An inspirational vision of the future by a well-adjusted human being.
Getting old is majorly depressing. You peak in your twenties and then everything starts to go. Your looks, your health and your social life. Well, at least that is what I think will happen. I actually have no idea, I am in my twenties right now. According to my mother though, I peaked when I was two years old. So apparently you also get really bitter when you get older. Maybe there is a way to age gracefully and healthily, let’s find out.
Well, you ask, why don’t we just stop the whole aging process and stay forever 21? You are not the first person to think of this, you might have noticed this ‘original’ idea appearing in EVERY MAJOR ORGANISED RELIGION EVER. However, any real research into the science of aging has stayed out until the last 60-ish years. But, have you noticed the nice building next to the faculty? This is the ERIBA building where they are currently doing research on aging. A few years back (does that make me sound old?) I followed a science elective organised by them about immortality research. I was thoroughly disappointed to find out that all we have discovered thus far is how and why we age (probably,) but no actual way of stopping it. There is currently not even a way to make worms immortal. Such a bummer.
Maybe we cannot stop the slow march of Death that comes for us all, but maybe we can do something to at least make the ride more fun. Imagine a world where you can do anything you want, I mean literally anything. Like walking around your house naked without your cat judging you or that when someone is not interested in you they actually say they are not interested anymore instead of ghosting you. These oddly specific examples could soon be a reality. Well, a virtual reality. Yes, I am proposing a Wall-E type of society where all humans live in a virtual world with endless possibilities while being fed through a tube on an electric wheelchair. Of course, only me and like twelve other people who cope with the stress of our studies through emotionally unhealthy escapism are actually excited about this. Luckily I already made the first financially ill-considered financial step towards this exciting possibility by spending 1200 euros on a VR headset in 2016. It is awesome, but it certainly did not justify that kind of money…
Or we can continue what we are currently doing, since the previously discussed options are too far in the future and some might even say, childishly idealistic. We can just continue living our lives by always living in the moment and making the best of what is happening in our lives. To accomplish this marvelous feat of gaining a healthy and well-adjusted mindset is actually really simple. You only need to stop caring about every person on Earth and their opinion of you and the crushing psychological weight of existence. (Yes, this is from a meme. Sue me.)
I personally think the Matrix-like reality (is this already a dated reference?) sounds the most appealing, especially if we can do the karate-stuff too... Anyways, the best options are still limited to uninspiring TEDx talks and poorly-researched blog posts, while practical research and technology will still have us waiting for decades or centuries to come. However, in this conclusion I introduce you to the real solution which we could implement now. Namely, everybody over the age of 29 should be put into ‘long-term storage,’ so they never have to accept the slow descent of biological decay.