- Question
Should humans strive for immortality?
Should humanity pursue the end of ageing and death? This entry sets out the two positions on the question — that humans should strive for immortality, and that they should not — weighing longer life against its consequences.
Position 1 of 2
Read this position →Yes, humans should strive for immortality
This position holds that humanity should pursue the end of ageing and death. On this view ageing is a source of suffering like any other, so working to defeat it continues what medicine already does rather than departing from it.
Position 2 of 2
Read this position →No, humans should not strive for immortality
This position holds that humanity should not pursue immortality. On this view a life without an ending would lose the shape mortality gives it, and the attempt would impose costs of inequality and stagnation that outweigh the gain.