Death is a Bore: BBC Radio 4 Analysis with Professor Michael Hauskeller
Michael Hauskeller featured prominently in 'Death is a Bore', the latest episode of the long-standing BBC 4 Radio series Analysis.
Chloe Hadjimatheou asked Michael and other prominent thinkers whether it is really possible to live forever and whether it is actually desirable.
Clearly, most people would rather not die if they had a choice. Death has always scared us and we used to envy the gods for their immortality, never daring to hope that we would ever be able to achieve it for ourselves, at least not in this life. But things are different now. Technological progress keeps accelerating, and we may soon be able to halt the ageing process, so that we no longer have to die.
Some believe that our lives will be much better then. Michael, however, is not so sure: death may be bad, but that doesn’t mean that immortality or even a much extended life span is good. And even if it were good for us personally, it may still prove a tragedy for humanity.
In this episode of Analysis you can hear Michael voice his concerns and suggest an alternative way of looking at life and death.