevant. Suppose, as yet, another thought experiment: An engineer produces a wondrous, new, nanotechnology machine. At two key moments during life, he might eagerly announce, a human would step into this device. At the first trip into the device, a full molecular scan of all 7 x 1027 atoms * in the body is recorded. At the second trip into the device, ideally many years later, the molecular structure is instantly dissimilated. Furthermore, during this second trip, a reference is taken of the earlier scan, and an appropriate amount of organic goo is added or subtracted to precisely match the configuration of materials original to the 7 x 1027 atoms as configured at the first scan. As an application—Jones at 30 walks in; Jones at 30 walks out. Years later, Jones at 80 walks in; Jones (allegedly) at 30 walks out. Has the engineer done Jones a favor? According to most ethicists, the engineer has not done Jones a favor even if Jones could, as it were, "wash, rinse, and repeat" this whole cycle indefinitely. First off, it is anything but clear that the human exiting the machine at the second trip is Jones. Call the person who steps out (whether he is Jones or not) "Jones Second, even if the eager engineer were to modify his machine (due to popular demand) so as to configure all the neural pathways of Jones Third, the Jones/Jones Apparently, on any account where immortality requires a remanufacture of a body in order to maintain character identity, seemingly insurmountable difficulties present themselves, especially due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Some views of quantum immortality approach the general issue of immortality differently. If in the example Jones is rebuilt or kept alive with the same conscious mind, there is the thought that, even if this were possible, the universe would eventually grow cold and lifeless once all energy is expended, or collapse upon itself into a new universe(see Big bang). In this situation, Physical Immortality would be worthless since you could only live until the end of the universe (even though that is an extremely long time). However, delving into the highly theoretical yet nonetheless theoretically possible concept of travelling to alternate universes would arise at this point. Several theoretical methods of transport have been devised by physicists, yet they require incredible super-technology, and one would need immortality simply to see if these concepts ever come to fruition. However, with literally all the time in the (current) universe to develop immortality and create a working transport system, anything is possible. Symbols
Fiction Immortal beings and species abound in fiction, especially fantasy fiction, and the meaning of "immortal" tends to vary. Some fictional and mythological beings are completely immortal (or very nearly so) in that they are immune to death by injury, disease and age. Examples include various types of gods and the monstrous Cthulhu. Sometimes such powerful immortals can only be killed by each other, as is the case with the Q from the Star Trek series. Even if something can't be killed, a common plot device involves putting an immortal being into a slumber or limbo, as is done with Sauron in J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and the Dreaming God of Pathways Into Darkness. Storytellers often make it a point to give weaknesses to even the most indestructible of beings. For instance, the Greek hero Achilles was supposed to be invincible, yet his enemies were able to use his infamous weakness to slay him. Many fictitious species are said to be immortal if they cannot die of old age, even though they can be killed through other means, such as injury (known in some role playing games as "limited immortality" or "semi-immortality"). Modern fantasy elves are an example of such a species, though in some cases they have a long but finite lifespan. Other creatures, such as vampires and the immortals in the film Highlander, can only die from specific injuries such as beheading. The list of such injuries for vampires varies somewhat on the particular work or inspiring mythos; for example a stake through the heart may be anywhere from inconsequential to incapacitating to instantly fatal. A fictional creature might also be considered immortal if its life span is just unimaginably long. For instance, the dragons in some fantasy works can eventually die of old age, but often their lifespan is measured in the thousands of years (or perhaps longer), so they're considered immortal by shorter lived species (such as humans). Elves and other fairies in some works also fall into this category. Beings like this often remind humans of their greatest weaknesses by uttering the derisive cliché "mere mortals". Immortality can be used as a prize, something to be earned by great achievement. Legendary heroes, great magicians and wise elders sometimes rise to the ranks of immortality in fiction and mythology. It can be the reward at the end of a great quest, such as the quest for the Holy Grail or the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh. When immortality is something that can be bought, works of fiction will often make judgements regarding the high price that must be paid. Immortality is often the desire of evil characters as well. If immortality is something that can be earned, then it can also be taken away, much to the dismay of many an immortal villain. Since immortality is seen as a desire of humanity, themes involving immortality often explore the disadvantages as well as the advantages of such a trait. Sometimes immortality is used as a punishment, or a curse that might be intended to teach a lesson. It is not uncommon to find immortal characters yearning for death. A similar, though somewhat different theme, concerned Elves and Men in Middle-earth. While the immortality of Elves was not explicitly a curse, the mortality of humans was viewed as a gift, albeit one that the immortal beings, and often even the humans, didn't understand. Stories about immortality can also explore the possibilities and consequences of living for vast spans of time; In his short history 'The Immortal', Jorge Luis Borges treats the theme of immortality from an interesting perspective: after centuries and centuries, everything is repetition for the immortal and a feeling of ennui prevails. The immortal, who had turned so after drinking from a certain river, is set to wander the world in search for that same river, so that he become mortal again. The Harry Potter universe's main antagonist, Lord Voldemort, has a limited form of immortality due to the use of Horcruxes. Horcruxes are magical objects that conceal a portion of a person's soul after the said person commits murder, which "rips the soul apart". Immortality also is touched on in the series by means of a philosopher's stone. In Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, some of the inhabitants of the island of Immortals (near Japan) don't die, but they age and became ill, demented and a nuisance to themselves and those surrounding them. Swift presents immortality as a curse rather than a blessing. The film Zardoz also depicts a dystopian view of immortality, where interest in life has been lost and suicide is impossible. In the film Highlander, the immortal main character grows cynical after seeing friends and lovers grow old and die. In the Hyperion Cantos Universe, a parasite originating from the planet Hyperion called the cruciform brings immortality, being able to regenerate the body after death. Wealthy humans can also achieve significant increase of their life expectancy thanks to the expensive Poulsen treatments. Tezuka Osamu's lifework Phoenix (known in Japan as Hi no Tori) had a phoenix whose blood would provide immortality. In various ages, many "heroes" and "heroines" would strive for immortality only to realize that there is something beyond eternal life. In one story titled "Raise hen" (lit. "Next World Story") the last remaining human male who survived a holocaust, blessed (or cursed) with immortality through the phoenix blood, would create another beginning of life. In his immortal form, he would see a race of slugs, after gaining intelligence, destroy themselves in another holocaust. He would seed the earth with life that would become present day humans, and finally leave the earth to join his lover, who died billions of years ago, in heaven. In Douglas Adams' novel Life, the Universe and Everything the character Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged had the misfortune of being immortal due to "a strange accident involving an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch and a pair of rubber bands". After becoming immortal, he did everything one can do in life, several times, becoming terribly bored of everything. He then made a plan that, despite being rather foolish, would at least keep him busy: he was going to insult, personally, all the living beings in the universe, in alphabetical order. The Phantom is a comic character who appears to be immortal, fighting pirates and evil across centuries. However it is just a dynasty of heroes who pass the mask and suit of the Phantom along generations. Their secret is known just to their aides and wives. In Andromeda, the character Trance Gemini is the avatar of the original Vedran sun, and as such, has special powers. She and her "sisters" can live as long as stars do: for billions of years. It's unknown whether Trance has physical immortality, or if she was even ever alive. It is alluded to that she is dead and alive at the same time. The Dungeon Master in Zork Grand Inquisitor, a spirit in a lantern during the game, accidentally casts an immortality spell on himself while he still has his body. He soon grows terribly bored, and tries many ways of suicide, with little or comical effects. ex "Dear Diary, today I tried to kill myself by shoving a sword through my heart. All I got was heartburn." In the films Re-Animator, and subsequently Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator, Dr Herbert West creates a serum that has the ability to re-animate dead tissue and stop its decay. In Re-Animator, re-animated corpses are shown to show some emotion and intelligence if they're fresh enough. However, the antagonist in the story lobotomizes re-animated decaying corpses to make them his slaves. The character Oro in the Street Fighter metaverse is explicitly said to be immortal. M. Bison constantly claims to be immortal, but that is contradicted by Capcom's statement that he is dead and in Hell. There are also strong hints that Akuma and Twelve are immortal. Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies is considered to be immortal. It is theorized that each time he is "killed" he is actually just put into a type of sleep while he regenerates enough of his lost and damaged tissue to function normally again. Jason has been killed, but there have been means outside his physical influence that led to his resurrection. When he was first killed, he survived permanent death via his father's wish that he would not be cremated before his own murderer incidentally brought him back, leading to a more unstoppable Jason. Jason even survives being blown up, by possessing other people and eventually being reborn through a dead relative. He also survives being blown apart in Jason X and is reconstructed as a cyborg through nanotechnology. It is unknown if some supernatural force surrounding Jason was controlling the device that reconstructed him, or if, like other circumstances, it was just a random event. Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies is considered to be immortal, as well. Though he was killed as a human, he exists as a "dream demon", who needs only to be feared to be able to enter people's dreams and cause them harm. Even without this fear, he can exist, either in "limbo" or in Hell. Because of this immortality, he can never be permanently killed. He can only be contained by being forgotten about, and thus prevented from ever entering dreams again. The nameless protagonist of the video game Planescape: Torment has a kind of limited immortality: he will die if injured enough, but he will always wake up again shortly afterward, albeit with some or all of his memories missing. This has led to a situation where, over thousands of years, different versions of the protagonist have existed, some good, some evil, and some absolutely insane. The goal of the game is to regain one's mortality and finally die permanently--a rather unconventional ending for a video game. In the Doctor Who story The Five Doctors, Lord President Borusa of Gallifrey uses the first five regenerations of the Doctor and various companions in a plot to gain the immortality of Rassilon, the founder of Time Lord society, for himself. But it turns out to be a trap conceived of by Rassilon to deal with individuals with such a desire. As the First Doctor says in the end, "Immortality is a curse, not a blessing". Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series is an artificial life form created aboard the Space Colony ARK that is immortal. This, coupled with the fact that he was forced to witness his best (and possibly only) friend's murder, creates a chasm between the other characters and himself. It is also speculated that, since Sonic and Shadow seem to be the same in all observable ways except appearance and strength, Sonic is also immortal. In the TV series Stargate SG-1, the primary antagonists for the first eight years, the Goa'uld achieve a measure of immortality. The Goa'uld symbiote can naturally extend the life-span of its human hosts upward of 200 years. By coupling its own natural healing abilities with advanced technology, a Goa'uld can keep itself and its host alive almost indefinitely. In the spinoff to SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, the main villains, the Wraith, can't die of natural causes, and it's also difficult to kill them with force. In the episode The Defiant One, a Wraith remained alive for over 10,000 years by cannibalizing other Wraith when its original food source (captured humans) was depleted. In both series the characters occasionally meet "ascended beings" such as the Ancients who have learned to shed their physical body and exist as energy, making them imortal. Perry Rhodan is the world's most prolific literary science fiction (SF) series, published since 1961 in Germany. In the storyline Perry Rhodan is the commander of the first mission to the moon, where they come upon a stranded vessel of an alien race in search of eternal youth. Perry Rhodan uses the superior technology to unite the earth and then continues the search for eternal youth. Ultimately he follows the hints laid out by a higher being called ES ("it" in German) that exists in an incorporeal state. This being chooses Perry Rhodan and a select few of his companions to attain Agelessness (ES says "I grant you everlasting life, not rejuvenation") in order for them to pursue goals set by ES. Poul Anderson's The Boat of a Million Years concerns several otherwise ordinary people who stop aging at maturity. The book follows their struggles through the millennia, through the late 20th century and beyond. Megaman Zero's Doctor Weil (Mega Man Zero) had his memories transferred into program data and his body remodeled into that of a cyborg's as punishment for sparking the Elf Wars, using the Dark Elf (Mega Man Zero) to attack Reploids and humanity alike. He was then banished from nature and humanity, which eventually drove him certifiably insane. In legend, most famously in Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman, a ship's captain is cursed with immortality after attempting to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in a terrible storm. He is doomed to sail around the Cape forever. In the game Soul Calibur III the final boss of the game Zasalamel (ultimate form “ABYSS”) was a member of an ancient Egyptian tribe that guarded the mythical and all powerful Soul Calibur. Being a genius among his tribe he mastered every technique they had ever created and then began mastering the forbidden arts. For learning these arts he was exiled from his tribe. He had mastered the power of reincarnation and every time he would die he would be reincarnated. But every time he died began a furry of unimaginable and incomprehensible pain of his body and his soul until he was completely born again. After thousands upon thousands of years of being subjected to this pain he simply wanted to die. In a way he was actually forced to hate death through Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning. Knowing that there was not a force on earth powerful enough to kill due to the immense power he had acquired he formed a master plan that would lead to his death. He had gained so much power that he becomes even more powerful than the sword known as Soul Calibur and its evil counterpart Soul Edge. Thus he gave the evil sword Soul Edge a body so that it could feast upon human souls until it was powerful enough to merge with soul caliber to break his curse. Along his adventures he spoke with terribly accurate depth in almost every word that he spoke. When battling an opponent he was able to voice an opponent’s psychological faults and weaknesses with fearful accuracy. When fighting an opponent he is depicted defeating them with the utmost of ease. His bad ending in the videogame depicts his plan not working and the swords not being powerful enough to kill him. His good ending depicts the swords breaking his curse, but leaving him to live out this one last life time. He decides to spend that life time writing a library size number of books on the countless lives he had lived. Afterwards, he simply waited patiently for his time to for a proper death. In the manga Blade of the Immortal, Manji is an samurai who has been cursed with immortality. Only after slaying 1000 evil man will the curse be broken so he can finally die. His body cannot age nor can he die from physical wounds. Manji's sword skills are sloppy due to the fact that since he's immortal he doesn't need know how to fight properly. There are a large number of comic book characters who are immortal. Superman, Thor (Marvel Comics), Major Force, Galactus, Darkseid, Guardians of the Universe, Uatu and the rest of his Watcher (comics) race are all virtually immortal. Negative effects In some parts of popular culture, immortality is not all that it is made out to be, possibly causing insanity and/or significant emotional pain. Much of the time, these things only happen to mortals who gain immortality. Beings born with immortality (such as deities, demigods and races with "limited immortality") are usually quite adjusted to their long lives, though some may feel sorrow at the passing of mortal friends, but they still continue on. Some Immortals (such as certain deities, demigods, and intelligent undead) may also watch over mortal relations (either related to or descended from them), occasionally offering help when needed. Tuck Everlasting In the novel Tuck Everlasting, a family is made physically immortal by drinking water from a magical spring. They are trapped at the same age forever and are invulnerable. They are hated by the ordinary people who knew them and are forced to watch as everything they cherish grows old and dies. Vampire: The Requiem The roleplaying game Vampire: The Requiem, published by White Wolf Publishing, Inc., vampire possess a form of immortality, known as undeath, wherein their bodies are absent of all life functions (such as breathing and a heartbeat). They have theoretically infinite lifespans (and can even survive unprotected in the vacuum of space and under the crushing depths of the ocean), but they can be killed with enough damage. Though they are also forced to watch as everything they knew in life withers away and they are unable to adapt to the changing eras of history. Because they are fallible predators, their humanity also begins to deteriorate, and a few become mindless/insane monsters called Draugr (also known as Revenants) as a result of losing all concept of being human. Such ravening monsters are always hunted down by other vampires, to prevent humans from learning of the existence of vampires. Deep One Hybrids In the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft, there is a race of "Fish-Men" known as Deep Ones. They stop aging after reaching adulthood and can breed with humans to birth offspring with this "eternal youth." Though this is a faustian bargain, as after reaching the age of 20, the Deep One Hybrids undergo a transformation from normal humans into hideous Deep Ones. They also lose all concept of humanity and morality and go to live in the ocean with the Deep Ones and to worship the undersea deity Cthulhu, the Lord of Madness. Death Wish The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Death Wish" explored in depth the existence of the omnipotent, immortal and omniscient aliens Q. It is learned in that episode that the aliens were originally human-like, and somehow evolved into their current state long ago. With their new-found powers, the Q set out to fully explore, experience and understand the universe. Afterwards, the Q had nothing left to do or say, and now they simply sit out eternity in their realm. As one Q explained, you can only experience the universe so many times before it gets boring. Highlander The Immortals of Highlander: The Series possess immortality granted by an unknown energy (called the Quickening), which is triggered by the trauma of a violent death. Once immortal, they can still be injured, but heal very quickly. Although there are descrepencies between the film and the series, the generally accepted canon is that they can die but will be healed and resurrected unless they are beheaded. If beheaded by another Immortal, usually during combat, the victor receives the loser's 'Quickening' or knowledge and power. Immortals can sense other Immortals by the 'buzz' they receive when near another Quickening. No Immortal will desecrate holy ground by battling on it, due to general sentiment and the fact that the ground itself receives the Quickening in such a case, so it is sanctuary for them. All Immortals are sterile. Their origins are mysterious, although it is indicated many of them are foundlings. The legend they follow says that when only a few remain standing, they will fight at "The Gathering" for something known only as "The Prize", which is the knowledge and power of every Immortal. It is unknown what power this will have on the very last Immortal, but the ending of the first movie suggests that The Prize is both an empathic link with all humanity and a restoration of the Immortal's mortality and fertility - the Immortal will be able to grow old, die of natural causes, and bear or conceive a child. Jitterbug Perfume In Tom Robbins' book Jitterbug Perfume, the characters of Alobar and Kudra explore the realms of immortality through their will to attain eternal life. The Cybermen In the Doctor Who mythology, the Cybermen are basically human brains placed into mechanical bodies, with every emotion drained out. This process was supposed to allow the Human race to reach its pinnacle. The unforseen downturn is that with immortality reached, there is no motivator for the Human Race to actually strive for anything more. Heaven and hell Even though Heaven would be considered one of the best forms of afterlife, it might be possible that its inhabitants might become tired of it, or they may be eternally happy and just not care. In Hell, people would be in too much agony to even think about anything other than the hideous screaming pain. Either way, it is possible that a person may not like living forever, even spiritually. Wraith: The Oblivion In the roleplaying game , published by White Wolf Publishing, Inc., the afterlife is place known as the Underworld, where certain people who die enter as ghosts, emotionally bound to their former lives. Many are unhappy with their eternal existences and either become insane Spectres or ossify into statues. Originally, the Underworld was a place where the dead stayed until they reached transcedence, but the notion was later considered heretical by the Hierarchy. See also Notes Further reading | |||||||||
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