If resurrection were possible, should we do it?

[The Reverend]

Imagine scientists discovered how to resurrect the dead. Doesn’t matter how, for the sake of this discussion let’s say they found a way to bring someone to life in the flesh. Fully functioning and healthy again. Doesn’t matter how long they have been dead for. 10 minutes or 10,000 years. They’re back in the world of the living.

The question is; would this be a good thing?

There are so many implications of this that I don’t really know where to begin.

Imagine somebody from the 10th century bought back to life in 2023. It would be a completely alien world to them. But maybe after a while they would get used it?

What if we resurrected every monarch from British history. Would Edward the Confessor have equal claim to the throne as our current King?

There are also many scenarios where the resulting family dynamic would be nothing short of grotesque. Parents resurrected who are younger than their own children if the offspring lived longer natural lives.

And what about if there is a heaven. Would we be yanking people back to earth to suffer? Or would resurrection prove that there is no afterlife if none of the resurrected had any recollection of an existence during the years they were dead.

Maybe we are best leaving the dead where they lie. What do others think?

[Long slender neck]

No, evil dictators would just use it to prolong their rule.

[Proposition Joe]

Do you bring the person back to life from the point they left it or some 'optimal' state during their life?

[The Reverend]

Do you bring the person back to life from the point they left it or some 'optimal' state during their life?

Excellent question which in itself has huge implications.

I suppose if we were only able to bring people back at the age/state they died then would people really want to be bought back at the physical condition they were in at age 90? Probably not.

If we have the ability to bring people back to an optimal age then what would be the implications of having a load of people with the physical age of 25 but the memories, knowledge and experience of a much longer life?

[Friend or fart]

But it is being done regularly. Many people are brought back after cardiac arrest. Often after the heart has arrested for quite a while. What's wrong with a second chance? I am still going five & half years on!

[Hoover Attack]

No, smypathetic do-gooders would bring back innocent Palestinian civilians and we can’t be having that.

[Proposition Joe]

Do you bring the person back to life from the point they left it or some 'optimal' state during their life?

Excellent question which in itself has huge implications.

I suppose if we were only able to bring people back at the age/state they died then would people really want to be bought back at the physical condition they were in at age 90? Probably not.

If we have the ability to bring people back to an optimal age then what would be the implications of having a load of people with the physical age of 25 but the memories, knowledge and experience of a much longer life?

Why would they retain all their memory if they'd been reset to 25? Not having that. Can't have it both ways.

[LittleMate]

You gotta stop taking the acid Rev. It ain't good for you.

[Adz]

It's just a matter of time before we're able to download the contents of someone's brain and upload it to something else.

[Orient_Man_And_Boy]

It's just a matter of time before we're able to download the contents of someone's brain and upload it to something else.

I recall an episode of one of those offbeat sci-fi series in the 70s/80s when such a process was common place. The main character was played by George Cole. The problem was that the ‘implant’ was a bad ‘un and subsumed the host and had him ‘expunged’ by the same process but in reverse.

A modern form of murder I guess?

May have been an episode of ‘Tales …’???

[The Reverend]

Do you bring the person back to life from the point they left it or some 'optimal' state during their life?

Excellent question which in itself has huge implications.

I suppose if we were only able to bring people back at the age/state they died then would people really want to be bought back at the physical condition they were in at age 90? Probably not.

If we have the ability to bring people back to an optimal age then what would be the implications of having a load of people with the physical age of 25 but the memories, knowledge and experience of a much longer life?

Why would they retain all their memory if they'd been reset to 25? Not having that. Can't have it both ways.

In which case, if someone is reset at 25 they lose all memories & knowledge that they acquired after that age. Let’s say someone died at 80. They are resurrected at age 25. They lose well over half a lifetimes worth of experience in the process. Would that be worth it?

[Dunners]

Excellent question which in itself has huge implications.

I suppose if we were only able to bring people back at the age/state they died then would people really want to be bought back at the physical condition they were in at age 90? Probably not.

If we have the ability to bring people back to an optimal age then what would be the implications of having a load of people with the physical age of 25 but the memories, knowledge and experience of a much longer life?

Why would they retain all their memory if they'd been reset to 25? Not having that. Can't have it both ways.

In which case, if someone is reset at 25 they lose all memories & knowledge that they acquired after that age. Let’s say someone died at 80. They are resurrected at age 25. They lose well over half a lifetimes worth of experience in the process. Would that be worth it?

So they could have no knowledge of their surviving family, such as children? That would be traumatic for their family so can't see them signing the approval form and stumping up the cash. Plus it has inheritance implications.

[WickfordO]

The world is over populated already. Why would we want to increase it when death is supposed to keep it at an even keel.

[CEB]

Death is what gives meaning to life. The prospect of dying can be scary, but the idea of immortality is a refusal to deal with that fear.

[LittleMate]

Death is what gives meaning to life. The prospect of dying can be scary, but the idea of immortality is a refusal to deal with that fear.

So people can't enjoy life so much that they want to live forever?

[CEB]

people accuse me of being combative, but I literally get pushback for “it’s a good idea to make the most of life because it ends”

Jesus.

[Proposition Joe]

Death is what gives meaning to life. The prospect of dying can be scary, but the idea of immortality is a refusal to deal with that fear.

So people can't enjoy life so much that they want to live forever?

Who'd want to live forever? Look at the state of the Knight guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he was about 500 years old and a right mess. You'd be deaf, blind and crippled.

[CEB]

Can we bring Stephen Hawking back to explain away the noncing?

[Proposition Joe]

Resurrected only to have to pen a follow up book "A Brief History of (Doing) Time".

[Proposition Joe]

I know that's lame but the other option was riffing on his work on black holes and, frankly, I thought better of it.

[RedDwarf 1881]

If we had that type of technology I would prefer we bring back extinct animals rather than people .

[CEB]

I’d bring back dead fruit and veg. I remember having a great pear, can I bring that back?

[The Reverend]

Death is what gives meaning to life. The prospect of dying can be scary, but the idea of immortality is a refusal to deal with that fear.

This has a lot of truth to it.

I suppose that resurrection doesn’t necessarily equate to immortality. You could die again after being bought back. And then not resurrected again after that.

[Proposition Joe]

I’d bring back dead fruit and veg. I remember having a great pear, can I bring that back?

Surely the pear was already dead when you ate it? It wasn't alive as it wasn't on the tree any more. It was edible, but no longer part of the living mother organism (or organism that identifed as a mother).

[CEB]

This sort of question is where Stephen Hawking would be useful, though it seems he likes a lovely pear before it ripens