Immortality

[Ruffdaddy]

I absolutely want to live forever, and want others to as well.

Think of human civilization and the progress we've made so far. Think of how much MORE has been hampered by the limits of our biology.

Think of how much further along we'd be if once in a generation geniuses like Da Vinci, Newton, Tesla, Einstein, etc. were still around and contributing to science.

Think about the intellect and experience destroyed when we die, only to have the next generation spending a third or more of their own lives relearning what has already been learned before they contribute anything to the world, only to have the process repeated.

Think of the limits we conciously or unconciously place on society at large due to our inherent limitations:
Govt. Debt being taken and rolled over because the consequences are likely to be borne by a future generation, and not ourselves.
Lack of long term investment because the true benefits are unlikely to be realized within the lifetime.

Think of how the longer lifespan will affect things like the colonization of space, and manned exploration of our arm of the galaxy.

Think of how a longer lifespan will allow us to think in the scales of time needed to become a type 1, even a type 2 civilization.

I think mastering longevity is the gateway to the next stage of human evolution. This is an exciting time to be alive. To possibly be the first generation to benefit from it is an exciting prospect.

Procrastination will increase 10 fold, productivity will slow massively. While I admire your pipe dream...it's just that...a dream.

Limited time is what puts a rush on things.

This would keep welfare riders alive, and jack up the younger generations unemployment...thus raising time it takes for knowledge sharing.

[LANTIRN]

Anyone interested in the thought of immortality should see the movie The Man From Earth. It used to be on netflix but I think it is removed now. It is about a guy who claims to be 14,000 years old. All dialogue, no action, but interesting and thought provoking.

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/

[Scott Mc]

I am down for being a guinea pig, beats getting old if it fails.

[Forever_frost]

I'm for immortality only if I get to have a cybernetic body. Screw being susceptible to the flu and injuries forever.

[sc281]

1 Procrastination will increase 10 fold, productivity will slow massively. While I admire your pipe dream...it's just that...a dream.

2 Limited time is what puts a rush on things.

3 This would keep welfare riders alive, and jack up the younger generations unemployment...thus raising time it takes for knowledge sharing.

1) Why do you think productivity will slow? Productivity has been increasing exponentially with the advent of computer and automation technology. What took an entire floor of paper pushers in the 50's is done now by a guy with a laptop. What takes hundreds of people to do today will take only a few to do by the end of the century, those few being the human labor that services and repairs the robots who do the work.

2) As I touched on in my previous post, limited time is far from a benefit to advancement. It is in fact our biggest hindrance.

Necessity is the mother of invention, not limited time.

You are absolutely right about things being less rushed though, and this too is a plus. Our way of thinking has to change. To make the leaps forward will require thinking consequences out centuries, millennia in advance. People "in a rush" are almost exclusively thinking in a short term way, and that precludes us from paying due attention to long term concerns.

3) With the impact automation has already had on the world, and is likely to have in the future, things like employment may well become the exception rather than the rule.

Almost half the transactions of a bank are now being done through electronic means and not through a branch, and staff levels are being reduced to account for that.

Electronic ordering is now rolling out to your restaurants and fast food joints, eliminating the front line order takers.

I can go on, but you get the point.

The way technology is advancing, the things that made us dependent on one another for survival are being democratized, even today we see the precursors of the technology.

Electricity: Solar power technology. Wireless transmission, etc.
Water: Atmospheric Condensers
Heat and a/c: Geothermal
Food: production:genetic engineering of crops and efficient square-foot gardening techniques.
Learning: The web, and beyond.
Small scale manufacturing: 3d printing
Labor multipliers: cost efficient robotics. Think roomba, or rosie from the jetsons.
Healthcare: nanites. We are already looking to these as the next frontier of medicine for when diseases become wholly antibiotic resistant.

These advancements I believe will be the new welfare programs of the future. The days of give a man a fish will be over. The man will have the means to sustain himself, anywhere on the planet. Even if infrastructure is not present, for a minimum of cost. Someone's choice or inability to gain employment will no longer be a societal drain to be borne. It will be the norm.

Our "workweek" may eventually become 3 or 4 hours, due to the minimal human input needed.



Necessity being the mother of invention, the need for expansion will become our main driver. I see the 10% of people responsible for most of the advancements humans have made for history continuing their breakthroughs, being the few employed and of course enjoying a higher standard of living than the person choosing not to work because of it. These are the people who actually want to be at work today, and are the few producers not taking up a desk because they have to.



A lot of this will happen regardless of immortality, but the longevity of knowledge and experience will be a force multiplier likes of industrialization, giving us a new perspective on what will be possible.

[Ruffdaddy]

You're off your rocker dude

[sc281]

You're off your rocker dude

I'm not your dude, pal.

I give you thought out arguments, with real world examples of technological precursors, and you throw out a bullshit five word reply?! From the way you threw out unsubstantiated generalizations and bullshit assumptions in your previous post, are you sure you want to be throwing stones in your glass house?

I'd ask you to refute my posts and show me where I'm erring, but judging from your past posts I wouldn't respect your opinion on the matter anyway. Please direct Strychnine, Slow99, Roscoe, or someone else whose opinion I respect to point out where I am in error, or perhaps overly optimistic in the predictions, I'd appreciate it.

[diablo rojo]

Fruit flies have intestines?!



No, I don't want immortality. Hell, I don't think I want to live past 100. I believe in natural selection. Overpopulation is going to become a real problem if every disease is cured and people start living forever.

[mstng86]

And here we are
We're the princes of the universe

[Ruffdaddy]

I'm not your dude, pal.

I give you thought out arguments, with real world examplesof technological precursors, and you throw out a bullshit five word reply?! From the way you threw out unsubstantiated generalizations and bullshit assumptions in your previous post, are you sure you want to be throwing stones in your glass house?

I'd ask you to refute my posts and show me where I'm erring, but judging from your past posts I wouldn't respect your opinion on the matter anyway. Please direct Strychnine, Slow99, Roscoe, or someone else whose opinion I respect to point out where I am in error, or perhaps overly optimistic, I'd appreciate it.

Lol geez dude dont get so flustered. There is not fucking proof either way so there is no such thing as a real world example. Strychnine works in technical sales, slow99 finance, and I don't know roscoe.

But I can tell you from working in both the defense and oil and gas industries (which are largely older engineers) that knowledge share doesn't happen as you are dreaming it does. Computers are what sped development cycles, decision makers slow them to give them time to properly react to customer needs and the market.

Have you ever worked in technology development? It's a serious question, and would explain your misconceptions about how this shit works.

If you actually only gave the immortality drug to the productive/elite 10%, you would just make the rich much richer.

[Ruffdaddy]

Give any scientist/engineer/technologist a week to solve a problem..it will take 2.

Give them the same problem to solve in a month, it will take a month and a week.

[jluv]

World peace and the cure to terminal diseases are only cool ideas on the surface. Both will ultimately ruin us, assuming they become reality. They won't. We would/will eventually run out of resources on this relatively small rock.

[Vanner27]

"No one lives forever, no one. But with advances in modern science and my high level income, it's not crazy to think I can live to be 245, maybe 300." -Ricky Bobby

[Scott Mc]

Could it be the only hope for humanity is a reboot?

[slow99]

Sean thinks we're fucked; who'd have thought?!