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For Writers: Death in the Future

death

Every society has its ways of dealing with death. Some enforce long mourning periods in ritual dress. Some cover mirrors. Some hold celebrations of life. And of course there are countless individual variations as well.

I once read a great book by a terrible author whose name I won’t share here, where telling the whole truth about a person, both the good and the bad, had become a tradition. It fascinated me – this idea that we do a disservice to people by only saying the good things about them after they have passed.

On the practical side, cemeteries take up a lot of land that could be used for other purposes, and cremation has steadily been gaining ground over the burying of our dead, and is generally less expensive. On the other hand, an actual grave site gives families a place to go to honor their dead.

We’re also working to push back old age. We already live a fair amount longer than people 100 or 200 years ago, and generally in better health. We may one day be able to turn off the process that creates aging altogether – the planned obsolescence inside each one of us.

So my questions for you today: How we will deal with death in the future – ritually and practically? And will we eventually eliminate it altogether, with what consequences?

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2 thoughts on “For Writers: Death in the Future”

  1. Interesting topic – I stumbled upon this site when looking for examples of rituals in sci-fi.

    Regarding how I feel we’ll deal with death in the future, I reckon we’ll get to a point of understanding. I don’t think we’ll ever stop death, for the consequences of that will be severe (overpopulation immediately springs to mind). Instead, I reckon we’ll have a greater understanding of the state when the mind stops: and how we can capture the “essence” of someone.

    Using robotics as an example, if you’re keen to see someone doesn’t fully “die out”, perhaps the future will bring about an understanding of the “soul”, the “essence” of what makes someone who they are. They could build this into a robot. Perhaps Futurama with the talking heads isn’t quite so far fetched, y’know? :)

    Great article – Will be returning to this site :D

    Reply

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