Thus far, most human effort to overcome aging and death, has had to do with raising kids who we trust to carry our values forward, and building institutions to do the same on a scale that kids cannot.
For those who’d like to give up on the idea of having a government, or even a society, I can see a certain appeal to the idea of personal immortality, and not having to bother with the kludgey community versions.
Thing is, even if the personal version made it out of beta, it’s not as if all those legacy institutions would suddenly crumble. Radio didn’t make live performance vanish, TV didn’t erase radio, and the internet hasn’t wiped out TV.
So it seems likely that a robust personal immortality isn’t going to make these pesky churches, governments or corporations go away either.
The interactions between immortal individuals and immortal institutions is something I enjoy reading fiction about, with Methusulas children and stories of the Talamaska high in my list… Just not so sure that’s a fantasy I’d enjoy actually living.
