Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magic - Peter J. Carroll 2000

Heresy XV Immortality

If we had Immortality,

We would desire Amnesia more.

As we consist entirely of our memories,

Immortality would have no point.

Paradox: Immortality for the human race would destroy the human race.

If you meet an immortalist, you know what to do; for your children, and for the sake of your children’s children.

Commentary 34

Those who seek physical or ’spiritual’ immortality have not thought the issue through.

Precisely what of themselves do they want to reincarnate, or to go to heaven, or to live forever?

As an eternally persistent memory would prove intolerable, we presume immortalists really desire some form of continuity of consciousness. However, continuity of consciousness arises only through a trick of memory. Herein lies the Paradox. After a few hundred years an immortalist would have either an intolerable burden of memories enough to dull any experience, or would have discarded or erased memories to the point where continuity of consciousness had become meaningless.

We have met those who aspired to immortalism in their middle years, yet curiously as they got older they seemed to turn against the idea. Maybe wisdom finally dawned.

Quality of life seems far more important than quantity.

Now that we seem to have overshot the human population carrying capacity of this planet we should bear that in mind.

Please reproduce responsibly, 95% of people result from accidents.