207 Essays on Infinite Lifespans   Eric S. Rabkin When we put on incorruption, we are all changed: we are changed into ideals, into endless repetitions, into sterile vam- pires, childless angels, works of art, computer chips. We are changed into objects for the contemplation of others but in the process we lose our very selves. Immortality is a self-defeating fantasy, a desperate defense against death. Finally, who would choose such a neutered eternity? Not Tennyson’s Tithonus: Let me go; take back thy gift. / Why should a man desire in any way / To vary from the kindly race of men, / Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance / Where all should pause, as is most meet for all? Release me, and restore me to the ground. [17] References 1) Anonymous; The Epic of Gilgamesh; Trans: Sandars, NK; Penguin, 1960 2) Calvino, Italo; If on a winter’s night a traveler; Trans. William Weaver; Harcourt, 1979 3) Bartlett, John; Familiar Quotations; (1980, 15th ed.); Little, Brown 4) Shaw, George B; Man and Superman (1903); Penguin, 1969 5) Milton, John; Paradise Lost (1667); Editor Merritt Y. Hughes;  Odyssey, 1962 6) Clarke, Arthur C; Childhood’s End (1953); Ballantine, 1972