Why Immortality Is A Curse

Immortality is something that shouldn’t be seen as a superpower or a blessing to society. There are many superpowers that can be chosen over immortality and yet people overlook this. There are a variety of things that come into play when immortality is brought to humans. Overpopulation, depression, and Earth’s demise is only a fraction of what can happen if we accept immortality.
Firstly, overpopulation, a huge crisis in some parts of the world, can lead to food shortages, unpleasant appearances, and limited space. If everyone is immortal, demand for food will go up, lowering supplies and specialization. Also, people will have warts, wrinkles, and other facial irritations that can be due to crowding as a lack of hygiene. In addition, the physical body of an immortal person may stay alive forever, but the mind dwindles in capacity over time. Research says, “the brain can only last around 115-120 years if it reaches a state of immortality” (“Theoretically, How Long Could a Brain ‘Last’ If the Body It Was in Was Biologically Immortal?”). Without a functional brain, the human body can’t do what it is supposed to, leading to a variety of issues. Lastly, space limitation is going to be a dilating problem with the rapid growth of the population as more homes will be built leaving less space for farms that provide our produce that we know and love.
    Next, people who are immortal will encounter mental suffering or depression. Scientifically, the body is supposed to live a certain amount of years and if it exceeds this limit, people will go crazy and out of control. For example, if someone took a potion of immortality, they would live forever without the thought of death ever coming up. According to a research project, “at most 6 months of 'brain time' in stasis to inflict permanent damage that will result in a mental illness with psychotic symptoms” (“Mental Brain Damage Length”). Some may say, the immortal being can travel to desired locations with their unlimited time on Earth. This simply isn’t true because there are only so many places on Earth a person can travel to if their time, money, and health provides. Even if they travel to all the places anyone can go on Earth, they are immortal so they are stuck in a world of suffering.
    Lastly, eternal life is possible with this potion but this does not make the Earth immortal as well. NASA says that in about “7.59 billion years, the Earth will no longer be able to support life.” This is due to the sun being a star, which can become a white dwarf. Assuming this potion is irreversible, in 7.59 billion years, you will be floating in a pool of nothingness. Not only will this be terrifying, you will just see blackness. For example, the White Torture experiment, where a person is trapped in a white room without noise or social contact, gets anxiety, fear and forgets how to communicate with others. The Earth can only last so long, and immortality will push the Earth’s capacity to its limit.
    Some may say, the thought of death is something everyone thinks about, but with immortality, this fear vanishes. However, facing fears is something everyone needs to do and admitting death will come some way or the other, is one of them. Also, in the White Torture experiment, people argue that the test subject won’t be in the room forever, and it won’t affect their mental health over time. However, this simply isn’t correct, because one many test people were interviewed 5 years later and said that their mental health is “traumatized from that time they were stuck in a room of anguish.”
    Ultimately, if a potion granting immortality was available to humankind, it would be a curse because of a myriad of reasons — food shortages, overpopulation, lack of resources, and depression is just scratching the surface of what is to occur. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste, and experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for a newer and richer experience.”