Job Openings: Philosophy and Prompts

What If... #7

What if nothing that has ever lived in this universe ever died? What if every living thing - sentient or non-sentient as we conceptualize sentience - still existed and lived within the boundaries of the Earth's atmosphere?

Wouldn't that be worse than death? What would it feel like to be stuck in a permanent limbo of eternity, knowing that there is no retirement, no rest, no peace to ever be had after childhood? With the rising rates of higher education and the impacts of the recession in 2007-8 on the younger generations' financial health, masculinity studies professor Michael Kimmel argues that childhood has been extended past the mid-teens into the mid-twenties as individuals live at how and remain at least partially dependent on parents and kinship networks for support.* How long would childhood last if there was no end in sight?

Would you wish you hadn't been born into the continuous cycle of selling your consciousness for money, for material goods that never really bring you solace or comfort? Would this make you bitter, even angry at your parents? How would this affect fertility rates and religious tensions over population size and resources? How would this affect racial tensions, especially with the increasing rates of intermarriage and multiracial identification?

What would society turn into if nobody ever died? Would everyone eventually end up in prison? Would it get to the point where it would be better to institutionalize those who aren't being punished by the criminal justice system? Would everyone in the penal system eventually be released if there was no such thing as a 'life sentence'? What would it take to be permanently incarcerated in that world?

What would happen if there was a government coup and the current leader(s) was/were overthrown? What would their existence look like after they were removed from power? Would they live among the populace, or would they be permanently incarcerated to keep them from trying to reseize power? Would they be reduced to the state closest to death possible to eliminate them as a contender for power?

What would a dearth of death look like? What would happen if you were in a severe car accident and weren't able to die? Would an incredible power for regeneration be necessary in order for you to achieve this theorized immortality in the first place, or might you be trapped in that damaged body forever? How does this embodiment affect your quality of life? How would the assumed increasing rates of intensive health care affect the economy and the distribution of wealth?

What would you do if life wasn't worth living and suicide wasn't an option? How would people deal with this internalized grief? Would they take it out on themselves, or on other people? How? Would increased mental illness lead to more war - war with no purpose and no end, only eternal pain? Would the Global North intentionally prevent the Global South from gaining power (more than they already do, anyway, as equal distribution would mean more for the poorest nations and less for the wealthiest nations) in order to keep the lion's share of the resources? With a theoretically infinite military force, how long would this strategy work? What would be the result of this coup of power?

Would there be an increased push to colonize other planets or solar systems in order to escape from overcrowding on Earth? How long would this take and how would it be affected by socioeconomic class? Would this create a Wall-E-esque scenario where the least wealthy will be forced to remain on Earth regardless of the condition of the planet or the availability of useable resources? How long would the planet survive as we know it with an unchecked rate of consumption? What would happen to it after it is no longer considered useable by anyone regardless of social status/characteristics (race, nationality, class, gender, sex, sexuality, religion, etc.)? Who would be the last people to be removed from the Earth, and why? Would there be people who would choose to stay, regardless of the condition of the planet?

How would the concept of the Malthusian catastrophe/limit of population growth affect an immortal population with unrestricted reproduction? (Where a population is forced to return to subsistence-level goods production and forego goods not necessary for survival in order to produce sufficient goods to feed and care for the unnaturally high population.) According to Malthusian theory, which has been used in eugenics programs and imperial conquest campaigns to justify mistreatment of subordinated populations, the lack of resources will control the growth of the population as the least fit die. What happens when people can't die of starvation? Do money and medicine to increase the quality of life become the only resources truly necessary to subsist? What would the poorest nations on Earth do to acquire these resources? What would the wealthiest nations demand in return for them?

How would this immortality affect evolution, if food, water, and shelter were no longer necessary for survival, but only for comfort, and if sleep was only necessary to maintain sanity? What would your life look like? Would you remain a part of society, or would you try to become Alexander Supertramp and disappear into the wilderness to find the true meaning of life?^

What if this is how life is on other worlds? How long will it be before they get here?

How many universes/timelines are like this? Do you remember what immortality feels like?

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* See Kimmel's book Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men for an interesting read about how we are socialized into the culture of masculinity in the U.S.

^See Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild or the movie adaptation for a glorified version of Chris McCandless's arguably misguided hitchhiking adventures.