Quest for Immortality
Re "The Audacity of
Google" [Sept. 30]: Assuming that the company really succeeds in finding the proverbial elixir to prolong life indefinitely, the question to ask is, Is it really a good idea to do this? The life expectancy in most developed countries is already well into the 80s, and the rest of the world will achieve this in due course. Even wealthy countries are already facing the economic burden of supporting a nonworking and aging population. Add to this the problems of energy and food supply, and you have a world bursting at the seams. Not everything that is scientifically feasible is necessarily socially desirable.
Tirumalai Mukundan,
Mysore, India
I'm a retired teacher, but hundreds of video lectures posted by me since 2010 on YouTube will keep on being viewed by thousands of Italian students in the years to come. That's not immortality yet, but it's quite better than just a few hundred former students remembering my abilities in simplifying hard math problems and making them understandable.
Carlo Incarbone,
Collegno, Italy
I say, there is nothing to solve in death! In fact, death ends all sorrows and pains, and is indeed an escape. Who wants to live forever in this world of bigotry, injustice and whatnot? Let's not pray for something we don't need.
Isphanyar M. Bhandara,
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Sins of the Fathers
Re "Germany and the
Moral Do-Over" [Sept. 30]: While it is unjust to be blamed for our grandfathers' mistakes, it is important to be reminded of them time and again. As a high school teacher, I see adolescents grow up with little historical knowledge, so for instance seeing a Polish teenager, living in Germany, saying "Heil, Hitler!" is just grotesque. We need to enlighten our next generations again and again. Once we stop dealing with such delicate topics, the world will turn more inhumane again.
Michael Colberg,
Hamburg
As a descendant of holocaust survivors, I have only praise for the way Germany has been looking into its own dark history, with genuine soul-searching and a deep, sincere sense of atonement. German history books tell the truth as it happened, and German schoolchildren are not spared visits to the most sinister extermination camps. But what comes to mind in this context is another country that has yet to atone for the atrocities it committed. That country is called Japan. No moral do-over in the Land of the Rising Sun — and no atonement for crimes against countless Asians. This is an issue that contemporary, pacifist Japan must come to terms with and act accordingly on — before it is too late.
Andy Leitner,
Haifa, Israel
Prison of the Mind
Megan Gibson's account in "Haiti's Forgotten Victims," of the mentally ill, is shocking [Sept. 30]. This is a global problem. Too often, this is the plight of the mentally ill: neglect in times of tragedy, persecution in times of tyranny. The solutions depend not just on building mental-health services but also on creating political determination to address one of the searing social tragedies of our time.
Brendan Kelly,
Dublin
Gun Regulation
Re "Unchecked Aggression" [Sept. 30]: There's an underlying problem that needs to be addressed and has not been mentioned at all: background checks for gun owners, as it seems that an incredibly large number of people with mental issues manage to get a hold of guns without any major problems.
Christina Ovsenik,
London
The Soul of Germany
Re "Angela Merkel's Unfinished Business" [Sept. 23]: The article includes the quote that Merkel "is so admired because the way she does things is close to the German soul." Hitler was so admired by a German majority because the way he did things was close to the German soul. "Soul" seems to be a very changeable thing. Be careful with such nation-defining statements.
Hans Gerbig,
Gersthofen, Germany