Vita Brevis (from one half of the Latin aphorism ars longa, vita brevis, “life is short, art long”) was a short-lived semi-mock-advocacy group advocating eventual death. That is, all of us as human beings wanted to die…eventually. (Another point of the project may have been to think critically about certain issues being raised by advances in the life sciences.) The activity of our group peaked when we organized a small demonstration for a semi-mock-transhumanist lecture by Tim Flood entitled “Transhumanism and You” [see pictures below]. I took upon myself the task of composing simple one-line slogans and chants for writing on signs and shouting at the demonstration. These included the following:
learn to live with death
all’s well that ends
ageing is not a disease
long live no one
quality of life, not quantity
STOP postponing the inevitable
immortality: a fate worse than death
all good things must come to an end
stop hogging our children’s biomass
out out brief candle!
curtains, please
“Hell No! We WILL go!”
“What do we want? Death! When do we want it? Eventually!”
call: “Out with the old!” response: “In with the new!”
Hey hey, ho ho, transhumanists have got to go!
“Vi-ta Bre-vis”, [clap, clap, clap-clap-clap]
Shortly thereafter, one of our members traveled to England and had an awkward dinner with Aubrey DeGrey at some Chinese restaurant. The group has since dissolved, as member have gone our separate ways, each of us working individually toward eventual death.
with:
Zack Denfeld
Forest Bright