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immortality: take it or leave it?
#11
If I must make a choice, it would have to be Munchausen.
With me if all challanges are removed and conquered , I would get bored very quickly.
I also would not be able to watch my children and all those I love be ravished by time and inevitably die.

I would make a very depressed moody vampire.Wink

"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. " (originated in the movie Die Hard)
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#12
Pix Wrote:You must be a transhumanist, though even most transhumanists I know aren't that optimistic (rather they think lifespans will continue to increase until aging is completely optional, and if they're lucky they'll be alive 200 years from now thanks to the life extensions harnessed by science to accept that immortality).

You've pegged me correctly. I discovered transhumanism through singulatarianism, which might explain my optimism. I'm actually surprised to hear that the transhumanists you know have such a pessimistic view (in comparison to mine at least). I'm curious to know how the ideologies of transhumanism work if one doesn't believe in the coming of these anti-aging and body enhancement technologies, many of which should, logically at least, lead to indefinite life extension.

Pix Wrote:I vaguely recall hearing some really bizarre predictions of especially powerful nanotech being used to cybernetically enhance us to the point of immortality and freedom from material needs (and there was an X-Files story on this as well) though I really don't buy that happening, but for the sake of argument I'll accept that as a possibility as well.

erm...that was probably me who posted that, heh :redface:. Out of curiosity, why do you think that nanotechnology couldn't do this? Some of the more outlandish things, such as bodies that can transform at will into pretty much anything, are admittedly a little hard to believe, but what about nanobot blood cells, both white and red? Our blood cells are already pretty much tiny cellular machines, why can't we design ones that do their job better?

Finally, I see many people saying that they'd want death to be an option because they believe that life will get boring somewhere down the line. Indeed, this is probably one of the most commonly cited reasons for opting out of immortality that I have come across. Out of curiosity, why do you guys believe that to be the case? Personally, I don't really see it happening. I have friends that I never get tired of seeing, doesn't everyone? There are tons of different entertainment media available today, and while one movie or one video game might eventually become tedious there will always be another one to take its place. In fact, these media are only getting better (or at least more advanced) as time goes on.

Am I just too young to have experienced the "life is boring" feeling? To me, it seems that life only gets more interesting with age, so the notion that one might eventually find no joy in it at all perplexes me.
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#13
This is a fantastic topic! Münchausen immortality is what i would choose because i wouldn't really want to live till i was a trillion lol. But then again i wouldn't want the whole entire world being immortal because it would become a terrible overpopulated and messy place. So i would be really selfish and make it so i was the only one who would be immortal, but i had the power to make others immortal! :tongue:
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#14
MysteryGuest Wrote:You've pegged me correctly. I discovered transhumanism through singulatarianism, which might explain my optimism. I'm actually surprised to hear that the transhumanists you know have such a pessimistic view (in comparison to mine at least). I'm curious to know how the ideologies of transhumanism work if one doesn't believe in the coming of these anti-aging and body enhancement technologies, many of which should, logically at least, lead to indefinite life extension.

In my view, Singularitarianism is transhumanism made more into a quasi-religion. It's scientific enough that I don't consider it a full religion, but at the same time there's a leap of faith involved that involves utopian thinking that incorporates more science fiction than science that does make it feel religious to me. I've never known a Singularitarian (though I've read articles), those transhumanists I know tend to be like this:




For anyone who would like to see more (since I don't see them recommended on the side on the actual YT page), here's a couple more by him on this subject:




Oh, I haven't seen this one yet! He does one on the Singularity:




There are more if you wanna look at his channel (but most of his vids are about the promotion of atheism and gay rights).

MysteryGuest Wrote:erm...that was probably me who posted that, heh :redface:. Out of curiosity, why do you think that nanotechnology couldn't do this? Some of the more outlandish things, such as bodies that can transform at will into pretty much anything, are admittedly a little hard to believe, but what about nanobot blood cells, both white and red? Our blood cells are already pretty much tiny cellular machines, why can't we design ones that do their job better?.

That can do the job better? Sure. But controlling our bodies at the molecular level so that we instantly regenerate from wounds and no longer require sustenance is just too much to believe, at least within this (unaltered) lifetime. Though I'm morbidly curious what this would do to society since government, law, and war as we know it would have to be radically changed...or even be left behind (not that this is necessarily a bad thing).

I'm also wary of the problems that could arise as well, such as nanotech that take control of our brain chemistry to make us obedient by inducing pleasure in obedience and conformity and despair in any form of rebellion...though interesting enough when I made a short story about this a couple of readers thought it would be a good idea!

In any case I don't plan to be the first to avail myself of such technologies. I'm gonna let those more optimistic and less cautious than me go first and see what happens to them (at least in the short term) before I decide it's safe to jump in, too. :tongue:

MysteryGuest Wrote:Finally, I see many people saying that they'd want death to be an option because they believe that life will get boring somewhere down the line. Indeed, this is probably one of the most commonly cited reasons for opting out of immortality that I have come across. Out of curiosity, why do you guys believe that to be the case? Personally, I don't really see it happening. I have friends that I never get tired of seeing, doesn't everyone? There are tons of different entertainment media available today, and while one movie or one video game might eventually become tedious there will always be another one to take its place. In fact, these media are only getting better (or at least more advanced) as time goes on.

Am I just too young to have experienced the "life is boring" feeling? To me, it seems that life only gets more interesting with age, so the notion that one might eventually find no joy in it at all perplexes me.

I said it was POSSIBLE. Given that no one has even come close to living a trillion years we don't know what the effects of living that long would be. I just like the idea of having an escape button.

The important thing to remember with me is that I've learned life isn't always wonderful, it can be pain and misery, and with immortality it can become pain and misery FOREVER. I don't believe in Hell, but that doesn't mean science can't create a literal Hell of eternal suffering. Just to be clear this doesn't make me opposed to transhumanism, only cautious and wanting an escape button, because it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
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#15
You are 24, Mystery. Right now you are still in that whole 'discovering the world' Phase. And assuming you have yet to stumble onto the dark belly of humanity, optimism is your best buddy.

The older you get the more things and people look the same. Keeping that 'child-like wonder' and finding new things to discover gets pretty hard after a few decades of experiences.

Sure you haven't been to Paris, or Moscow, or climbed Everest, but once you see enough cities they all start looking like, well, cities. Once you have climbed enough mountains, the experience becomes mundane.

First time discovery of a thing, place, type of person is wonderful, exiting, fresh, the hundredth time not so much, the 1000th time its getting boring, the 10,000th time now its getting annoying, the millionth time, death to escape that thing suddenly becomes a viable option.
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#16
sounds great !!! an eternity of hot gay sex Smile))
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#17
Realistically, I think we can hit Elven immortality status within our lifetimes and hopefully reverse some aging effects for older folks.

I think God-like Immortality status will eventually be possible sometime after that, once people have figured out how to transfer our brain's data into a robotic body or transfer it from one body to another.

I'd go with Elven immortality for now, but I'd aspire for God-Like immortality.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be worshipped. I just like the idea of not being able to injure myself.

I like the idea of living forever. Whether that means outliving friends and family or not, I don't care. Gives me a lot of time to get fucked in the ass ^_^
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#18
Scientific and medical technology and improved living conditions has increased the life expectancy of a human from somewhere in their mid 30's to somewhere in their mid 70 and in the last cetury the population has exploded and the strain on resources has been felt.

Immortality would just create further pressure and it wouldn't be a world that I would like to live in. Research should more on improving the 70 odd years we have.
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#19
Why would anyone want to be immortal? granted, your third choice seems agreeable for most, yet whats the point? My honest opinion is, if ever we were to have the option of being immortal, or if ever we were immortal at all, then what would be the point in living? People these days take life for granted enough as it is, even i understand this. if everyone were to be immortal, then life itself would be, in a sense, wasted. it would be more taken for granted, less appreciated than it would be only living a hundred or so years

Immortality is something i imagine a lot of people would wish for, if only to reverse the aging process. But it's a notion i feel is too far-fetched for us humans
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