In ‘The Book Against Death,’ Elias Canetti rants against mortality

Desire to Defeat Death vs. Accepting Mortality

• Some posters express intense envy of future people who may not die, and want to leave lucrative careers to work on “solving death,” seeing it as the most meaningful possible project.
• Others say completely escaping death is impossible; a more realistic and worthy goal is eliminating disease, aging, and suffering so people die without long decline.
• A middle view is that biological “immortality” just means not aging; you can still die from accidents, violence, or disasters.

Thermodynamics, Evolution, and Feasibility

• Many invoke entropy and heat death: the universe trends toward maximum entropy, so literal eternal life is seen as impossible.
• Counterpoints: thermodynamics constrains closed systems; life and Earth are open systems with vast solar energy, and the cosmic end-state is irrelevant on human or even million‑year scales.
• Evolutionary arguments note that death and limited lifespan are selected because they help species adapt and avoid competition with all past generations. Critics reply that human technology already overrides many evolutionary constraints.

Social, Political, and Economic Consequences

• Major worry: vastly extended lifespans could entrench current elites and dictators “forever,” worsen inequality, ossify institutions, and stall scientific and cultural progress.
• Others argue we already have institutional churn (term limits, retirement, revolution) and that long-lived people might care more about long‑term problems like climate.
• Resource constraints and overpopulation are frequent objections; replies cite falling birthrates, potential for population control, and technological advances, though their costs are acknowledged as unknown.

Meaning, Boredom, and Identity

• One camp insists mortality gives life urgency and meaning; eternity would render events meaningless, lead to boredom, and accumulate unbearable loss.
• Opponents say many people already feel they don’t have enough time; extended youth would allow multiple careers, long projects, and deeper relationships. If life became boring, one could still choose to die.
• Some question whether a self that changes over millennia is still “you”; others say continuous consciousness and memory, not static traits, define identity.

Philosophical and Spiritual Views

• Some see fear of death as misunderstanding life or clinging to ego; they suggest meaning comes from transcending the narrow personal self, possibly via spiritual or religious frameworks.
• Others reject afterlife assumptions as unsupported, grounding their views in materialist or skeptical stances, while some explicitly argue that materialism cannot adequately explain consciousness or ethics.