The Future of Dying

• Marli Huijer

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For thousands of years, immortality was reserved for the gods while every human being eventually had to die. Today, experts in ageing and trans-humanists want to abolish mortality. People should be able to live a healthy life for at least a hundred years before leaving the world quickly and painlessly. In reality, deterioration sets in shortly after we retire and then lasts for about 15 years. What does this mean for how we relate to the last phase of life? Does illness have meaning because it prepares us for death? Is the burden of the last stage of life still bearable as the whole of society ages? Is there such a thing as the right moment to die?
In The Future of Dying, Marli Huijer examines our dealings with ageing and death, on a personal, social and political level.

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The denial of the finiteness of human existence diminishes the social, cultural, and many other values ​​that give meaning to life. Biological existence in itself has no value; it only gains value when we connect with other people, animals, plants, or things in the world. A society or policy that inadvertently prioritizes meaningful life may lead to people living longer. This is clearly unintentional, since the main goal of such a policy is to take responsibility for the meaningful relationships that people and other living beings have with each other. In this web of relationships, there is much room for laughter, crying, sadness over suffering, pain, and finitude that are inextricably linked; indeed, they are what make us who we are—mortals. Therefore, it is human to be mindful of this mortality, both in the way we live and in our relationships with one another.

* * *

The constant pursuit of a longer lifespan interferes with laughter and sadness over death. If “young and perfect” is the norm, the social fabric in which the old and the young are intertwined is disintegrating. The elderly cannot meet this standard, and the young cannot tolerate imperfection. The painful aspects of life are repressed, instead of being laughed at and cried over together. We can restore balance by re-evaluating and arranging the house of mortality. This begins with accepting that the rhythm of birth, decay, and death is the foundation on which it is built. Without birth and death, the house would collapse, because a person who lives forever would no longer have the will to renovate and maintain the house after a while. This requires new generations who will enthusiastically take up the task.

Excerpts from the book

• ISBN: 978-953-369-065-0
• Dimensions: 128x200 mm
• Number of pages: 120
• Cover: paperback
• Year of the edition: 2025
• Original title: De Toemkost van het Sterven
• Original language: Dutch
• Translation: Svetlana Grubić Samaržija