The curse of immortality

THE CURSE OF IMMORTALITY: Stephen Cave explains. "Imagine nobody dies. All of a sudden, whether through divine intervention or an elixir slipped into the water supply, death is banished. Life goes on and on; all of us are freed from fear that our loved ones will be plucked from us, and each of us is rich in the most precious resource of all: time. Wouldn’t it be awful? [...] The problem is that our culture is based on our striving for immortality. It shapes what we do and what we believe; it has inspired us to found religions, write poems and build cities. If we were all immortal, the motor of civilization would sputter and stop." The notion of immortality has always been the defining factor in my fear of life after death, and one of the reasons I reject the whole concept entirely. Not only do I fail to comprehend it, I fail to understand how it can possibly be considered in favourable light. "Let us be grateful that the elixir continues to elude us — and toast instead our finitude." Indeed.