Human immortality through artificial bodies?

[LVUER]

I want to live forever because there's so much I want to do. So much that it will take may be hundreds or thousands of years. When I have done all things I want to do, by then surely I've found bunches of new things that I want to do. Really, life is beautiful... it's even more beautiful if you have forever to life

Won't it have more meaning, if you have to choose a few you really want to do? In my eyes it will appear more precious, and so life too. Also, I think after a while you'll take life for granted, which will make you forget what was good about it.

Hmmm... this could turn the thread into a debate of whether immortality is good or not. Everyone have their own preference and opinion, so let us end it at that

Note: Though if we really want to debate about that, we can open a new thread. It's a good reference when we want to make a game with theme of immortality.

[Arelune]

Well, I definitely wouldn't kill anybody over it. O_o;;

I'm sure not. It just reminded me of him.

Stressing out over choices is actually a good way to make yourself unhappy. If you didn't have to choose, and you could just... well, do anything, you'd probably end up more satisfied.

Well that's true. But if you can do anything, you'll still have to choose what first. Same problem. I have that one a lot in vacations.

Hmmm... this could turn the thread into a debate of whether immortality is good or not. Everyone have their own preference and opinion, so let us end it at that

Ah, sorry. I'll stop. ^^' *Likes debates*

[TrickWithAKnife]

Even if we became ageless, true immortality would be impossible.
If you chose to end your existence, it would be possible.

How can anyone experience all that this world has to offer in a single lifetime?
New things come faster than we can experience them.

Imagine speaking every language, experiencing living in every culture, experiencing a huge number of jobs, reading every book you want. Life is not static. Everything will change faster than you can experience it.

I wonder what our views of immortality say about our personalities. Probably best not to debate that part.

[LVUER]

Hmmm... this could turn the thread into a debate of whether immortality is good or not. Everyone have their own preference and opinion, so let us end it at that

Ah, sorry. I'll stop. ^^' *Likes debates*

It's ok. It's always good and nice to have a healthy debate once in a while. Just like I said, if everybody wants it, you can open a thread for debating whether it's good or not to have immortality (as long as it's not about the philosophy and it have something to do with VN making).

[Victoria Jennings]

t's ok. It's always good and nice to have a healthy debate once in a while. Just like I said, if everybody wants it, you can open a thread for debating whether it's good or not to have immortality (as long as it's not about the philosophy and it have something to do with VN making).

Wait, even in general discussion? I thought this section was just for random crap we felt like talking about. U:

[Arelune]

Wait, even in general discussion? I thought this section was just for random crap we felt like talking about. U:

I knew political debates weren't allowed, but it seems philosophical ones aren't either. Probably because those tend to get heated when the wrong person answers.

I doubt anyone is making a game about immortals who would be interested in this though.

As for the rest, feel free to say whatever.
-worried she scared away commenters -

[Lekhaka]

lol Arelune, you and wakagana certainly aren't the minority in the general human population. It would see that there may be some sort of selection effect on the people who posted in this thread so far. (which is not surprising)

Aside from all the consequenses on demographic etc.
Why do you all want to life forever??? :S Life is better because it has an end.
Imagine a great game that never ends, you can't do anything else except that. After a while you will get tired of it, you'll want to stop.
Immortality seems really boring to me.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Perhaps you misunderstood. Whether you're biologically immortal, or uploaded as a brain emulation, you'd still be able to be destroyed. It's not like one of those emo vampire stories where the guy actually cannot die, and is cursed with suffering forever.

The problem is probably the confusion of the word "immortal". This whole transhumanist business has a very precisely defined context for that. If you want true immortality, I'm afraid that doesn't seem possible since the universe, as far as we can tell, cannot support minds indefinitely. (damn entropy) The best we could do is to live to see the end of the universe.

Also shorter lives have more impact. Think about explosions.

That's highly dubious. Imagine if human knowledge can be kept by any individual continuously to advance science and tech...instead of having each generation expire after a fraction of a century and then having the next generation take 20 years to grow up and learn all the theories that came before... the former seems much more efficient. That's just one example.

It's very likely this whole "death gives meaning to life" sort of argument is a meme acquired by most humans as a way to rationalize and help them cope with the inevitability of death. Which of course was the best course of action when death really was inevitable...but now for the first time in human history this inevitability is not so clear. So this meme should be re-evaluated in light of new evidence.

[Arelune]

lol Arelune, you and wakagana certainly aren't the minority in the general human population. It would see that there may be some sort of selection effect on the people who posted in this thread so far. (which is not surprising)

Can be, it just really appeared like that here.

Perhaps you misunderstood. Whether you're biologically immortal, or uploaded as a brain emulation, you'd still be able to be destroyed. It's not like one of those emo vampire stories where the guy actually cannot die, and is cursed with suffering forever.

I was talking about 'true' immortality. It was all hypothetical.

That's highly dubious. Imagine if human knowledge can be kept by any individual continuously to advance science and tech...instead of having each generation expire after a fraction of a century and then having the next generation take 20 years to grow up and learn all the theories that came before... the former seems much more efficient. That's just one example.

That last part wasn't really that seriously meant, but I was more talking about your own life in terms of 'feelings', not impact on the world.

It's very likely this whole "death gives meaning to life" sort of argument is a meme acquired by most humans as a way to rationalize and help them cope with the inevitability of death. Which of course was the best course of action when death really was inevitable...but now for the first time in human history this inevitability is not so clear. So this meme should be re-evaluated in light of new evidence.

Oooh, why do you tempt me so, Lekhaka? I already said I'd stop to LVUER. I'll just say it's not true for me. -The end

[AnthonyHJ]

My understanding is that the cellular senescence (the finite lifespan of cells) in humans is related to our tendency to develop cancer. Cancer cells lack the 'die after a finite lifespan' function that normal cells have and so they grow and divide exponentially.

Worse than this is that the telomeres may actually serve a function in that they stop our DNA from becoming garbled. Each cell-division brings with it a small risk of damage to the DNA, so more divisions mean more chance of bad DNA. Telomeres set a hard limit on the number of divisions and keep us from losing who we are.

I'm not so sure about the 'lifespan of the brain' thing, but one of the things brought up in the Cracked article was that the major causes of death are not neurological, so organ replacements could in fact extend lifespans until disorders like Alzheimers become the new limiting factors. If we could take heart disease, diabetes, cancer and emphysema out of the picture, we'd have an ageing population who were physically as healthy as a teenager. It removes a major drain on resources (old people, care and feeding thereof) and the need to pay pensions, while also bolstering the workforce (yeah, because there are enough jobs to go around before you add every pensioner and care-home employee) for what that is worth...

Cybernetics... That's not future tech, that's just the next step. Pacemakers, hip-replacements, Oscar Pistorius, Kevin Warwick...

[Enigma]

Honestly, if I were to become immortal, I'd rather keep my own body.

Also, for doubters: http://www.cracked.com/article_18964_5- ... ortal.html

And yes, they have citations. Cracked does their research. Of course, the unsettling truth is that at some point, an age cap would have to be established. And no one would be safe... well, except for those with money, I suppose.

I actually wrote a story about this once when I was in the 7th grade...no one thought my idea was possible (the government would'nt just kill us off like that.)

As for me, the concept of living forever is appealing in a sense, but despite that, I think I'd rather face my death when my times comes. The idea of not having my original body is the part I most dislike.

[Victoria Jennings]

actually wrote a story about this once when I was in the 7th grade...no one thought my idea was possible (the government would'nt just kill us off like that.)

As for me, the concept of living forever is appealing in a sense, but despite that, I think I'd rather face my death when my times comes. The idea of not having my original body is the part I most dislike.

Well obviously, they wouldn't kill you. They'd just stop treating you with whatever it is that's extending your life. Of course, you probably already came to that conclusion, hehe.

And yeah, I totally agree with you with the "not having my original body" thing. Though, I guess being in a computer wouldn't be so bad. At least people would stop holding others to ridiculous standards appearance-wise. Not to mention, even though we'd probably live online, it'd likely be the death of trolling, at least for those who are living without their bodies (there'd probably be no way to change your user name or anything to that effect).

[Enigma]

If I got to live on line, and could physically punch trolls out...I think I might actually do it.

And of course the government will kill us of, it wouldn't be the first time they've done such a thing (note: American Government, like I know about another countries govenment) Takeing away life support is essentially the same thing as killing a person off, but with slowed results. Bah, I'm going off-topic...ignore me.

[Victoria Jennings]

And of course the government will kill us of, it wouldn't be the first time they've done such a thing (note: American Government, like I know about another countries govenment) Takeing away life support is essentially the same thing as killing a person off, but with slowed results. Bah, I'm going off-topic...ignore me.

Yes, but it's not like they'd be giving you straight-up lethal injections or anything. They'd likely just wait for you to die after you stopped receiving treatment.

...But yeah, I'll stop talking about this now. orz

[Alex]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/20 ... tists.html

Just found out about this. Dmitry Itskov is basically planning on researching how to implant a human brain into a robotic body and make it possible to live forever.

It's pretty interesting to think about this being possible in just 30-40 years. Might be a little bit farfetched/impossible, but still interesting. Just curious, how do you guys all feel about this? :v

Stanislaw Lem has already described similar situation in his "Do you exist, Mr. Jones?".

[LVUER]

t's ok. It's always good and nice to have a healthy debate once in a while. Just like I said, if everybody wants it, you can open a thread for debating whether it's good or not to have immortality (as long as it's not about the philosophy and it have something to do with VN making).

Wait, even in general discussion? I thought this section was just for random crap we felt like talking about. U:

Yeah, we can talk about (almost) anything in general discussion. I just don't want us to derail the thread... Posting one or two OOT post is OK too in general discussion, but turning it into a debate about another topic is not nice to the OP. Well, this is not a warning or anything, don't worry. So..., let's back to the topic.

Now that I think again, I don't know I want this kind of immortality or not, IF the robot isn't perfect yet. I don't want to get stuck inside a robot body who can't feel, can't eat, can't sleep, can't draw, can't walk for a long distance (due to energy requirement)... only to live FOREVER in it.

I think the "halt the aging process" way is still a soundly better solution at this time. Or if they do manage to create robot that advanced enough to simulate all human 5 senses.