For thousands of years, immortality was reserved for the gods while every human being eventually had to die. Today, experts in ageing and trans-humanists want to abolish mortality. People should be able to live a healthy life for at least a hundred years before leaving the world quickly and painlessly. In reality, deterioration sets in shortly after we retire and then lasts for about 15 years. What does this mean for how we relate to the last phase of life? Does illness have meaning because it prepares us for death? Is the burden of the last stage of life still bearable as the whole of society ages? Is there such a thing as the right moment to die?
In The Future of Dying, Huijer examines our dealings with ageing and death, on a personal, social and political level.