So...I've been thinkin,
If everyone died at the same time as their friends, or everyone somehow knew that they were going to die at the same time, would death seem so scary? Like, now, as we conceptualize it, when you die it is a solitary thing. You are the only one dying. Say science advanced a shitload and people started living until they were 200 years old. Maybe there would have to be set limits to how long people could live, and so everyone who was born in a certain year would die at more or less the same time. So like, instead of just dying randomly, you would die along with all of the people you went to school with, or all of you friends or whatever. If the time was a bit more open, say a few month window, you could coordinate. "Should we die in March?" "Oh, not good for you? How about May?" I bet dying together would change the entire way we look at death- especially if we had control over it. Control and/or togetherness would remove so much of the anxiety surrounding death. Lack of control is one of the main factors leading to anxiety surrounding anything, and the idea of going through something bad is always easier to deal with when you aren't doing it alone. Soritual suicide at 85? Anyone?
If everyone died at the same time as their friends, or everyone somehow knew that they were going to die at the same time, would death seem so scary? Like, now, as we conceptualize it, when you die it is a solitary thing. You are the only one dying. Say science advanced a shitload and people started living until they were 200 years old. Maybe there would have to be set limits to how long people could live, and so everyone who was born in a certain year would die at more or less the same time. So like, instead of just dying randomly, you would die along with all of the people you went to school with, or all of you friends or whatever. If the time was a bit more open, say a few month window, you could coordinate. "Should we die in March?" "Oh, not good for you? How about May?" I bet dying together would change the entire way we look at death- especially if we had control over it. Control and/or togetherness would remove so much of the anxiety surrounding death. Lack of control is one of the main factors leading to anxiety surrounding anything, and the idea of going through something bad is always easier to deal with when you aren't doing it alone. Soritual suicide at 85? Anyone?
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
But if you knew when you were going to die, along with everyone else? I can't imagine the rituals and hysteria that would develop around death. Thousands of people channeling their spirits in unison in cultish togetherness. Christian death camps, Muslim death camps, camps of friends. And the anarchy in anticipation - everyone doing what they would have all their lives if laws, physical and societal, didn't exist. Also, you could say proper goodbyes, have proper reflection and closure.
It would be a mini-apocalypse occurring for every generation.
(...I know you meant more small-scale, like our New York experience, so I'm sure this was somewhat of a tangent. anyway.)