Overcoming Mortality: A Denial of Death & Dying BY VANIA ZHAO '25 Cover Image: On the left is the general immune response that leads to wheal formation – the characteristic symptom of chronic urticaria. With cholinergic urticaria, increases in body temperature lead to this immune response through multiple mechanisms. On the right is the ribbon for chronic urticaria awareness. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Introduction From the moment of birth, the dying process begins. Through religion, science, philosophy, spirituality, and other means, humans have long attempted to understand, rationalize, and confront the inevitability of death. In our pursuit to find meaning in life despite the certainty of death, our inquisitive nature demands a way to transcend death. As we grow and deal with aging and the loss of those around us, the promise of eternal life beckons us to ask the forbidden question: what if death is not inevitable? What if we could escape the grasps of death entirely and live forever? This essay will be a comprehensive exploration of immortality in the modern world through four pillars. The first part of this article will define and explain literal and symbolic immortality through various anthropological lenses, including models proposed by Robert Jay Lifton, Arnold van Gennep, and Robert Hertz, as well as through a spiritual and higher-existential lens. The second part will examine the possibility and feasibility of immortality by examining forms of immortality that exist with nature and the human body. The third part will outline hypothetical methods and models for immortality through
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modern medicine and technology and examine those methods through the anthropological, philosophical, ontological, and theological lens introduced in the second pillar. The fourth part will explore the implications of immortality for society, examining whether immortality is something that is desired in the modern day; it will also tackle questions in a future where immortality is possible, such as: Will the wealth gap widen? Would only a few social elites be able to afford immortality? How would the demographic look? How will education, religion etc. shift with this development? These questions are explored through the anthropological work of Antonio Sandu, who examines the posthuman/ transhuman world, as well as through hypothetical worlds through fiction. What Is Immortality? While there are many forms of immortality, at its core, it is a continuation of life beyond the claws of death. Immortality can essentially be boiled down to two categories: literal immortality and symbolic immortality. Literal immortality is simple to define. It is achieved when an individual transgresses the limits of natural life and lives forever, retaining their consciousness beyond death accompanied by their physical bodies. DARTMOUTH UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
