2011-07-07
Explanation
This comic, titled "Why I Worry About Extended Longevity," contrasts two eras of creative motivation. In the "Before" panel, a figure resembling Shakespeare labors over a manuscript, thinking "This work... shall be my immortality." The implication is that great artists throughout history have been driven to create masterpieces because their work was their only shot at being remembered after death.
In the "After" panel, set in a future where extended longevity or immortality has been achieved, a modern-looking man sits contentedly thinking "Living forever... shall be my immortality." The joke is that if people could actually live forever, they would lose the existential drive to create lasting works of art and literature. Why pour your soul into a masterpiece when you can just keep on living? The comic raises a genuinely interesting philosophical question: is the fear of death a necessary condition for great human achievement, and would immortality make us complacent and creatively bankrupt?