Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Immortality

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
All the Wonder that Would Be

Part of the book series: Science and Fiction ((SCIFICT))

Abstract

I’d guess the dream of immortality appears in all human cultures. The Greeks had their list of immortal gods, demons, and minor deities; mortals such as Sisyphus who dreamed of immortality were made to suffer. Early followers of Taoism believed in an elixir of life, and thought the ingestion of cinnabar or gold would lead to immortality; in an attempt to stave off death Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, ate so much cinnabar he died of mercury poisoning. In ancient Sumer, the immortal Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that longevity can be obtained by eating a special plant; Gilgamesh finds the plant but promptly loses it to a snake and so doesn’t find out whether it would have worked. In Hindu belief, eating a nectar called amrita confers immortality; in Norse mythology it’s the eating of golden applies; in Japanese mythology it’s the eating of a fish called ningyo. Christianity, of course, is replete with characters who gain immortality, including Sir Galahad (who touches the Holy Grail), the Wandering Jew (who taunted Jesus while he was en route to his crucifixion), and the Three Nephites (who were granted immortality so they could continue their ministry until the second coming of Christ).

Immortality isn’t living forever. That isn’t what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying.

Dr Who, “The Girl Who Died”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+
from €39.99 /Month
  • Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
  • Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
  • Cancel anytime
View plans

Buy Now

eBook
EUR 21.39
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
EUR 26.74
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

') var buybox = document.querySelector("[data-id=id_"+ timestamp +"]").parentNode var buyingOptions = buybox.querySelectorAll(".buying-option") ;[].slice.call(buyingOptions).forEach(initCollapsibles) var buyboxMaxSingleColumnWidth = 480 function initCollapsibles(subscription, index) { var toggle = subscription.querySelector(".buying-option-price") subscription.classList.remove("expanded") var form = subscription.querySelector(".buying-option-form") var priceInfo = subscription.querySelector(".price-info") var buyingOption = toggle.parentElement if (toggle && form && priceInfo) { toggle.setAttribute("role", "button") toggle.setAttribute("tabindex", "0") toggle.addEventListener("click", function (event) { var expandedBuyingOptions = buybox.querySelectorAll(".buying-option.expanded") var buyboxWidth = buybox.offsetWidth ;[].slice.call(expandedBuyingOptions).forEach(function(option) { if (buyboxWidth buyboxMaxSingleColumnWidth) { toggle.click() } else { if (index === 0) { toggle.click() } else { toggle.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false") form.hidden = "hidden" priceInfo.hidden = "hidden" } } }) } initialStateOpen() if (window.buyboxInitialised) return window.buyboxInitialised = true initKeyControls() })()

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

Non-fiction

  • Austad, S.N.: Why We Age. Wiley, New York (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettinger, R.C.W.: The Prospect of Immortality. Doubleday, New York (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotson, G., et al.: Individual finger control of a modular prosthetic limb using high-density electrocorticography in a human subject. J. Neural Eng. 13(2), 026017 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, R.A.L.: Against Transhumanism: The Delusion of Technological Transcendence. http://www.softmachines.org (2016)

  • Kahneman, D.: Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasthuri, N., et al.: Saturated Reconstruction of a Volume of Neocortex. Cell. 162, 648–661 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkwood, T.B.L.: Time of Our Lives: The Science of Human Ageing. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkwood, T.B.L., Austad, S.N.: Why do we age? Nature. 408, 233–238 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurzweil, R.: The Singularity Is Near. Penguin, London (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moen, O.M.: The case for cryonics. J. Med. Ethics. 41, 677–681 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pohl, F.: Immortality Through Freezing. Worlds of Tomorrow (August 1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroustrup, N., et al.: The temporal scaling of Caenorhabditis elegans ageing. Nature. 530, 103–107 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Fiction

  • Adams, D.: Life, the Universe and Everything. Pan, London (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, P.: World Without Stars. Ace, New York (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • Asimov, I.: The Last Question. Science Fiction Quarterly (November 1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Asimov, I.: Segregationist. Collected in: Nightfall and Other Stories (1969). Doubleday, New York (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  • Asimov, I.: The bicentennial man. In: Stellar-2. Ballantine, New York (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Benford, G.: Doing Lennon. Analog (April 1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Blish, J.: They Shall Have Stars. Faber and Faber, London (1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Blish, J.: The Seedling Stars. Gnome, New York (1957)

    Google Scholar 

  • Borges, J.L.: The immortal. In: El Aleph. Losada, Buenos Aires (1949)

    Google Scholar 

  • Caidin, M.: Cyborg. Arbor, Westminster, MA (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, A.C.: The City and the Stars. Frederick Muller, London (1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, P.J.: To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Putnam’s, New York (1971a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, P.J.: The Fabulous Riverboat. Putnam’s, New York (1971b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, W.: Neuromancer. Ace, New York (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunn, J.E.: The Immortals. Bantam, New York (1962)

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinlein, R.A.: Beyond This Horizon. Fantasy Press, New York (1948)

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinlein, R.A.: Methuselah’s Children. Gnome, New York (1958)

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinlein, R.A.: Time Enough for Love. Putnam’s, New York (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, F.: Dune. Chilcot, New York (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, N.R.: The Jameson satellite. Amazing (July 1931)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuttner, H.: Fury. Grosset and Dunlap, New York (1950)

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, G.R.R.: A Song for Lya. Analog (June 1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • McCaffrey, A.: The Ship Who Sang. Fantasy & Science Fiction (April 1961)

    Google Scholar 

  • McCaffrey, A.: Crystal Singer. Severn House, London (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller Jr., W.M.: A Canticle for Liebowitz. Lippincott, Philadelphia (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, C.L.: No Woman Born. Astounding (December 1944)

    Google Scholar 

  • Niven, L.: Becalmed in Hell. Fantasy & Science Fiction (July 1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • Niven, L.: Wait it out. In: All the Myriad Ways (1971). Ballantine, New York (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Niven, L.: The defenceless dead. In: Elwood, R. (ed.) Ten Tomorows. Fawcett, Greenwich, CT (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Padgett, L.: Camouflage. Astounding (September 1945)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pohl, F.: The Age of the Pussyfoot. Ballantine, New York (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pohl, F.: Shaffery Among the Immortals. Fantasy & Science Fiction (July 1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pohl, F.: Man Plus. Random House, New York (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pohl, F.: Heechee Rendezvous. Ballantine, New York (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rucker, R.: Software. Ace, New York (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverberg, R.: To Live Again. Doubleday, New York (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Simak, C.D.: Desertion. Astounding (November 1944)

    Google Scholar 

  • Simak, C.D.: Why Call Them Back From Heaven? Doubleday, New York (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  • Spinrad, N.: Bug Jack Barron. Walker, New York (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stapledon, O.: Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future. Methuen, London (1930)

    Google Scholar 

  • Swift, J.: Gulliver’s Travels. Motte, London (1726)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance, J.: To Live Forever. Ballantine, New York (1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Varley, J.: The Ophiuchi Hotline. Ace, New York (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, F.P.: Healer. Doubleday, New York (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zelazny, R.: This Immortal. Ace, New York (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zelazny, R.: Lord of Light. Doubleday, New York (1967)

    Google Scholar 

Visual Media

  • Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: [TV series]. UK, Century 21 Television (1967–1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dr Who: The Girl Who Died. [TV Episode]. UK, BBC (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  • The Bionic Woman: [TV Series]. USA, ABC (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • The Six Million Dollar Man: [TV Series]. USA, ABC (1973)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DCQE, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK

    Stephen Webb

Authors
  1. Stephen Webb
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Webb, S. (2017). Immortality. In: All the Wonder that Would Be. Science and Fiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51759-9_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics