which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. one of the key drivers of human thought and behaviour throughout history has been knowledge of our own mortality. from childhood each of us knows we will die. religion, philosophy and science all wrestle with that fact and have in different ways embraced the quest for immortality. my guess today, stephen cave, director of the cambridge institute for technology and humanity is at the centre of a growing debate about the merits of extending human longevity. is it wise to seek to live forever? stephen cave, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it is a great pleasure. you believe that our human awareness of our own mortality is absolutely central to the human story. why? well, all creatures strive to live on, to keep going. they would not be around us any more if they did not. the mouse that did not care about surviving would not pass on its genes. so we come for from a long line of creature
is it wise to seek to live forever? stephen cave, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it is a great pleasure. you believe our human awareness of our own mortality is absolutely central to the human story. why? well, all creatures strive to live on, to keep going. they would not be around as if they did not. the mountain did not care about surviving would not pass on genes. we come for from a long line of creatures that determined to keep going but we have these big brands that is part of our survival mechanism allow us to see the future, to generalise and we are conscious of ourselves as individuals and that means we are conscious of our own death and out of all the billions of creatures on earth, very few creatures have to live with that terrible awareness that all of their efforts will come to nothing safe we look back to human history, we see humanity struggling to make sense of this. some of the earliest archaeological evidence we find of human development is su
coping with death and the fear of death because it has motivated so much creativity and positive human development. are you essentially something is a negative or positive story? i is a negative or positive sto ? ., ., is a negative or positive sto ? ., ., ., story? i would not say we are immature story? i would not say we are immature and story? i would not say we are immature and being - story? i would not say we are immature and being unable l story? i would not say we are | immature and being unable to face death and having to tell ourselves these stories. this is a human ourselves these stories. this is a human constant. - ourselves these stories. this is a human constant. i - ourselves these stories. this is a human constant. i am | is a human constant. i am quoting from you, as a species we need to outgrow our fear of death. i we need to outgrow our fear of death. ., ~ we need to outgrow our fear of death. . ~ ., , ., death. i talk about the wisdom narrative that