The Immortal Impulse: Ernest Becker, AI, and the Denial of Death

How our fundamental awareness of mortality shapes our embrace of artificial intelligence and transhumanism.

Article link: https://open.substack.com/pub/johanosteyn/p/the-immortal-impulse-ernest-becker?r=73gqa&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Audio summary: https://youtu.be/HzVdIU11uSE

Ernest Becker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book (1974) - “The Denial of Death” - posits that humans are uniquely burdened by the awareness of their own mortality. To cope with this existential terror, we construct “immortality projects” – symbolic hero-systems (such as religion, culture, and personal achievements) that offer a sense of enduring significance beyond our finite biological existence.

These systems allow us to feel part of something eternal, providing meaning and a pathway to symbolic immortality. When these cultural frameworks falter, the underlying anxiety of death resurfaces, often manifesting as neurosis or despair. In modernity, as grand mythologies recede, new, often more fragile, hero-systems emerge, including science, technology, and the relentless pursuit of success.

This philosophical backdrop becomes strikingly relevant when considering the trajectory of Artificial Intelligence and transhumanism. My earlier article in Brainstorm magazine, “Brainstorm: The Forbidden Fruit: Transhumanism and Techno-Human Evolution”, explores precisely how technology, particularly AI, is perceived as a pathway to evolving beyond our biological limits, echoing Becker’s description of heroic efforts to deny mortality.

INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS

From this perspective, AI and transhumanism can be seen as potent new “immortality projects.” The aspiration for human augmentation, extended longevity, fusion with machines, and the creation of digital legacies all speak to a deep-seated desire to transcend biological finitude.

The very idea of digital selves and eternal online presences offers a new cultural system for meaning and continuity beyond the physical body. This is personally significant to me because it forces a critical examination of the motivations behind our technological advancements. Are we building a better future, or merely constructing more sophisticated forms of denial?

A central tension arises from Becker’s emphasis on our dual nature: our biological, mortal self and our symbolic, meaning-making self. In an age of AI, we risk outsourcing or surrendering aspects of our biological self – our attention, memory, and even fundamental cognitive processes – to machines. My previous work on AI in supply chains, for instance, highlights how AI can handle complex tasks, sometimes replacing human cognitive capacities.

This dynamic mirrors Becker’s question: what anxieties emerge when our symbolic self, enhanced by AI, outpaces or detaches from our biological self? The fear of being replaceable, of being mortal and finite, becomes acutely heightened as machines assume roles once considered uniquely human.

IMPLICATIONS

For our children, who are growing up immersed in AI and digital tools, the implications are profound. If traditional hero-systems continue to erode, what new “immortality projects” will they adopt? Will it be constant optimisation, digital performance, and online legacy, potentially at the expense of genuine human relationships, creativity, and deep reflection?

Becker might warn that such a trajectory could leave them vulnerable to existential anxiety, as their human grounding in body, mortality, and intrinsic meaning is eroded. This highlights a crucial moral and psychological dimension to AI adoption. While deploying AI for efficiency is vital for our country’s economic progress and global competitiveness, we must simultaneously attend to the human condition.

This means ensuring that AI augments, rather than replaces, uniquely human capacities. It is imperative that we design AI strategies that honour human dignity, support meaning-making, and provide roles for people that transcend the purely mechanistic. For our children, this translates into an education that not only imparts technical skills but also fosters a deep understanding of the human condition, the interplay of biology and symbol, and how technology alters this delicate balance.

CLOSING TAKEAWAY

Becker’s book provides an invaluable philosophical framework for navigating the AI era. It compels us to ask not just “What can machines do?” but, more importantly, “What must remain human?” By consciously addressing our inherent mortality and our need for meaning, we can ensure that AI serves to enrich, rather than diminish, the human spirit, securing a more anchored and flourishing future for all.

Author Bio: Johan Steyn is a prominent AI ethicist, author, and international speaker. His work focuses on the practical application of AI in business and its broader societal impact. He advises organisations on AI strategy and responsible technology adoption, sharing his insights globally. Learn more about his work at https://www.aiforbusiness.net