September 8, 2026
I will admit to having a weakness for web serials, among them 17776, or The Future of Football, where everyone has been granted functional immortality. In this setting, human side characters have found purpose through increasingly deranged games of football. This purpose is alien to us because we are subject to time constraints. For, in contrast, this freedom allows those in this world to obsess over every possible option in their opportunity spaces. A throwaway line features one of the characters coming to the realization that they had lived in the apartment they were currently in some thousand years ago. This is played as a joke, but the implications belie one of the issues with constrained immortality.
The set of actions we have available to us is quite large - larger than we can comprehend (or would like to) - but still finite. Under our current lifespans, this is inexhaustible, even in one-hundred lifetimes. Though there is a limit, especially since most lives are likely more similar than we think. With unconstrained lifespans, our actions & choices lose their meaning. Every action in the 17776 universe is repeatable or doable with enough effort and as such, the characters live with lightness. None of their actions matter as all is rectifiable or achievable. This is not the only (or best) book exploring this problem - see The Unbearable Lightness of Being - but it takes on the issue well.
Many in my sphere have a unique fear of dying and a belief in technology’s ability to remove us from our fate. Maybe this is true; if not, I’d happily jump at the chance to live longer. I quite like living; that my life is so unique as compared to the range of possible experiences is a blessing. But living forever is not as pure a goal. To do so obliterates the differences in our lives for we’d be able to experience every path. With infinite time, there are no problems, all can be changed. If one defines the value of a life as the pure hedonistic calculus, maybe this is preferable, though even here we may face a hedonistic treadmill. A life in this way will gain less and less pleasure until every action is neutral. As one’s present colors one’s past, this does not seem preferable.
That we do not deal in infinities seems like a blessing. For a long time, I struggled with heaven. An eternity from the perspective of our current minds seems far too long and too much experience. Though if our minds are to find unity with G-d’s love, perhaps this becomes a bearable existence or existing outside of time alongside all those that have ever lived. This does not seem comprehensible but is satisfying.
The fact that we do lends our experience weight; a fear of it is natural enough. But if nothing else, it ought to be a reminder that we should use our finite time wisely. We may be able to conquer space, but never time.