Immortal Persona

pstrong pbLife Exstension will lead tobr / Immortality someday soon./b/p pbDo We Have an IMMORTAL PERSONAbr / TO COPE WITH IT?/b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pMany of us as young boys and girls either, heard on radio, read comic books, saw movies, tv shows, on the concepts of immortality. /p pIn all kinds of tales from Greece, holy texts of many religions to the Summarian Epic of Gilgamesh, a legendary demi-God King searching the world for immortality./p p The end is wrenching for the mighty hero as he loses Enkidu, a true friend br /equal to him in strengh, courage, daring and fighting prowess. /p pGilgamesh, finds Utnapishtim, an Immortal and living witness to the great flood. /p pUtnapishtim is living proor that Immortality is possible - that if br /one mortal can achieve it others can./p pHe tells Gilgamesh where to find the fruit from the tree of life. /ppThe Demi God King found then loses immortality and must contend with aging and death as ordinary mortals do./p pA modern story teller Harold Robbins B.1912-D.1997br / in what for us humans call a long span he (Robbins)br / wrote about the foibles of the rich, hollywood’s seemy side, struggling men and women escaping poverty anyway they can./p p In his 1984 bestsellerbr / b‘DESCENT FROM XANADU'.br / /bbr / A son of a rich man using his vast inherited and br /br / self-made wealth for life exstenion. /p pBecause of a deep psychological pain he experienced in youth he usesbr / state of the br /art science and technology to keep him young, creates a cloned infant, and in a fight forbr / his life, lover’s, and child learns thatbr / just as it's possible for him tobr / live longer than humankind ever dared dreamed he discovers br /br / true, soul searing, shaking, shattering, life affirming love br /walking away br /br / trading in a longer life span for mortal love and family./p pI read the book twice and felt cheated that this powerfull individualbr / with all the applied science at his disposal gave up potential br / eternity for a cloned infant and love a good woman when he and the love his life could both live longer lives./p pI guess when his psychological block was broken he has br /no reason to feel or use power by 'youthening himself,/p pAll this is to say that I have though about the meaning of life in lots of ways sometimes, fatalist, futile, br /or desperate andbr / bord, or excited that I’m still alive./p pI’ve wondered at our capacity to go through lifes processes knowing that in the end we’ll die young, old, or middle age frombr / accidents, illness, war, or any number life snuffing possibility. /p pWe have learned to deal with death by not seeing it as it looms near./p pBut this time of applied science, blending ofbr / technologies extending our lives gets easier and it does one had to thing of how to use the extra time./p pWe know of suicidal personalities, depressed indivduals, and adrenaline junkies who want to live by doing death defying stunts, feats,br / of weirdness like eating glass, jumping off or across 10 to 20 story buildings with parashute or glider either standard or a specially madebr / “flying squirrel” suits./p pIs there a “IMMORTAL PERSONALITY” I mean minds that see in decades not years? There will be a time not to far off br / when an extended life span will become normal./p p How do people use extra time living by months and years change tobr /thinking, seeing by decades or maybe centuries?/p pI do not think it takes special mental facilities some of us do it now but have to bebr / carefull to stay in the present.br / It will be a gradual mindset. /p pAn immortal or pre-immortal mindset will be like anyone elses they need, want, longer lives not because they have so little time to br /do things its just the principle of getting use to breathing and being alive as long as possible just because they want to. /p pAll of us mortals know that death is our due but a few of us refuse to stick with the norm./p p Be we fat, thin, old, young, smart, slow, creative, or dim bulb it dosen’tbr / matter if we want to live 2-3-15,or 50 decades longer some will do whatever legal, illegal, or quazi legalbr / to get thosebr / extra years on great health./p p They are not daredevils, megalomaniacs, psycotic, or sociopaths,br / br / there part of the mix too./p p The basic Immortality profile might be in all of us but as for the natural death br /folks needing to feel that everyone will die sooner or later an immortal or life exstended br /individual will resist the death process seeing a litteral dead end./p p When the time comes for how one wants to live there will be opposition to stepping into this unknown and at first the long livers will be br /snickered at, made fun of, or even killed as freak chosing long life or short death./p pBut the cosmic joke is those chosing long life will multiply while the death-moded br /dies off as their memes (ideas) fade. /p pSimple evolution the meek may inherit the earth because they want to live apon it using all their knowledge to improve their lot./p pSelfish Altruism enables more people to live longer, lead healthier br /lives so death-wardly moble people cannot overrun the world with only their small worms-eye-view./p pThis could be a long socialogical study on the effects of an emerging life lengtheningbr / culture emerging from a death centered one. /p pIt’s all so vague and sketchy now but it is what is coming a battle of idealogical change andbr / frightened, angry status quo. /p pAs for me if death is a blessing andbr / unending life a curse give me a long, healthy, life br /of complexity and let the blessed stay undisturbed slumbering underground or ashes blowing where theybr / wish to be spread. /p pHow about you?/p pAnd on a weird notebr / The process of embryo creation forbr / infertile couples or lesbian woman wantingbr / children is/was a problem with solutions conservatives don't want to see. /p pthink about it. untold trillions of these embrotic cells were destroyed in clinics all over the country in Fertility Centers by dropping them in medical waste bins, set aside to die naturally, or if frozenbr / are taken out to thaw for 3 or 4 days to die./p pPro and Con, for and against life groups didn't know about these cells dying and now both groups are out to either usedbr / them to help people living or let die because these Stem Cells represent potential lives. /p pDoctor's say "Its unrealistic to expect technology to improve, preserve the lives of early-stage embryos. /p pHuman reproduction is a very ineficent process." Dr.br / Marcelle Cedars, at the UCSF clinic. /p pShades of Mr. Spock, Tuvok,7-of-9, and Q./p pHuman sex ineficent yes, but not expecting technology to improve over time isbr / an illogical br /assumption andbr / short sighted but does notbr / br /take into account todays rapid technical change. /p pIf people don't see ideological mindquakes ahead will then agree with the good doctorbr / at your peril. Some of the above information from by S.F. Chronicle Mon. Aug. 20, 2001 /p pPS. I've only scratched the surface of Life Extention-Immortality bof the ordinary average John Q-shmoo. /b/p pDon't throw junk genes away, we've got spares for a reason folks. bThink On That!/b/p pPlease send donations to Poor Magazinebr /br / C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street,br /br / San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p p For Joe only my snail mail:br / PO Box 1230 #645br / Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email: a href="mailto:askjoe@poormagazine.org"askjoe@poormagazine.org/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p