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00:00 What do you think the future of life on Earth will be like? There are plenty of predictions
00:04 as to where we could be headed in the near and distant futureā¦ but perhaps there's one thing
00:08 above everything else that would really change the world. This is Unveiled,
00:13 and today we're answering the extraordinary question; what if no one ever dies?
00:17 Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe
00:24 to Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content.
00:29 In November 2022, according to the United Nations, the global population ticked past
00:35 8 billion people for the first time. It's a number that has truly soared since the middle
00:40 of the last century. In 1950, there were an estimated 2.5 billion people alive on planet
00:46 Earth. And while the rate of increase has slightly decreased in recent years, all projections are
00:52 that it will continue to grow. Quite simply, there's never been a time before when so many
00:57 people were quite so alive. It's thanks to a number of things, though in large part to
01:02 variously massive advances we've made in medical science. Today, people are less likely to die
01:08 young, and more likely to live longer once they do get to old age. Again, according to the UN,
01:14 in 1950, Norway had the highest life expectancy of any country on Earth, at 72.3 years. Today,
01:22 the entire global average is higher than even that, at 72.6 years. The highest life expectancies
01:29 per country are now at and around 87 years, including for Monaco, San Marino, and Japan.
01:36 Nevertheless, while the prospects for the longevity of human life are much improved,
01:40 we still aren't immortal. And, unless something massive happens over the next few decades,
01:45 everyone alive today will eventually die. But what if that wasn't the case? What if it had
01:51 never been that way? We've taken a closer look at how living forever might one day be achieved
01:56 in other, recent videosā¦ but today we're asking, what would actually happen if no one ever died?
02:03 First off, despite all the heady population figures we're seeing right now, they'd all be
02:07 swamped into insignificance by this new normal. If we consider not just everyone who's alive
02:12 right now, but everyone who has ever been alive, then it's not eight billionā¦ it's 108 billion.
02:19 And that's only at the lower estimate, taking into account all the people that have been born
02:23 since the emergence of recognisably modern humans, around 300,000 years ago. In a century's time,
02:30 at current rates and with no death to speak of, we'll have moved past 120 billion total people.
02:36 Before this millennia is out, we may even have hit one trillion. So, what's life like with that many
02:42 friends and neighbours? Housing everyone would beā¦ a challenge. That said, many of our largest
02:47 cities can already be categorised as megacities - that is, with a population of more than ten
02:52 million. The likes of Tokyo in Japan, San Paolo in Brazil, and New York in the US are already well
02:59 above megacity levels, so we know that humans can and do thrive in large numbers. Nevertheless,
03:05 it would take more than 5,000 New York cities to host every modern human that ever lived.
03:10 So, could it be done? Theoretically, yes, and actually quite easily. New York is almost 500
03:16 square miles, but there's more than 57 million square miles of land on Earth as a whole.
03:22 That means, if we go solely by crunching the numbers, then we could actually fit more than
03:27 100,000 New Yorks on the surface of our planet - which is two trillion people's worth of city.
03:33 But, of course, in reality, it's really not as simple as that. New York as it is,
03:38 is close to the ocean, on a relatively flat land, and in a reasonably temperate zone.
03:43 All of these elements contribute to exactly why NYC has been able to grow into what it is today.
03:48 All megacities have other, similarly conductive aspects to their history and positioning that
03:53 have allowed them to flourish. But, clearly, not every stretch of land on Earth is so geared
03:58 towards city living. It's much harder high up in the mountains, or far out in the desert,
04:03 or cast off across the icy realms heading toward the north and south poles. What we'd really need
04:09 is something called an "ecumenopolis". This is the theoretical apex for urban planners;
04:14 a planet-wide city that operates as one. Many already believe that Earth is destined to become
04:20 an ecumenopolis in the future, but in an alternate world where no one ever died,
04:24 it would surely already need to be done. Here, the likes of New York, Tokyo, and Sao Paulo would be
04:31 more like boroughs or districts; distinct parts of a far larger whole. Life in an ecumenopolis
04:37 could then be a life without borders. In this way, perhaps upwards of 100 billion people would even
04:43 be enough to end whole-scale war, especially if there was no prospect of death with which to
04:48 threaten enemies. Then again, it is still very difficult to imagine that such a place would be
04:53 entirely free of cruelty, meanness, hate, and prejudice. And then, how do you go about
04:58 governing and policing such a society? Or would it all be just too big for that?
05:03 The exact make-up of that society is particularly interesting, though, as we ourselves will never
05:08 have seen anything like it. Without death curtailing our lives, there would be some
05:13 on Earth who are thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of years old. Grandparents and
05:18 great-grandparents would no longer be the oldest generations in any one family; instead, they'd
05:24 rank among the youngest. And if it were possible to trace lineage all the way back to the beginning,
05:29 then it figures that there would be certain people, still alive, considered to be the ultimate
05:34 mothers and fathers of literally everyone on Earth. Although maintaining governmental
05:39 hierarchies might be difficult, how would the world view something like that? How would people
05:43 react if they were ever in the presence of the "first parents" of their civilization? But,
05:48 on the other hand, what of the everyday person? The humble, mere 56th generation human? Or 33rd?
05:55 Or 19th? How valuable would they be in a world where life is essentially not special? From this
06:02 perspective, it's an incredibly thin line between a thriving utopia and just a steady, ironically
06:07 lifeless, hum of despair. If no one ever died, there would of course be no funerals. There'd
06:13 also be no real need for retirement. Nothing particularly special about birthdays. The
06:18 various rhythms that many people go through during their lives. Childhood schooling, teenage angst,
06:24 settling down, the dreaded midlife crisis. None of it would happen. Especially once you reach
06:29 adulthood, it would simply be the same thing, over and over and over again, ad infinitum.
06:35 In the real world, thanatophobia is an intense and sometimes all-consuming fear of death. Not
06:41 everyone has it, but a psychological concept known as Terror Management Theory says that we all,
06:46 at least to some degree, are influenced by the death that we know is awaiting us. It argues that,
06:52 whether or not we know we're doing it, we're all always making decisions with our mortality in
06:57 mind. Our thoughts, feelings, emotions and beliefs are all in some way guided by the prospect of
07:03 dying. However, if no one ever died, then terror management wouldn't be required anymore. And
07:08 thanatophobia just wouldn't exist. Or only as an extremely irrational mindset. The psychological
07:15 differences in a human that knows they will never die are pretty difficult to predict. But we are
07:20 talking about a total, fundamental change in thinking. The complete removal of a key part
07:25 of what currently makes us human. What's your verdict? How do you believe the shift from us
07:30 being a mortal species to our becoming an immortal one could play out? For now, this is certainly a
07:36 thought experiment only. While scientists are busily working to try to solve the problems of
07:41 aging and dying, and although life expectancy is creeping up around the world, we still aren't
07:47 scheduled to live forever. Many foresee a time when we will cheat death. And when that time comes,
07:54 then this question will morph into a genuine, urgent, and real-world concern. But until then,
07:59 it's a hypothetical, alternate universe. And one where that's what would happen if no one ever died.
08:06 What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
08:11 clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.