One Promise | Lyric Wehr | TEDxYouth@Jenks
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ApxjNJiizE Video ID: 6ApxjNJiizE ============================================================ human life without death would be something other than humans consciousness of immortality gives rise to our deepest longings and greatest accomplishments landcrass the one promise we all have in this life regardless of religion race Creed sex influence or power that we all know to be true is the one day no matter how much you've accomplished or how little there will come a time when you will die death is unavoidable yet we ignore it we pretend as we go through our day-to-day life that it's not a matter of time that we pretend by looking away the reaper will not come to collect I understand that some of us have had family and friends closest to us Stripped Away abruptly without warning it's part of the reason why we deliberately ignore and avoid discussing death but I believe the biggest driver in our attempt to escape death is our fear we choose to fear one of our biggest similarities we choose to fear or mortality the fear of death is the fear of being known we don't fear death itself fear what happens after with no confirmation of what happens after death at least none that scientists can verify this causes us fear death We Fear the unknown to such a point that even getting closer to it creates a crisis it's the reason we fear aging as we age growing up graduating high school then College getting married becoming a parent then a grandparent these are all moments that can bring joy and happiness but at the same time they can fear because death is our aging is our ladder to death and as we creep ever closer we are reminded of what's around the corner how much time we have left because of our fear we attempt to escape death and pursue immortality according to Oxford dictionary immortality is the ability to live forever eternal life this definition does not specify the technicality of immortality so we can understand this in two different ways first not only will you never die in it of old age but you would not die in any way we currently do then a more doable scenario second where aging has stopped something scientists and humans have been working towards forever with immortality around the corner according to okay watch l a period for achieving immortalities within the next 30 years they speculate that immortality will be achieved by the year 2050. so how could immortality be achieved Gloria a says that there are three options that present themselves three possibilities the first biological immortality biological immortality already exists it's possible when a when organism is not affected by sellers incidents its cells don't age they divide infinitely keeping the organism systems healthy and alive one example of this is the so-called and I'm sure I did say that wrong but it's more common name is the immortal jellyfish it sells don't age and at the same time they rejuvenate themselves when needed for this to be achieved human scientists would have to apply the biology of animals like the immortal jellyfish to a much more complex biological systems therefore superseding aging and our mortality second cybernetic immortality technology exceeds what was thought possible and allows us to extend our lifetime Forever by replacing failing systems in the human body step by step we effectively make ourselves cyborgs for example if you have COPD or asthma we could replace your lungs with metal ones heart disease don't worry we will have a machine pump your blood for you knee pain you could have cheetahs that make you run faster than a cheetah through cybernetic enhancement we effectively circumnavigate death and become something Beyond human and then the third option scariest virtual immortality technology we upload our brain live your perfect life live in your own reality no pain no struggle no hardship you could even forget your life and live again inside your own world who knows and you're a new existence they will build a virtual reality in there making so you can live in a virtual reality inside a virtual reality it's the scariest part about this is how close we are to achieving it researchers uploaded the brain of a much smaller organism a warrant project openworm could be our path to immortality after mapping forms complete nervous system scientists stimulate it digitally into a lake robot the robot started moving responding and acting just like a wormwood now the difference between a warm brain and a human brain is vast but with enough technological advancements we might have to one day make the choice red pill or blue so what what if tomorrow comes and aging has stopped news headlines hit immortality achieved what then well sea Custer speculates it sea Custer States immortality with technology would only be open to the extremely wealthy it would be the most expensive commercial product in human history so not a single person in this room is affording it the rich and Powerful reward and never-ending life Custer speculates that this will widen the gap between economic classes and after the prize Falls will lead to death slaves people willing to do anything to live forever to avoid staring the reaper in the face willing to sacrifice their Humanity so they don't have to die willing to sacrifice everything it needs to be to live and even on the off chance of it and where hella did become open to the public the consequences this would be severe it would force us to ban reproduction otherwise we Face an overpopulation epidemic this would mean no new eyes to view this world no new ideas or perspectives he would stop New Life from being brought into this world so that we didn't have to leave we would stop children from being born because we're scared you would effectively murder all future Generations so that we didn't have to die because we're scared we forget but often the ones that change the world are the newest to it when you're born we have so much creativity imagination as we age we are expected to conform to society the creativity and Imagination are ripped out of us we don't need those we become materialistic we base our values on material things it's the end of life as we age we become more focused on what Society expects of us what criteria we have yet to meet this controls us and there are very few individuals that ever escape this cycle why it is so important to pass the torch down to the Next Generation otherwise we trap ourselves in a vicious selfish cycle we limit our potential because of our fear and prevent the future with the invitation of immortality we lose the goddess here the beauty of this life is that one day it'll be gone one day we'll be our last and we don't know when it brings meaning to every moment we often don't realize it but death is the very thing that gives life meaning as the saying goes you don't know is gone you can't experience happiness without experiencing sadness it's the duality in life if life was always Blissful and happy with no struggle or hardship we wouldn't have a standard on which to face happiness we wouldn't understand why happiness is so amazing it's only in the sad moments do we really miss the feeling of joy the same is true for life without death we wouldn't understand the beauty of life if we knew it would always be there I studied by Sarah McKay showed when people are directly confronted with their mortality such as a near-death experience for severe illness the poor the former coping mechanisms of extrinsic goals breaks down and through efforts to rebuild their coping strategy people reevaluate their status orientated goals and shift towards more intrinsic ones such as pursuit of personal growth positive interpersonal relationships this ultimately leads to a more meaningful more positive better life it's the study directly shows why are mortality is so significant to live life's meaning if upon realizing our mortality we are more likely to live lead a more positive more meaningful lives and the opposite of that must hold the truth those who act immorally and ignore death tend to lead life trained of meaning without purpose as Oscar Wilde once said to live is the rarest thing in the world people exist when achieved immortality will be the most significant event in human history and if not gone and if we go through with it we risk ruining what it means to be human in the pursuit of a never-ending life we ultimately destroy our future in everything we're meant to stand for we fulfill our selfish desire and ultimately end up destroying what it means to be human thank you [Applause]