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I don't understand why whenever there is a discussion about aging research, people always bring out the problem of us living forever or till the end of the univ

by maxwin 7y ago

I don't understand why whenever there is a discussion about aging research, people always bring out the problem of us living forever or till the end of the universe. I mean how about just double or triple our lifespan which is nothing wrong and we still have no idea how to do that. I think maybe the reason why so many people is against it is because of religion.

codetrotter 7y ago
Double or triple would be fine. I am not religious. The person that I am responding to explicitly said he wanted for life to extend to the end of the universe, so that’s why I am responding with my thoughts about exactly that.
- xvector 7y ago
  If someone wants to live until the heat death, it’s their prerogative.
redleader55 7y ago
There's a very famous series of books by Isaac Asimov that deals with this problem - The Robots. Basically once humans are able to increase their life span, they become reluctant to take any risks and the become stuck in their own "immortality". It's no different than what the GP says. Weather it's until the end of the universe or just a few hundred years, we still become more risk adverse and less capable of change.
- xvector 7y ago
  I do not see this as a bad thing. I would rather live happily ever after than take life-ending risks. That said, I disagree with the premise. Any true form of immortality would virtualize us. As individuals we would be able to take risks as never before. Paragliding through dangerous canyons? Why not? Worst case scenario your fleshy avatar dies, and you wait a few weeks in a virtual utopia as a new one is printed. And even that is only if we choose to continue to confine ourselves to human qualia. Being virtualized would enable us to experience the universe in whole new ways - who would want to constrict themselves to mere human experiences ever again? I think this short story explains these concept really well. Don’t worry about the cliche romance backstory - it was written in 1989: http://www.skyhunter.com/marcs/GentleSeduction.html http://www.skyhunter.com/marcs/GentleSeduction.html
- FeepingCreature 7y ago
  Gonna be honest - once we have backups, I'm totally intending to go into seriously risky behaviors. So this is 100% the opposite of how I intend to live my life.
  - vidarh 7y ago
    The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect [1] describes a post-singularity world where an AI prevents people from dying permanently, and one woman in protest takes up finding creative ways to kill herself (and getting stopped and patched up each time) and turns it into a sport with a following... I'm sure there would be some people that'd take risks to that extreme. [1] http://www.localroger.com/prime-intellect/ http://www.localroger.com/prime-intellect/ (with the warning that it is pretty gruesome)
  - ta999999171 7y ago
    So you'll kill yourself doing risky things... and then a clone of your mind will continue your life? Seems...shortsighted.
    - FeepingCreature 7y ago
      Patternism is the only theory of self consistent with materialist reductionism.
- baddox 7y ago
  Technology can increase our lifespans and it can also reduce the risk of whatever we’re most worried about. People already use technology to drastically reduce the risk of activities that are desirable for various reasons. Obvious examples include prophylactics for sexual activity and seat belts for automobiles.
- yibg 7y ago
  People take plenty of risks before the tail end of their life span now. Don’t see why that would change if we live a long time.

by maxwin 7y ago

codetrotter 7y ago

Double or triple would be fine. I am not religious. The person that I am responding to explicitly said he wanted for life to extend to the end of the universe, so that’s why I am responding with my thoughts about exactly that.

xvector 7y ago
If someone wants to live until the heat death, it’s their prerogative.

redleader55 7y ago

There's a very famous series of books by Isaac Asimov that deals with this problem - The Robots. Basically once humans are able to increase their life span, they become reluctant to take any risks and the become stuck in their own "immortality". It's no different than what the GP says. Weather it's until the end of the universe or just a few hundred years, we still become more risk adverse and less capable of change.

xvector 7y ago
I do not see this as a bad thing. I would rather live happily ever after than take life-ending risks. That said, I disagree with the premise. Any true form of immortality would virtualize us. As individuals we would be able to take risks as never before. Paragliding through dangerous canyons? Why not? Worst case scenario your fleshy avatar dies, and you wait a few weeks in a virtual utopia as a new one is printed. And even that is only if we choose to continue to confine ourselves to human qualia. Being virtualized would enable us to experience the universe in whole new ways - who would want to constrict themselves to mere human experiences ever again? I think this short story explains these concept really well. Don’t worry about the cliche romance backstory - it was written in 1989: http://www.skyhunter.com/marcs/GentleSeduction.html http://www.skyhunter.com/marcs/GentleSeduction.html
FeepingCreature 7y ago
Gonna be honest - once we have backups, I'm totally intending to go into seriously risky behaviors. So this is 100% the opposite of how I intend to live my life.
- vidarh 7y ago
  The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect [1] describes a post-singularity world where an AI prevents people from dying permanently, and one woman in protest takes up finding creative ways to kill herself (and getting stopped and patched up each time) and turns it into a sport with a following... I'm sure there would be some people that'd take risks to that extreme. [1] http://www.localroger.com/prime-intellect/ http://www.localroger.com/prime-intellect/ (with the warning that it is pretty gruesome)
- ta999999171 7y ago
  So you'll kill yourself doing risky things... and then a clone of your mind will continue your life? Seems...shortsighted.
  - FeepingCreature 7y ago
    Patternism is the only theory of self consistent with materialist reductionism.
baddox 7y ago
Technology can increase our lifespans and it can also reduce the risk of whatever we’re most worried about. People already use technology to drastically reduce the risk of activities that are desirable for various reasons. Obvious examples include prophylactics for sexual activity and seat belts for automobiles.
yibg 7y ago
People take plenty of risks before the tail end of their life span now. Don’t see why that would change if we live a long time.