Immortality

[PLFXpert 0]

It's pretty clear what the spiritual believe w/r/t immortality, but the idea is not one limited to the religious. Immortality seems to appeal to a wide-range of people from all walks of life.

I don't have any specific question I'm looking to have answered, but rather just wanted to open the topic for discussion.

I'm hoping for ethical arguments as well as opinions on desirability (or undesirability).

Would you want to "oscillate between being biologically 20 and biologically 25 indefinitely" as gerontologist Aubrey de Grey hopes to achieve?

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[nanook 1]

I want to be biologically 18 forever. Damn I looked good then. I would probably get rid of the mullet though. With immortality, i wonder about the affairs of the world and if it would be more peaceful. Imagine being 500 years old and still have the vigor of an 18 year old. You would have experience of history along with many others. No pass-down memories and lessons from grandpa to forget. Unless you were a total idiot, you would be very wealthy.

Would Historians still be needed?

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"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[lawrocket 3]

There's another side. Imagine a life in which you cannot die. You cannot be killed. A person who need not face consequences is probably going to do more destructive things.

Mortality is a nice little check on things.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[PLFXpert 0]

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There's another side. Imagine a life in which you cannot die. You cannot be killed. A person who need not face consequences is probably going to do more destructive things.

Mortality is a nice little check on things.

Only if the immortality one desires is physical.

What about age-defying immortality? One could still be killed today by anything which could kill a person today, except for age.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[nanook 1]

Damn,
I was really fancying running around with a broadsword screaming "There can only be one"

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[Darius11 12]

I think it would be frightening and horrible. Think of the over population, hunger not to mention how ugly the planet would look with no natural land left.

There is a part of me that would love to be around until we start discovering space like they do in the movies. I don’t think there could be anything more exciting, but I also believe death is a part of the cycle and the only true justice left in the world. We all die thank god for that.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[alw 0]

I seem to recall an exercise a few years ago that projected the life expectancy if aging and disease wee eliminated. The number was somewhere around 800 years and the cause of death would be trauma of some sort.

Michio Kaku refers to an accumulation of knowledge over time by the human race in his book "Theory of Everything". The idea that where we stand today is the sum total of where we have been in the past. In times like the dark ages when plague killed of a huge portion of the humans on earth, and other times man made such as war the progress was slower and in some cases even reversed.

Now imagine that the constant string of progression of knowledge was a species but an individual or group of individuals. An 800 year old Galileo or Einstein or Hawking would not have to be interupted by finding someone capable of understanding their thoughts and studies. They would be able to progress them themselves.

I have considered the question of physical immortality in terms of intergalactic or perhaps even interdimentional travel. Consider the ability to transfer the essence of human thought and being to a relatively indestructable form with a millenial power supply. This would impart a manner of immortality. The question that might arise immediately is how to maintain the mental health of such a "being".

Immortality does not have to imply ecological armageddon. Would not a person with immortal life have more respect for it rather than less? And could they not find an answer to the question of how to maintain their environment?

What keeps coming to mind is a question. If necessity is the mother of invention what inspires creativity if we have everything we want?

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[Gene03 0]

Not to mention we would spend the rest of eternity sending out birthday cards.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[quade 3]

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Would you want to "oscillate between being biologically 20 and biologically 25 indefinitely" as gerontologist Aubrey de Grey hopes to achieve?

Yes! When you're more than twice that age and look back at the differences between what you could do and what you can do it's not a tough question to answer at all. Forget immortality, if I could have the same body and functionality from 25 to 75 and then just keel over dead it would be a HUGE improvement in quality of life.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[PLFXpert 0]

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if I could have the same body and functionality from 25 to 75 and then just keel over dead it would be a HUGE improvement in quality of life.

In what way might you just keel over dead at 75?

If the process of maintaining such a biological age is realized, wouldn't one who decides "they've seen enough" resume natural aging once they've stopped the process?

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[PLFXpert 0]

Great post!

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If necessity is the mother of invention what inspires creativity if we have everything we want?

I'd like to come back to this when I have more time (no pun intended ).

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[FreeflyChile 0]

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I seem to recall an exercise a few years ago that projected the life expectancy if aging and disease wee eliminated. The number was somewhere around 800 years and the cause of death would be trauma of some sort.

Michio Kaku refers to an accumulation of knowledge over time by the human race in his book "Theory of Everything". The idea that where we stand today is the sum total of where we have been in the past. In times like the dark ages when plague killed of a huge portion of the humans on earth, and other times man made such as war the progress was slower and in some cases even reversed.

Now imagine that the constant string of progression of knowledge was a species but an individual or group of individuals. An 800 year old Galileo or Einstein or Hawking would not have to be interupted by finding someone capable of understanding their thoughts and studies. They would be able to progress them themselves.

I have considered the question of physical immortality in terms of intergalactic or perhaps even interdimentional travel. Consider the ability to transfer the essence of human thought and being to a relatively indestructable form with a millenial power supply. This would impart a manner of immortality. The question that might arise immediately is how to maintain the mental health of such a "being".

Immortality does not have to imply ecological armageddon. Would not a person with immortal life have more respect for it rather than less? And could they not find an answer to the question of how to maintain their environment?

What keeps coming to mind is a question. If necessity is the mother of invention what inspires creativity if we have everything we want?

Just curious - does this exercise define disease as pathogens only, or including 'diseases' that are the abnormal growth or deterioration of the body, or even 'diseases' that are disorders due to abnormal or irregular development of the body in its developing stages?

[quade 3]

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if I could have the same body and functionality from 25 to 75 and then just keel over dead it would be a HUGE improvement in quality of life.

In what way might you just keel over dead at 75?
If the process of maintaining such a biological age is realized, wouldn't one who decides "they've seen enough" resume natural aging once they've stopped the process?

My point isn't that 75 would be a hard cut off, but if you could get the 25 year old body and functionality to that point it would be a huge improvement over what we currently have regardless of whether or not you lived past the current median age.

When George Bernard Shaw wrote, "Youth is wasted on the young," he wasn't just being glib.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[alw 0]

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Just curious - does this exercise define disease as pathogens only, or including 'diseases' that are the abnormal growth or deterioration of the body, or even 'diseases' that are disorders due to abnormal or irregular development of the body in its developing stages?

I don't remember. I think it was a blanket - you gotta be killed, otherwise you own't die - sorta thing.

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[alw 0]

Oddly enough my wife, a breast cancer survivor was given a 1 in 10 chance before treatment when she was 46 years old (11 years ago).

I recently asked her if she were given a chance to be 100% healthy with the physical attributes of a 20 year old but the same experiences and brain that she has now, would she. She said, "No." Not everyone sees life the same way, even those who really do see it as a gift.

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[real1324 0]

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I want to be biologically 18 forever. Damn I looked good then. I would probably get rid of the mullet though. With immortality, i wonder about the affairs of the world and if it would be more peaceful. Imagine being 500 years old and still have the vigor of an 18 year old. You would have experience of history along with many others. No pass-down memories and lessons from grandpa to forget. Unless you were a total idiot, you would be very wealthy.

Would Historians still be needed?

I think everyone looks good at 18...lol

[PLFXpert 0]

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if you could get the 25 year old body and functionality to that point it would be a huge improvement over what we currently have regardless of whether or not you lived past the current median age.

Would you say life becomes less worthwhile as you age?

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[quade 3]

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Would you say life becomes less worthwhile as you age?

I'd say that beyond a certain point it certainly is a lot less enjoyable for the vast majority of people, simply due to physical issues, than it was at 20-25.

For instance, Alzheimer's, is a pretty bad way to live for say 15 extra years.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[FreeflyChile 0]

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I want to be biologically 18 forever. Damn I looked good then. I would probably get rid of the mullet though. With immortality, i wonder about the affairs of the world and if it would be more peaceful. Imagine being 500 years old and still have the vigor of an 18 year old. You would have experience of history along with many others. No pass-down memories and lessons from grandpa to forget. Unless you were a total idiot, you would be very wealthy.

Would Historians still be needed?

I think everyone looks good at 18...lol

That makes me think...if everyone could stay looking youthful like an 18-20 year old.... would that make the world more or less petty?

On the one hand, more people looking young makes it so that looking young is not a big deal so the veneration of the beauty of young, attractive people wouldn't be as bad, but on the other hand if people stayed young looking forever I think for some it would be harder to mature to the point of looking past physical appearances that sometimes comes with age (and aging).

[PLFXpert 0]

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I think for some it would be harder to mature to the point of looking past physical appearances that sometimes comes with age (and aging).

I would argue it comes with time, knowledge and experience, rather than with age itself.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[FreeflyChile 0]

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I think for some it would be harder to mature to the point of looking past physical appearances that sometimes comes with age (and aging).

I would argue it comes with time, knowledge and experience, rather than with age itself.

I think that's true of some people. I think for others it comes with the realization that youth, and the physical advantages of youth, are transitory and temporary.

[PLFXpert 0]

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I think for others it comes with the realization that youth, and the physical advantages of youth, are transitory and temporary.

True, however, w/r/t remaining "biologically 18 forever" a youthful appearance would be neither transitory nor temporary.

Regarding attractiveness, I would also argue it would change with time, knowledge & experience.

I can't imagine anyone so vain thriving in a world filled with immortal people.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[alw 0]

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Would you say life becomes less worthwhile as you age?

In my experience I would say just the opposite. I would say that life and time becomes more worthwhile. You realize the value of life and the value of that which you may have left. You tend to focus more outward and less inward. You tend to see further and realize that you may not travel as far as you can see. You tend to spend the minutes very carefully.

Of course this is just one perspective.

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[grimmie 176]

Immortal is WAY to long to pay taxes for!

[PLFXpert 0]

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In my experience I would say just the opposite. I would say that life and time becomes more worthwhile. You realize the value of life and the value of that which you may have left. You tend to focus more outward and less inward. You tend to see further and realize that you may not travel as far as you can see. You tend to spend the minutes very carefully.

How then, in your opinion, might maintaining a biological age of between 20 & 25 affect what one values in life and how one spends their time?

Take a 25-year-old of today for example--she might already be on her way up the corporate ladder, saving her money and striving to be a big success. Would she perhaps, given the opportunity to live biologically 25 indefinitely, be in such a hurry?

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.