Are we really capable of having eternal life?

Will humans be able to live forever someday in the future? Eternal life is something that every human being wishes to have.

With the rapid development of science and technology, modern medicine has made great strides, many diseases have been effectively treated, so the life expectancy of modern humans has been much longer than before. After many years of research, medical scientists have now found something that can control human life expectancy, which is the telomere located on the gene . There is a telomere at the end of the human gene that prevents the gene from being broken during replication.

However, every time a cell replicates, its telomeres are depleted. When the telomeres are exhausted, the cell becomes old and cannot replicate anymore, which is the beginning of aging and death. Through experiments, scientists have discovered that by simply using an enzyme called telomerase, telomeres can be lengthened, thereby increasing human lifespan.

Scientists have demonstrated this through experiments on mice. So, in theory, if telomerase can be used to continuously lengthen telomeres in the future, humans could live forever and achieve immortality.

If humans achieve immortality, our world will undergo major changes. (Illustration: Zhihu)

But don't get too excited, because if humans achieve immortality, our world will undergo seismic changes. If we are not careful, immortality will bring disaster to humanity.

Many people think that eternal life is great, but is it really true? First of all, if humans become immortal and this technology is spread to all of humanity, the most obvious result is that human mortality will be greatly reduced . Once immortality is achieved, humans can only die from illness or accidents.

If we could make humans immortal, many of the traditional diseases that cause death would no longer be a problem. One of the foreseeable results of this would be a rapid increase in the human population over a period of time. Based on current birth rates, the human population could reach hundreds of billions in a few hundred years.

At the current birth rate, perhaps in a few hundred years, the population will reach hundreds of billions. (Illustration: Zhihu)

This is a huge burden and a huge threat to the Earth. The Earth's resources are limited and human needs are unlimited, as the population continues to increase, the Earth's environment will begin to deteriorate rapidly, due to serious environmental degradation, even humans themselves will be at risk of destruction.

As human demand for land increases, the amount of land available for growing food will decrease. As a result, the living space of other animals on Earth will shrink, leading to the death of a large number of animals. When large numbers of animals die, the Earth's ecosystem will be devastated, potentially leading to serious chaos. Mass extinction of species may be imminent and humans may not be able to avoid it.

Population growth is a huge burden on the Earth. (Illustration: Zhihu).

Second, if humans become immortal, their perception of time will fundamentally change. Time will no longer be considered a precious resource or a finite limit, but will become infinite. This may cause people to lose respect and appreciation for time, thereby weakening their consciousness and motivation. People may become lazy and passive, which affects their creativity and initiative. This mentality may lead to stagnation, even the decline of human civilization.

If immortal, human perception of time will fundamentally change. (Illustration: Zhihu).

Third, if humans were immortal, the human family structure would undergo earth-shattering changes. People might no longer feel the need to marry and have children, or have only one child. Kinship ties might become indifferent and feelings between people might become cold. Society as a whole might become lonelier and more indifferent.

In this case, society may have a very large gap between rich and poor, social mobility and equality will be greatly reduced, conflicts and dissatisfaction will also increase. Society may become chaotic and in crisis.

Finally, if humans become immortal, human nature may be seriously degraded. People may no longer value morality and conscience, value life less, think that life is cheap, and no longer worry about death. This will lead to a decline in human moral standards and an increase in violence and criminal behavior. As a result, society will become chaotic and dangerous.

Everything must be reversed when it reaches its climax. (Illustration: Zhihu).

As the saying goes, everything must come to an end when it reaches its extreme. Human immortality may not be a wonderful thing, but a terrible thing. Of course, these are all hypothetical speculations, and human immortality may never become a reality.

Although eternal life can help us get rid of the fear of death and enjoy life longer, it also brings us many questions, we should think carefully whether we really want eternal life? Although the subjective emotions brought to us by life and death are painful, who can say that people will definitely be happy after eternal life!

Death is the inevitable law of nature and the best arrangement of creation. Life is not important for its length but for its happiness and meaning. Living happily is the true  'eternal life' .