Trope-a-Day: We Are As Mayflies

We Are As Mayflies: What, humans?

YOUR LIVES ARE MEASURED IN YEARS AND DECADES. YOU WITHER AND DIE.  WE ARE ETERNAL, THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION AND EXISTENCE. BEFORE US, YOU ARE NOTHING.

…well, okay, awesome Sovereign quotations aside, they’re rarely that arrogant. (Unless irritable, and let’s face it, we are kind of an irritating species.) Maybe try:

“Could you at least try not dropping dead all the time just when you get interesting? It really is most inconsiderate!”

…yeah, that might be closer. Anyway, it’s an annoying habit, and we should go consult our nearest space pharmacy and fix it, already. I mean – quoth they – seriously, humanity, your species suffers from a pandemic genetic disease with morbidity and mortality both of 100%, and you aren’t even trying to cure it! Are you all stupid?

(Obviously averted for the eldrae, galari, etc., in-setting, who get to watch everyone else being As Mayflies.)

 

3 thoughts on “Trope-a-Day: We Are As Mayflies

  1. Many of us are trying to cure it. It’s just we are fairly terrible at that. SOME of us weren’t genetically engineered by precursor civilizations. /sarcasm

    • Afraid I have to disagree with you quite strongly there.

      We try and cure certain diseases commonly associated with aging (cancer, specific forms of senility, etc.), sure. But with the exception of Aubrey de Grey, a few cryonics enthusiasts, and assorted other selections from the transhumanist radical fringe, very few people – and no-one from anything close to the medical mainstream – identify aging itself as a problem to be addressed. At best, they see it as something to be ameliorated. The mainstream position is within delta of “Death (of old age) is natural, and therefore, y’know, right”, enough so to get people making loud and public arguments against any suggestion otherwise.

      (In the US, at least, there are even legal barriers regarding making the attempt. The FDA is very clear in its position that it only approves pharmaceuticals and medical devices for medical purposes and will not approve “enhancements”. A functional anagathic, of course, is an “enhancement”.)

      So even speaking purely as my human self and without any fictional context, I believe there’s enough and more than enough material to justify a hearty “all you of Earth are idiots!”

  2. There is way too much “Immortality is bad” propaganda in media today.

    The only “good” reason they can come up with is always “outliving your loved ones”, which wouldn’t be a problem with technological immortality now would it?

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