Imagine if instead of one life of around 60 years, humans had 100 lives of around 1 year each. For each live, we are born as adults in our 20-40s. For each live, we are grouped with a different family. I wonder how our human culture would have evolved. Our memories and knowledge would carry over from one live to another (essentially, our minds and brains), but our bodies would differ.
Let me backtrack and explain where this weird idea came from. I was playing Dota2, and I realised just how beautiful I found the fact that a random team of 5 people who have never known each other can at times come together and show brilliant teamwork and mutual understanding. The only common motivation is winning a match. Which made me wonder : what if real life was like that? What if real life consisted of episodes , and we all felt the need to perform intensely, no matter who our team - mates?
Here are my ideas: philosophy, arts, and science and technology would be the most foremost pursuits. Architecture would persist, but the number of buildings actually built would be really small, with preference given to either highly utilitarian buildings or highly aesthetic ones.
Small businesses and entrepreneurship would however suffer, since the time-frame would be too small for a person to invest in a single business. However, there would be a small number of large multinational companies solely focussed at providing for our collective needs. In fact, it could even be that these companies would grant a shareholder status automatically to each person who is born, because there would be a need to invest in the next life financially, rather than the current one.
Science and technology would exist and flourish primarily because humans would feel a high need to leave a mark for humanity, and also to contribute to some form of collective pool for mankind. Since one person cannot put stuff in store for his next life, his best bet would be to contribute to the general public, and hence benefit as a member of the same public collective in the next life.
Having experienced temporary death, mankind's philosophical endeavours would be even more fervent and desperate. People would know the feeling of death, and would be even more fascinated with the idea of the final death.
Being born in a different place in each life, humans would abandon all notion of different cultures and different civilisations. Instead, the only extent of cultural differences would be due to utilitarian reasons arising from adaptation to climate and natural resources. There would be a global language, a global community, a more tightly knit global consciousness, a global political and economic system.
Finally, the most important question: human emotions and morals. Would they change? Would we have new forms of emotion? Would we perhaps have a different set of morals?
Let me backtrack and explain where this weird idea came from. I was playing Dota2, and I realised just how beautiful I found the fact that a random team of 5 people who have never known each other can at times come together and show brilliant teamwork and mutual understanding. The only common motivation is winning a match. Which made me wonder : what if real life was like that? What if real life consisted of episodes , and we all felt the need to perform intensely, no matter who our team - mates?
Here are my ideas: philosophy, arts, and science and technology would be the most foremost pursuits. Architecture would persist, but the number of buildings actually built would be really small, with preference given to either highly utilitarian buildings or highly aesthetic ones.
Small businesses and entrepreneurship would however suffer, since the time-frame would be too small for a person to invest in a single business. However, there would be a small number of large multinational companies solely focussed at providing for our collective needs. In fact, it could even be that these companies would grant a shareholder status automatically to each person who is born, because there would be a need to invest in the next life financially, rather than the current one.
Science and technology would exist and flourish primarily because humans would feel a high need to leave a mark for humanity, and also to contribute to some form of collective pool for mankind. Since one person cannot put stuff in store for his next life, his best bet would be to contribute to the general public, and hence benefit as a member of the same public collective in the next life.
Having experienced temporary death, mankind's philosophical endeavours would be even more fervent and desperate. People would know the feeling of death, and would be even more fascinated with the idea of the final death.
Being born in a different place in each life, humans would abandon all notion of different cultures and different civilisations. Instead, the only extent of cultural differences would be due to utilitarian reasons arising from adaptation to climate and natural resources. There would be a global language, a global community, a more tightly knit global consciousness, a global political and economic system.
Finally, the most important question: human emotions and morals. Would they change? Would we have new forms of emotion? Would we perhaps have a different set of morals?
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