In this blog post, we take an in-depth look at whether humanity can truly achieve happiness if science and technology make eternal life possible.
Thanks to the advancement of science and technology, humanity has enjoyed many benefits. If we were to take this further and achieve immortality through science and technology, would humanity become happier? If someone were to ask me, “If you could live forever without dying, would you be happy?” my answer would be “No.” I am a being that must inevitably die. In the era I live in, no matter how much science and technology advance, I cannot escape death. At best, I could be stored in a freezer and frozen, or I might live twice as long as others. But would I be happy if I could live forever? I don’t think so. This is because I believe that most of the joys of life come from its finiteness. If I never died and my existence was infinite, would I truly appreciate this moment? The trials I am currently experiencing cause me pain, but they also help me grow. I feel truly alive when I feel pain, rather than when I see visible growth.
When running long distances, the first 1-2 km are the hardest. I am out of breath and my legs feel heavy. However, once I get past this point, everything becomes light and carefree. And when the sweat starts pouring down like rain, that’s the most enjoyable moment. It’s not because my cardiovascular endurance or stamina has improved. Similarly, I prefer a life filled with challenges. Just like running uphill, challenging moments are painful, but they give me a sense of meaning and satisfaction. This satisfaction doesn’t come from whether I finished or not, but from the fact that I challenged myself. And ultimately, what motivates me to take that first step is the finiteness of life. Because life is not infinite, I must always make choices, and in the process of carrying out those choices, I encounter challenges. Therefore, if my life were not finite, I would not even try to run in the first place, which would lead to a loss of purpose and laziness. Above all, I would be able to achieve temporary satisfaction by feeling almost no anxiety, but it would be difficult to achieve absolute satisfaction. This is because I believe that all happiness comes from anxiety. And this anxiety is gradually disappearing with the advancement of science and technology.
If we divide happiness into two categories, we can consider biological reactions, commonly referred to as pleasure, and the true value of life, which is more abstract. As Yuval Noah Harari has already mentioned in Sapiens, there are many research results on direct reactions from biological responses. So I would like to look into more abstract happiness. We need to consider the conditions for happiness in today’s modern society. The first is money, or material wealth. In fact, this is the most important factor in the society we live in. It is usually associated with one’s occupation, and nowadays, material wealth often determines one’s social class. A certain level of material conditions is necessary. If one has nothing to eat or nowhere to sleep, although it is unlikely to starve to death in today’s society, one would be physically exhausted every day, making it difficult to achieve mental satisfaction. Therefore, one must adapt to the times and society to live without worrying about basic necessities like food and shelter. Once these minimum conditions are met, material conditions become less important. In fact, being in a vague material position can lead to even greater dilemmas. One example is the theory of social class based on the wealth of one’s parents, which has become a hot topic recently. A typical example is the comparison between ordinary office workers and building owners, which is one of the easiest ways to make oneself unhappy.
Next are things such as honor, popularity, and social status. This is especially true when comparing oneself to others. There are people who receive the attention of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people. However, my personal standard is that being recognized by one person I desire is far more satisfying than being recognized by billions of people I do not know. This is just my personal opinion, but if someone truly desires attention, then a life where they receive attention from many people will bring them satisfaction.
Religious happiness will also play a significant role in life. However, it is important to distinguish between religious happiness and the aesthetics of non-action. We must distinguish whether the satisfaction gained through religious activities is an act that leads to a higher level of thought, or simply a way of pushing oneself to avoid doing bad things. Therefore, to truly find happiness in religion, one must fight against anxiety with all one’s reason. If one simply belongs to a religious community and lives according to its customs, one will suffer even more when death comes in old age.
I believe that the most important thing for happiness is the will and action to find one’s own existence. I believe that everything begins with the will to think and the actions that follow. Beyond relying on God, seeking recognition from others, or enjoying physical pleasures, it is only when I act to find my own existence that I truly exist. No matter how advanced science and technology become, if we focus only on emotional pleasure, it will not fill the unique emptiness that humans feel. This is because science and technology cannot provide decisive help in finding the meaning of existence. Therefore, rather than losing our way surrounded by the latest science and technology of our time, we must first stop everything and redefine ourselves. We must think about why we exist. Therefore, leaving religion and science and technology behind, we must think deeply, enjoy solitude, and face our anxieties in order to be happy. Since that anxiety ultimately stems from death, we must always think about death. If we cannot think about death and are merely immersed in the social customs that appear before our eyes, our lives will be worth less than a grain of sand. Therefore, in order to avoid this, we must pursue meaningful work that makes us question the meaning of our own existence. However, the era of becoming a sage by hiding away in the mountains is over. Even if science and technology cannot find the meaning of life, they can be helpful companions, albeit less familiar than religion. Therefore, rather than rejecting science and technology outright, we must enjoy the benefits of science and technology to a reasonable extent while pursuing this process. Thus, we must find our true meaning in a life that is not out of step with this era. To do so, we must always deeply ponder the common problems that transcend the eras in which our ancestors and sages have reflected. And since the most difficult of these problems is the thought of death, we must always think about death. What leads us to such thoughts is our own will and practice, which are not swayed by the visible conditions around us. Ultimately, in order to answer the question, “Was I distinct as an individual during the process of death?”, we must not be swayed by others, religion, society, or scientific developments. We must think as individuals with strong willpower and put those thoughts into practice throughout our lives.
In the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, soldiers’ weapons were inferior to those of today. During battle, both armies would march in formation to the beat of a military band until they reached a certain distance, then face each other in a line and fire their guns alternately. In contrast, today’s soldiers, thanks to advances in science and technology, are killed by bullets fired by snipers they cannot even see. While the soldiers of Napoleon’s era may have faced greater fear in such situations, they at least had the opportunity to prepare for death. Therefore, it is difficult to say that today’s soldiers, who die suddenly in war, are in a better situation. Similarly, it is difficult to say that human satisfaction has increased in proportion to the advancement of science and technology. Even if humanity achieves immortality through science and technology, as has always been the case, there will inevitably be a backlash, and the majority will not be happy. If we lose the value of finitude by achieving immortality, the tower of reason that humanity has built up so far will collapse. If that happens, it is difficult to be certain that we will find a different value of happiness in a new life of infinity. Therefore, even if humanity achieves immortality through science and technology, it will not necessarily be happy. To be happy, we must seek the meaning of existence on our own.
