With aging and relevance on my mind lately, it was fascinating to watch Don't Die. Very rich guy uses himself as lab rat to test anti-ages regimens. He has some messiah-like appeal which helps him recruit his father and one of his son's to participate in his intergenerational experiment. Then there are fans and such on social media and equal or more detractors. The premise is that he can reduce the rate at which he ages, live productively for much longer and that is a goal worth spending millions of dollars on every year. Clearly, the efficacy of such experiments on a sample size of one does not do anything for humanity. But if you have a lot of money and this is your particular passion - to aim at immortality, who can stop you. The level of narcissism is unlike anything we regular folks will come across in our daily lives because we live well outside the orbit of such individuals.
It is eye-popping to say the least. It did beg the question of relevance should this man manage to live 120 years and more. What exactly are his contributions now other than the maniacal focus on his physical health and desire to beat nature. It seems as if these questions don't come to mind when you attain a certain level of wealth. It is as if money is all the relevance anyone could ask of the person. At the point, the moral framework that applies to the rest of us cease to apply for them. Its almost like Newtonian physics failing to hold when objects are traveling at close to the speed or light. Watching this documentary was a bit like watching the equivalent of quantum phenomenon applied to human values and morals.
Comments