It should go without saying that death, in its current form, is undesirable to the human condition in as far as its presence arouses questions of a spiritual nature that are no longer useful to civilization. As we move away from our pagan past and embrace the scientific reality that undergirds the universe, it is necessary that we do away with the leftover evolutionary impulses of former generations.
To this end, it is essential that we remove death from modern society. This is not to say that we must, in so many words, eliminate death–science has not yet progressed so far, though it will, no doubt, in time–but that we must functionally remove the presence of death from the everyday world of humankind. This has been largely aided in advanced nations by the innumerable and often violent deaths in our visual media, thereby unconsciously rendering in the minds of many the end of life as a cathartic plot point and not as an embodied incident, and by the encouraging trend in funerals of making the ceremony a celebration of individualism and not of communal rites of grieving and estacological hope.
Despite these improvements, there still remains an absence and a corpse to deal with when the inevitable comes. True, the growth in the number of cremations has removed the body from the view of many of those whose personal concerns might be disturbed by the sight of a lifeless body, while simultaneously creating the illusion that a loved one is “always with us,” whether on the mantelpiece or in the garden feeding the newly planted tree. More, however, remains to be done and must be done.
To further the transition to a deathless society, we must first change the language. Euphemisms have always abounded concerning the cessation of life. We must push them further. We must make the passing of a loved one into something undeniably positive, even preferable to continued life–but again, we cannot let religion creep in. Even literary terms, such as “sailing west” or “entering golden fields” must be stripped of their mysticism and presented in a strictly realistic sense. In the United States, for instance, “moved to Florida” might replace “bought the farm” and still mean, as far as we allow one to consider it, a strictly geographic relocation.
Such a spatial move is vital to our program. It is obvious, I hope, that we must remove the sick and aged from the sight of the young and healthy if we hope to eliminate death from society. This is most efficiently accomplished by making the sick and aged acutely aware of their failings and of the burden they present to the fit and productive. This guilt of uselessness must then be met with the promise of both relief and purpose, by which we mean that their purpose is to relieve others of their presence.
Then they must “go away.” We can establish various idyllic locations and present them in a variety of media, until it is well understood that this is where those who are no longer a benefit to society are welcome. Whether they actually arrive can be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Furthermore, with recent advances in technology, we can make this journey truly convincing. We have collected mounds of data on each citizen’s conversational mannerisms and facial expressions from the devices in their homes. It is not hard, with the proper systems in place, to produce calls and video chats from those who have retired to those who are still living. This content will be kept purposely mundane and uninteresting. Combined with the living’s perpetual activity, contact between the living and those who have gone away will grow more and more irregular until those who have moved on are finally forgotten.
Some have asked whether we can truly convince our citizens that their family members and friends are living elsewhere, content and happy. Won’t they know that they have died? some ask. Can we truly convince our citizens that we have conquered death?
To that I say, of course they will believe. Some will accept it easily, because it is the official story. Most, of course, will know the truth, deep down, but they will lie to themselves until they believe it too. And then it will be true. It will take one of the hard and brutal questions of life out of their hands and remove the specter of religion and its outmoded demands entirely from their consideration.
That is what we desire and what they, though they don’t know it, want as well.