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I mean, of course, a benevolent vampire. A vampire who drinks synthetic blood and is a model citizen.
A loooong life…
Vampires are blessed or cursed with a very long life. If you were a vampire you could live for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years. (Unless you got the pointy end of a stake of course.)
But who would you be if you lived that long?
What would you do?
If you could pretty much guarantee virtual immortality, what would be your priorities in life? Would your conscience be as important to you?
Would you get jaded?
OK, vampires are a light-hearted look at a lengthy life, but scientists are working to allow us to live long and healthy lives. In 2004, geneticist Aubrey de Grey said that we can expect dramatic advances in lifespan due to scientific advances, perhaps to 1000 years.
Would you want to live forever?
What if we could conquer death completely? Now this is theoretical. As far as I know, not even the bravest-new-world geneticist believes we can simply not die. So for the purposes of this exercise, let’s ignore the obvious problems of over-population, and perhaps getting bored with even your closest friends after a few hundred years.
And perhaps forever is a little ambitious, so let me ask you this: if you could live in perfect health, with no financial worries, for say 500 years, would you want to?
Tess, your posts get more and more challenging, zanier and more creative, and are surpassing I would say most people’s ability to comment, because you are taking on the big questions. But here’s my take anyhow, fool that I am to attempt it. If I live to be 1,000, there will still come the time when I am 999 and then, what do I do? It’s not enough to put it off, “not me, not now.” The questions of life and death are what drive us to look at a more profound perspective to existence, they are the foundation of all religion and philosophy, and of most of our activities in the realm of compassion. To my mind the puzzle is not how long can we live, but why are we here in the first place? Maybe it’s just that, to deeply ponder existence, to ask the questions you’re asking, and to learn how to give and receive compassion.
Ooh, I’ve always wanted to be zany! This is a great take on the question, turning it around to ask the greater one of why we are here. Thank you, great comment.
Perfect health? no financial worries? 500 years? Sure, so many interests to pursue and things to learn. I could be in this life for 500 years. However, if you told me I had to work in a soul-less job (or even the one I’m in now) for all that time to have no financial worries, I’d say noooo thank you!
Yes, that’s my own inclination.
Perfect health, no financial worries….I’d say yes! I would love to live longer. There is just so much to do–for ourselves (our own personal interests), our families, our communities and then also for the world. As long as we’re not engaged in creating children, we could turn our attention to study, reaching out to other people and groups, have time to spend with our families and friends. If we have no financial worries, why would we stay with a boring job? With perfect health we would have the energy we need to pursue our dreams and do the work required to improve our world. Hmmm. Let me chew on this idea some more. Thanks for the thoughts, Tess!
Joyce
Hi Joyce, welcome to this space and thank you for the comment. What you say about study: yes that would be a prime driver for me, I absolutely love learning new things, and feel dead if I can’t.
Oooh! Great question – my first thought was “If I was a vampire what would I wear?”! Followed by; thoughts of if I’d like to dress like a vampire then why don’t I do that anyway? If I had so long to live then I’d learn another language, grow more vegetables and learn to play an instrument. That’s just for starters!
I love it that your first reaction was what would you wear!!
I don’t know if I could live for 500 years but maybe an extra 100 would be enough.I think I would take the opportunity to learn to love all of those that I haven’t been able to (for what ever reason). I would spend the time with them and find a space to forgive them. Then on the whimsical side, I would spend the rest of my time taking classes, especially in Art! And wearing my bathing suit all the time, much to everyone’s horror! Yes, 100 years extra would suit me just fine!
Oh yes, this sounds like a great way to spend 100 years!