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Death by Hunger, Death by Ageing

People die of hunger all the time. You can't make food out of nothing, right? No, people around you don't die of hunger at all, it may even seem a laughable, ridiculously unlikely event. But they do, people in the world die of hunger. Because you can't make food out of nothing. Our food? It comes from the sun - ultimately the energy from the sun. In a way, so does electricity and everything else. Because now, more than ever, we can transform types of energy from chemical to electrical and so on.

That's why you and I - we don't die of hunger. The punchline: why is our compulsive urge to avoid death by hunger - to seek out food - accepted by ourselves so obviously, since it is merely an extension of our urge to stay alive? Food is just to stay alive, not a purpose of its own.

Why is it that while hunger for food is a legitimate goal to pursue as a human being and as a civilization, hunger for what ultimately food is for - staying alive - is seen as illegitimate? Defeating ageing is seen as impossible. Just like making food out of nothing, or flying used to be. Why? If sunlight can sustain us, and air propel us, through time and through space, then why give up at another hurdle?

Think about it.

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