Unintended Consequences

    I'm sure this won't come as a shock to most of you, but one of the reasons many people think humanity's lot is improving is because our life expectancy has increased from about 32 years for someone born in 1900, while by 2000, life expectancy had reached 65 years. And even though there was a dip of a few years during the past decade due to Covid, as well as the opioid overdoses, people who study these things suggest that the human lifespan might dramatically increase beyond its current limit of 120 years. That's a good thing, right? 

    I suppose the first assumption is "Yes. Longevity is a very good thing." I get that. For a dork like me, it would provide much more time to get through all the books I would like to read before I land on the shores of Shakespeare's "Undiscovered Country," as it were. Then there's family...watching the youngsters grow up and "be all they can be," so to speak. But when we think about these things and what we might get out of a longer life, we run up against the age-old question of human nature and what are our assumptions about it are. Is life necessarily enhanced by its lengthening? Are there other goods in human existence that need to be balanced against longevity? Might there be other features of life for which a good and wise person would trade some portion of longevity? The answers to these questions...well, maybe not answers, but insights...come from varying sources. As I'm an admitted sci-fi geek, there are plenty of examples of decent movies and TV shows that address the questions of the elongated life and its consequences...good and bad. Whether it's Star Trek, Star Wars, or yes, even The X-Files...well-written science fiction can offer a plethora of ideas and commentary and make it easily understood, even to a dope like me. But more than television or movie science fiction however, is great literature. And my favorite novel when it comes to the depiction of deathless human life, is Jonathan Swift's Gullivers Travels. 

    If you haven't read this wonderful satire (and you should), it's divided into 4 sections. In 3 of the sections Gulliver, on various journeys, finds himself among little people (remember the cartoon with the always negative, tiny man, "We're doomed, Gulliver...We'll never make it." Priceless! But I digress...), in another section it's just the opposite and he's the tiny one amongst a race of giants, and finally he's amidst a race of utterly rational and virtuous equine creatures. But in Book III, Jonathan Swift goes all in on satirizing the scientific world around him in early 18th century Ireland, as it seems to be advancing by leaps and bounds. Gulliver meets a race of Laputans who are superb abstract reasoners, then there are the Balnibarians who are ruined by living under scientific tyranny, etc., etc. 

    During this same voyage, however, Gulliver comes upon a people called the "Struldbruggs," who are rumored to be immortal. He can't believe this, and it causes him to put a hold in trying to return to his wife and family. He writes: 

"Happy nation, where every child hath at least a chance for being immortal! Happy people who enjoy so many living examples of ancient virtue, and have masters ready to instruct them in the wisdom of all former ages. But happiest beyond all comparison are those excellent struldbruggs, who being born exempt from that universal calamity of human nature, have their minds free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of spirits caused by the continual apprehension of death."

    Gulliver stays with these people and promises to learn all he can and become the wisest man on earth. He even hopes that the immortality will somehow rub off on him. Again, no more yearning to go home to his wife and family. Before, he was just like Odysseus, always working to get home...whatever it took. No longer. All for just the hope of immortality. Like many people today, Gulliver supposes that that the solution to life's problems lies in its never-ending.

    To make a long story short, Gulliver realizes that things aren't always what they seem. Not only are the Struldbruggs born with a mark on the forehead identifying them as immortals, but they lead normal lives, including the decline and indignities of old age. Finally, when they reach the ripe old age of 80, they are declared legally dead and forbidden to own property. And for the rest of time they are forbidden to take part in the daily governing life of the community. 

    In other words, these immortal creatures are neither imbued with the "wisdom of all former ages" nor fit to serve as "living examples of ancient virtue." Instead, they are wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous old people who must be legally incapacitated to prevent harm to others. Well, now.

    For Swift, immortality doesn't lead to the perfection of the virtues, but to their most extreme corruption. Think of it this way - what if some of the all-time great tyrants in history had lifetimes to perfect their oeuvre; men like Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, and Mao. Imagine how that might have turned out. 

    It is genius how Swift compares the pride and greed of the Struldbruggs with Gulliver's lofty dreams of what he would accomplish if only he could live forever. In the story, Gulliver is going to amass all kinds of wealth, then he would study so he could become the most brilliant of men. Then he would become the repository of all knowledge so he could pass it on to the generations to come. In other words, he wants to make himself the greatest man to ever live. 

    But the one thing we don't hear Gulliver talk about is how he will acquire virtue. And Swift makes sure that Gulliver does not know what virtue really is. I mean, Gulliver thinks only of himself and spends all day with the immortals. We don't hear Gulliver talking about spending time with others of his kind or devoting himself to the service of his country. You see what I'm getting at? He's lost in becoming immortal, and nothing else matters. In the end, Gulliver finally chooses to return home. He realizes the Struldbruggs are selfish human beings with no concern for anyone else, not even each other. They are not the happiest humans ever, but the saddest. 

    One of my favorite phrases is, "Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do that something." Gulliver's Travels, while not the only warning, is an important warning for scientists, physicians, economists, and politicians who mistake the prolongation of life for its qualitative improvement. If mankind is deficient as the ancients remind us, I'm not sure prolonging deficiency is the smart way to go. I mean, merely extending a vapid and indifferent life does nothing to enhance that life and may only magnify its deficiencies. I get it, maybe living longer will enable one to change. Well, maybe... For the most part, we are who we are. 

    I'll say it again, I'd love a few extra years for reading and the continuing search for wisdom, to enjoy the loves and friendships in my life a little longer, and maybe find that elusive perfect golf swing! But while there are many reasons I am not a religious believer, one of those reasons is that I believe this life means something. What we do here matters, because for me (and others of my ilk), there is no tomorrow. There is no life ever after. Because if there is, then this life doesn't mean a whole lot. You could be the biggest prick, and/or mass murderer ever, and still get to the after life with a couple of pleas for forgiveness on the death bed. No, thank you. I mean, if there's a chance Adolf Hitler is in somebody's heaven...I'm out. It's about what you do in this life and the legacy you leave. It took a long time and some heartache to figure that out. But I believe it. 

    To genuinely improve human life, it seems to me that it is necessary to discern and enhance what is good in it. And all the psychopharmacology and artificial intelligence on the planet cannot add any amount of goodness to it, and until we are ready to do the hard work of educating minds and hearts and cultivating character, we should avoid - like the plague - the temptation to vest our hopes in life's prolongation.

write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com