If you could live forever, would you want to? Both a fascinating look at the history of our strive for immortality and an investigation into whether living forever is really all it’s cracked up to be. A fascinating work of popular philosophy and history that both enlightens and entertains, Stephen Cave investigates whether it just might be possible to live forever and whether we should want to. He also makes a powerful argument that it’s our very preoccupation with defying mortality that drives civilization. Central to this book is the metaphor of a mountaintop where one can find the Immortals. Since the dawn of humanity, everyone – whether they know it or not—has been trying to climb that mountain. But there are only four paths up its treacherous slope, and there have only ever been four paths. Throughout history, people have wagered everything on their choice of the correct path, and fought wars against those who’ve chosen differently. In drawing back the curtain on what compels humans to “keep on keeping on,” Cave engages the reader in a number of mind-bending thought experiments. He teases out the implications of each immortality gambit, asking, for example, how long a person would live if they did manage to acquire a perfectly disease-free body. Or what would happen if a super-being tried to round up the atomic constituents of all who’ve died in order to resurrect them. Or what our loved ones would really be doing in heaven if it does exist. We’re confronted with a series of brain-rattling questions: What would happen if tomorrow humanity discovered that there is no life but this one? Would people continue to please their boss, vie for the title of Year’s Best Salesman? Would three-hundred-year projects still get started? If the four paths up the Mount of the Immortals lead nowhere—if there is no getting up to the summit—is there still reason to live? And can civilization survive? Immortality is a deeply satisfying book, as optimistic about the human condition as it is insightful about the true arc of history.
An engaging, character-driven look at man's search for immortality throughout history and its role in driving civilization, which argues that at the heart of every human endeavor, from science and medicine to religion and art, is a powerful desire to beat death.
In John Grisham’s book “The Rainmaker” he tells the story of a once moral attorney, and I paraphrase, who crosses the line into deception and that line soon disappears. This seemingly suggests that if you are introduced to an idea or concept long enough, it becomes normal. A norm that is now introduced as truth. The bigger picture is the serpent introduced an alternative view of the tree to Adam and Eve in the garden that has since become a norm. Sin is progressive. I heard this saying “Sin takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you wish to stay, and cost you far more than you are willing to pay.” The consequences of lifestyle changes and revised laws that we accept now, will become our children’s children code of conviction, because it will be the only thing they know. The reality is you can’t unlearn what you know, until you understand the truth about what you know. This concept is called Deconstruction. “Man Cave under Construction” –Stephen B. Wright
In this book, Stephen Cave and John Martin Fischer debate whether or not we should choose to live forever. This ancient question is as topical as ever: while billions of people believe they will live forever in an otherworldly realm, billions of dollars are currently being poured into anti-ageing research in the hope that we will be able to radically extend our lives on earth. But are we wise to wish for immortality? What would it mean for each of us as individuals, for society, and for the planet? In this lively and accessible debate, the authors introduce the main arguments for and against living forever, along with some new ones. They draw on examples from myth and literature as well as new thought experiments in order to bring the arguments to life. Cave contends that the aspiring immortalist is stuck on the horns of a series of dilemmas, such as boredom and meaninglessness, or overpopulation and social injustice. Fischer argues that there is a vision of radically longer lives that is both recognizably human and desirable. This book offers both students and experienced philosophers a provocative new guide to a topic of perennial importance. Key Features: Gives a comprehensive overview of the main arguments for and against living forever. Uses lively examples from myth, literature, and novel thought experiments. Highly accessible—avoiding jargon and assuming no prior knowledge—without sacrificing intellectual rigour. Includes helpful pedagogical features, including chapter summaries, an annotated reading list, a glossary, and clear examples.
Describes how cultural perceptions of nature and the resulting trends in tourism have shaped Oregon Caves and the area around it over the span of more than a century. 252 pages. maps. ill.
Black Mask, the greatest American detective magazine of all time is back with an all-new story by the creator of Doc Savage, Lester Dent. Also featuring classic hard-boiled detective stories by Horace McCoy, Wyatt Blassingame, Day Keene, Herbert Koehl, Kent Richards, Stephen McBarron, Dwight V. Babcock, Hugh B. Cave, and Edgar Franklin, all from the golden age of pulp fiction. With vintage brush illustrations by Arthur Rodman Bowker, as well as a previously-unpublished interview with the author of Donovan’s Brain, Curt Siodmak.
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The body of a doctor is found floating in a lake by a claims man and his two young sons. The investigator's company had written a large insurance policy on him a year before which stated that if he committed suicide within two years, the company could deny payment. The case was assigned to the young claims man to clear up the mystery and this took him on a long and complicated journey. He uncovered a witness who lived in a cave that overlooked the river where he went in. With the help of the hermit, he was able to solve the mystery.
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