Immortality

[PolyHedral]

As it turns out, we are very good at biotechnology. We have created genomes from scratch. We are researching how to regenerate body parts. We are looking into the biological cause of death.

And that last one is important. If some of the predictions are correct, a few decades from now, medicine will have advanced to the point that aging will be abolished. Nobody ever grows old again. Nobody ever dies except by injury, disease or suicide. (And most disease will probably be eradicated by the time this happens.)

Some of the more... interesting predictions say that computer science and neurology will also play a part in extending lifespans: There is nothing fundamentally preventing us from copying and running a human mind in a computer. Software does not decay and can be copied endlessly.

So... how does God treat beings who can outlive the Earth? Beings who avoid His punishment in Hell entirely? How do you view the world, knowing that your time in it is arbitrarily long?

 

[Cypress]

The duration of a life is not so important, much more important is if this life is spent meaningful.
What do you gain from 1 000 years when you spend most of them with activties that do not spiritually benefit you?

 

[EverChanging]

I absolutely abhor the thought of living forever. Why would I want to do that? I am not afraid of dying. I want to live life fully, and then when it is time to go, I quite look forward to it, and not because I believe in a soul or afterlife because I don't. Death is sacramental to me. It is a part of life. I am meant to die. It's in my psyche. To live for thousands of years cannot be healthy for an animal who is meant to die, an animal who, at the end of life, will instinctively mull over its life, share it with others, contemplate, and if this is done correctly and with love and support, die in peace. I can't imagine what living forever would do to a mind. At what point one would one begin to forget nearly everything? At one point would the brain be overloaded?

As far as copying the mind onto a computer, there would indeed be continuity, but it is an illusion (although it could be argued that our own sense of continuity and self is an illusion as well.)

Hopes of living forever in this mortal body seem as stupid and outlandish and fearful of death as anyone hoping to live forever in some spiritual paradise.

 

[Abulafia]

And that last one is important. If some of the predictions are correct, a few decades from now, medicine will have advanced to the point that aging will be abolished. Nobody ever grows old again. Nobody ever dies except by injury, disease or suicide. (And most disease will probably be eradicated by the time this happens.)

Really? That seems optimistic juxtaposed to AIDS and deteriorating theocracies in possession of nuclear arms. Hmmmmm......:sarcastic

So... how does God treat beings who can outlive the Earth? Beings who avoid His punishment in Hell entirely? How do you view the world, knowing that your time in it is arbitrarily long?

Well, no one is really going to outlive Hell...God doesn't have to worry about that. Eventually, even if the Illumantian Secret-Bearers outlive the Earth (which I consider highly unlikely....) there will be a big crunch or big fizzle....Our universe isn't immortal, and we, the inconspicuous micro-beings, will undoubtedly cease to live, without our fetal provider....

 

[Noaidi]

The ecological implications of near-immortality in humans would be overwhelming. The Earth couldn't physically sustain countless billions of people.

 

[Abulafia]

The ecological implications of near-immortality in humans would be overwhelming. The Earth couldn't physically sustain countless billions of people.

Oh no. Apparently, alongside biological technology and genetic engineering were going to build colonies across the planets as well...:sw:

 

[Noaidi]

Ahhh. Good. So we have the technology to screw up other planets as well...

 

[Half Asleep]

Ahhh. Good. So we have the technology to screw up other planets as well...

Stop being so misanthropic! It could give humanity a chance to terraform otherwise dead planets on a massive scale, allowing us to spread life throughout a mostly nonliving universe.

 

[Jeremiah]

As it turns out, we are very good at biotechnology. We have created genomes from scratch. We are researching how to regenerate body parts. We are looking into the biological cause of death.

And that last one is important. If some of the predictions are correct, a few decades from now, medicine will have advanced to the point that aging will be abolished. Nobody ever grows old again. Nobody ever dies except by injury, disease or suicide. (And most disease will probably be eradicated by the time this happens.)

Some of the more... interesting predictions say that computer science and neurology will also play a part in extending lifespans: There is nothing fundamentally preventing us from copying and running a human mind in a computer. Software does not decay and can be copied endlessly.

So... how does God treat beings who can outlive the Earth? Beings who avoid His punishment in Hell entirely? How do you view the world, knowing that your time in it is arbitrarily long?

" If some of the predictions are correct, a few decades from now, medicine will have advanced to the point that aging will be abolished."

Sounds like wishful thinking.


"Some of the more... interesting predictions say that computer science and neurology will also play a part in extending lifespans: There is nothing fundamentally preventing us from copying and running a human mind in a computer. Software does not decay and can be copied endlessly."

Computer science is nowhere close to such a thing, nor is our understanding of the human brain.

 

[Jeremiah]

Ahhh. Good. So we have the technology to screw up other planets as well...

Screw them up? The other solid planets in our solar-system are lifeless, barren wastelands with little to no atmosphere, extreme weather, and radical surface temperatures. There is no much left we can do to "screw up" the other planets.

 

[Jeremiah]

The ecological implications of near-immortality in humans would be overwhelming. The Earth couldn't physically sustain countless billions of people.

The Earth could sustain many folds what it does now. It is the effectiveness of our use of resources that is pathetic. The question is not whether the Earth can sustain us but, rather: Can humans manage such huge population? Consider the job we are doing with just 6.6 billion.

 

[Adramelek]

Immortality is one of those ultimate questions. To me, I think the possibility exists for psyche centric immortality. However, I do know of others who explore the idea of the perpetual re-generation of the physical body as well. As for the later, I'm not convinced, though it does conjure some interesting ideas concerning the Vampyric Essence. But the concept of the immortality of the psyche/soul is of great interest to me.

 

[Mister Emu]

And that last one is important. If some of the predictions are correct, a few decades from now, medicine will have advanced to the point that aging will be abolished.

That seems highly optimistic... I'd wager more than a few decades will have to pass before that happens...

Some of the more... interesting predictions say that computer science and neurology will also play a part in extending lifespans: There is nothing fundamentally preventing us from copying and running a human mind in a computer. Software does not decay and can be copied endlessly.

I am the Lawnmower Man mwahahaha!

 

[Abulafia]

Screw them up? The other solid planets in our solar-system are lifeless, barren wastelands with little to no atmosphere, extreme weather, and radical surface temperatures. There is no much left we can do to "screw up" the other planets.

I don't neccessarily think he was referring to the planets inside our solar-system, or even in our knowledge. I know I was referring to "possibly life sustaining planets", outside our knowledge.

 

[Jeremiah]

I don't neccessarily think he was referring to the planets inside our solar-system, or even in our knowledge. I know I was referring to "possibly life sustaining planets", outside our knowledge.

If that is a case, then we don't have such technology, nor are we close to having it. We can't move at the speeds needed to make colonization of distance planet realistic. We don't even know if such speeds are possible.

The next step is a permanently manned station on the Moon, and even that could be several decades away; then still even longer for colonization of the Moon. Then after the Moon it would be on to Mars.

It is possible that humankind will never escape this solar-system, the distances just might prove to be too great.

 

[Jeremiah]

I doubt anyone here will be alive to see anything like immortality or colonization of other solar-systems. If such things are even possible they are still a very long way away.

 

[EverChanging]

I doubt anyone here will be alive to see anything like immortality or colonization of other solar-systems. If such things are even possible they are still a very long way away.

That's perfectly fine with me. I just don't get this immortality crap.

 

[xkatz]

I think that immortality would suck. Yes, you could live forever, but then life becomes meaningless and also, you become afraid of dying from other things.

 

[Jeremiah]

The idea that science will give immorality is equivalent to the ideas: that humans have an immortal soul, making a mark in history is a form of immorality or by passing on your genetic code you somehow live on.

All of it is just the human mind desperately grasping at a life it sees slipping between it fingers. They are just coping mechanisms.

 

[PolyHedral]

I absolutely abhor the thought of living forever. Why would I want to do that? I am not afraid of dying. I want to live life fully, and then when it is time to go, I quite look forward to it, and not because I believe in a soul or afterlife because I don't. Death is sacramental to me. It is a part of life. I am meant to die. It's in my psyche.

Then why not live life more? And surely, if death were a part of life, almost every creature on Earth wouldn't be hard-wired to avoid it?

Well, no one is really going to outlive Hell...God doesn't have to worry about that. Eventually, even if the Illumantian Secret-Bearers outlive the Earth (which I consider highly unlikely....) there will be a big crunch or big fizzle....Our universe isn't immortal, and we, the inconspicuous micro-beings, will undoubtedly cease to live, without our fetal provider....

Do computer programs, an entirely mathematical construct, end up in Hell?

The ecological implications of near-immortality in humans would be overwhelming. The Earth couldn't physically sustain countless billions of people.

While that's true, it is somewhat of a self-regulating issue: If we get it wrong, people die, relieving the problem. The issue becomes moot if/when we can upload brains.

Sounds like wishful thinking.

As far as I'm concerned, so is Heaven. And I find the idea of biological messing-around far more plausible than a mystical place that has avoided all detection thus far.

Computer science is nowhere close to such a thing, nor is our understanding of the human brain.

Well, computer science has been in existence for under a century, and has already produced things which would have been considered impossible even 20 years ago.

That seems highly optimistic... I'd wager more than a few decades will have to pass before that happens...

The computer is only a few decades old. How many micro-processors are in the room you're sitting in?

If that is a case, then we don't have such technology, nor are we close to having it. We can't move at the speeds needed to make colonization of distance planet realistic. We don't even know if such speeds are possible.

Depends what you mean by "realistic." After all, traveling hundreds of light-years isn't a problem if you're a computer program.

The idea that science will give immorality is equivalent to the ideas: that humans have an immortal soul, making a mark in history is a form of immorality or by passing on your genetic code you somehow live on.

How so? I'm talking about modifying biology so that aging simply doesn't happen, and there has been serious research towards that goal.