Just Finished Reading: Immortality – The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilisation by Stephen Cave (FP: 2012) [307pp] 

Here the author makes a rather sweeping proposition – that THE drive to civilisation since its very beginnings has been the unending search for ways to live forever. That’s quite the idea, so I was intrigued to see if he could pull it off.  

Essentially, he split the idea of immortality into four separate threads which each giving rise to different expansions of technology, ideas or beliefs each of which helped shape the world we inhabit. The first, logically, is actual physical immortality with the body and mind you were born with – mostly. This is the process where health is the primary outcome depending on medicine, vaccinations, food security and so on. Clearly such things might enhance longevity somewhat but not enough to live beyond our normal span. This means going further with progressively intrusive medical procedures, technological enhancements etc.. Going further still we have ideas such as transferring the human brain into indestructible robot bodies or ‘uploading’ minds into machines. Each step extends life a little, or a lot, further into the future. 

Then we have bodily reincarnation after death with the hope (dream?) of being brought back by future technical means or within a spiritual belief system. The next link in the chain encompasses various beliefs in ‘souls’ that are the essential you which, after bodily death, migrate into another reality or in some way re-engage with the material world for another round of life. Finally, we have the idea of living in the memories and culture of future generations as an historical figure through stories, icons and monuments left behind. 

Although the author does make some case for his thesis I don’t think he quite brings it off. I’d certainly go so far as saying that the idea of living forever – by whatever means – could be seen as ‘A’ driver behind various scientific endeavours and religious or philosophical belief systems I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say it is ‘THE’ driver. On top of that I had a problem throughout by how the author defined immortality itself – taking it to the extreme with it meaning essentially outliving the Universe itself trillions of years hence with its predicted heat death. Personally, if someone could live for 10 THOUSAND years never mind 10 TRILLION years, I’d say that they’re as good as immortal at that point. 

But is immortality – ignoring the religious side of things – even possible? I think it's possible (or at least conceivable) that science can extend life a great deal. Even with present technology an average life expectancy of 100 years is achievable. Even something like 125-150 healthy years is probably not beyond us. Going much further will probably demand some radical breakthroughs beyond cloned organs and so on. With complete cloned bodies (or their replacing by – for want of a better term – androids) and an ‘uploaded’ consciousness we should be able to live a great deal longer. The only question would be – is that REALLY you? Is a copy of you – which is what we’re talking about here – really YOU isn’t just a philosophical question. It may look like you and might even feel like you from the inside but it's still a simulacrum. Somehow, I’m not sure if we can even get that far even in the reasonably far future – but who knows? This was an interesting dive into some rather fringe ideas (hopes?) with a scattering of religious belief and philosophy throughout. Reasonable. 

 Just because I can...... 

Not since the last time I went out (which was this morning to pick up some milk) but certainly since Covid. I don't carry cash any more - indeed I hardly use it except to pay my window cleaner. I have a card... what more do I need? Everyone accepts it. Its quick, easy and there's no chunks of metal rattling around in your pockets. Sorted.

Happy Birthday: Mary Debra Winger (born May 16, 1955) is an American actress. She starred in the films An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Terms of Endearment (1983), and Shadowlands (1993), each of which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Winger won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for Terms of Endearment, and the Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress for A Dangerous Woman (1993).

Winger's other films include Urban Cowboy (1980), Legal Eagles (1986), Black Widow (1987), Betrayed (1988), The Sheltering Sky (1990), Forget Paris (1995), and Rachel Getting Married (2008). In 2012, she made her Broadway debut in the original production of David Mamet's play The Anarchist. Winger starred in the Netflix original television series The Ranch from 2016 to 2020. She received a lifetime achievement award at the Transilvania International Film Festival in 2014.

[I LOVED her in Legal Eagles which was one of my fave 80's movies. Such a delight on screen...]

Just Finished Reading: Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine – Invasion Amidst the Ashes of Empires by Samir Puri (FP: 2022) [265pp] 

Whenever something significant or important happens in the world my first thought is always to look for books on the subject so I can understand it. The war in Ukraine is certainly no exception to this, and I’ve been accumulating a small(ish) stack of books since the conflict started. I had hoped to be reading them AFTER the fighting had stopped but FOUR YEARS later here we are. 

So, finally I’ve bitten the bullet (so to speak) and dived into the Ukraine War pile. This seemed to be a good place to start as it covered the recent history of how we got here – from the collapse of the Soviet Union, the declaration of independence, the various either pro or anti-Russian governments, the revolution, fighting in the Donbass, the Crimean takeover, discussions of Ukraine joining either the EU, NATO or both and, naturally, the subsequent invasion by Russia in February 2022. As this book was published not long after the invasion itself this receives little coverage in the text apart from the brief fighting and failed attempt to decapitate the Zelenskyy government in the ‘special military operation’ scheduled to last a few weeks at worst. If we needed a recent concrete example of a plan failing on contact with the enemy, we need look no further. 

Interestingly the author was ‘on the ground’ in the years running up to the 2022 invasion as an election observer. This certainly gave things an added spice to things. Although he wasn’t exactly ‘in the room’ for a lot of things he often found himself ‘on the street’ talking to locals and experiencing the tensions and the triumphs of the political process as Ukraine moved from a pro-Russian to pro-EU/NATO stance over a decade or so. Despite being clearly (and unapologetically) pro-Ukraine, he had some criticism for the EU, NATO, the US and Ukraine itself in how the situation prior to the invasion was handled. Specifically, the way the Russian demands (and fears) were effectively ignored and as NATO continued its expansion Eastwards. However, as this is an important point, he did not agree that Russia should have had any kind of veto in the matter of where Ukraine decides to place its political or economic interests. That is, and always has been, Ukraine’s decision to make as a sovereign nation. 

If you haven’t been fully keeping up with world events or wanted to know more about the recent foundations of the Russo-Ukrainian War this is definitely the book for you. It doesn’t go into too much detail, nor does it dwell too much on the actual fighting (for those not interesting in military affairs). It does give a very solid foundation to help understand HOW the war happened. Much more to come on the deeper history of Ukraine and on the last four years of fighting. 

[Oh, my 'intention' is to swing between books on Ukraine, Iran, Cuba and Taiwan in the coming months. If any other 'trouble spots' - Greenland? - come up I'll add those too...] 

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