Born 50yrs too early...

willhub said:
I'd like to live forever, or die, come back as someone else, of course, you'd not realise it... But I find the idea of nothingness for eternity horrifying even if we would not realise it, it just seems odd, can't imagine it, just can't get the mind around it.
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It's the inevitability of death, coming at you like a freight train, that's just depressing :( Seems a long way off at the moment, but all too soon, it'll be right in your face...

*and today's next happy thought is....*
 
willhub said:
But I find the idea of nothingness for eternity horrifying even if we would not realise it, it just seems odd, can't imagine it, just can't get the mind around it.
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I feel the exact same way. The concept of death, the end of my sentience and just..nothing...impossible to comprehend..it's a horrible idea.

Makes you realise why the idea of "eternity in paradise" is such as easy concept to sell.
 
I've thought about this before and have come to a creepy conclusion.

Human Cloning is not far off, the only limiting at present is really laws against human cloning right? and fine tuning of course but what if you could clone a grown adult and put the clone in a cryogenic state then if version 1 dies version 2 can be unfrozen?

I understand the memories in the brain would be the hardest part to store or transfer but what if in the future they find a way to do this very easily? afterall the brain is a electrical conductor and finding the right "data" can't be far off!

That would be true immortality!

</far fetched mode>
 
drunkenmaster said:
This is part of the hilarious idea of religion and heaven/hell, do you really want a eternity in heaven, honestly, what is there to do you would enjoy doing FOREVER.

Sex would be boring if you did it every few hours for the rest of time, as would bowling, reading and anything else anyone can think of. I'd prefer to stop, eventually as at some point there is literally nothing left to do, theres only a finite amount of things to do and see on earth. If we didn't have to work for 2/3rds of the day for 2/3rds of our lives, well, we'd be bored to tears, and most of those who work for so long are doing jobs that mean nothing to them and are boring. We've filled up our lives with so much meaningless crap anyway, you could condence the interesting stuff that was worthwhile and fun, into several years most likely, skip the rest and be done.
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Then selectively erase the memory you wish to experience again as new, if technology was sufficiently advanced and we ended up in some kind of utopian civilisation then most issues like this could be dealt with, almost anything can be done if its possible and you had the knowledge and technology to do it.

willhub said:
I'd like to live forever, or die, come back as someone else, of course, you'd not realise it... But I find the idea of nothingness for eternity horrifying even if we would not realise it, it just seems odd, can't imagine it, just can't get the mind around it.
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Horrifying? Seriously? I don't think you've really thought about it and taken everything into account, taking a more logical view of what we know about reality, you might want to reconsider living forever whether by advances in technology or a kind of reincarnation in time and space, first off presuming your individual conscious existence is a one off chance of incredible odds, you've been quite unaware and unaffected by your previous non existence which has lasted for a unimaginable amount of time, would you really want to experience the chaos of the universe since the big bang and possibly before?

Next let's say that science comes up with the technology to give you billions of years to live, let's say after millions of years eventually the civilisation on earth will be wiped out or moved on, perhaps you escape on a spaceship, next the sun goes, then the stars in the galaxy go out, after billions and trillions of years all that will be left is black holes and the void of space, eventually the very matter your made of will break down and essentially disappear, so you'll die one way or another most likely, now you have to ask is being conscious for all those trillions of years worth it, because who knows what may happen both good and bad in that time?

Now here's the really weird bit that goes along with your wish for essentially eternal consciousness and i have to say it ain't likely good overall and may be quite depressing and even scary to think, we know that we can consciously exist at least once because here we are, so whos to say it can't happen again?

No im not talking in a spiritual soul sense although it's possible, no in theory it's possible that time and space are infinite and it means that in infinity all possibilities can happen, which means that given enough time you can consciously come into existence again in some form, you won't have past life memory to know it but whatever things that come together which makes you you could and should happen again given enough time, which means in infinity if you die from your point of view trillions of years will pass in an instant, universes will pop in and out of existence but eventually and instantly from your perspective you will become conscious again in some way, shape or form and it will happen without end, you will get to experience everything as new again and all the good and bad the universe has to offer because all possibilities can happen, i don't know about you but non existence sounds preferable to consciousness without end. :eek:
 
Radiation said:
i don't know about you but non existence sounds preferable to consciousness without end. :eek:
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Indeed... But maybe a good few hundred years of consciousness sound preferable to popping your clogs just about when you've begun to get the hang if it...
 
I guess this question must be raised - Would we still be human and "alive" if your entire experience of living is mediated/aided by internal nanobots?
 
Just out of interest, what happens when we reach a singularity? Will we implode in a green cloud of smoke? Or will Sam Neill be knocking at my window with his gash face? :confused:
 
Linwig said:
Just out of interest, what happens when we reach a singularity? Will we implode in a green cloud of smoke? Or will Sam Neill be knocking at my window with his gash face? :confused:
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The AI in our global network will keep increasing its potential until it decides our fate and we join it and/or it takes over the earth in a big grey nanobot soup of super computer intelligence which invents new technologies and takes over the universe, eventually discovering the secrets of the universe and becomes god or something...
 
Then we will all be living like the Omegas, or suffering because of them.
Reading a book now which touches (loosely) on this very subject, "Prophet without Honor", however these people in power who have the technology, as people put it "live forever" sort of wipe out most of the human race in the process.

The only problem I see scientists having issues with is our brain, you could probably replace & regenerate every cell in your body with relative ease, just as you can transplant some parts today.

However, we don't understand the brain enough to go poking around there, I mean, replacing brain cells you'd think you would start losing your memory, or can they be regenerated?.. that's going to be the real show stopper.

Immortal? No, you still can be mortally wounded, but if you lead a lucky enough life to avoid accidents and murder etc, a long, long time.
 
You know some nights when you go to sleep and you seem to instantly wake up, but then look at the clock and 8 hours have passed? That's how I picture being dead.
 
NeilFawcett said:
Indeed... But maybe a good few hundred years of consciousness sound preferable to popping your clogs just about when you've begun to get the hang if it...
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Maybe but I've got my doubts on that, if you've never read Gulliver's Travels it is worth doing so, partly because it is an entertaining story but also because it is bitingly satirical and deeply allegorical. What's perhaps most impressive is that much of the allegory is still valid today, particularly in this instance the Struldbrugs, a race that were immortal but rather than being forever young were by comparison forever old.

Sounds absolutely horrendous to be forever young or forever old, I presently have no desire to live forever or even anywhere approaching an approximation of that, maybe that will change as I get closer to death but right now I quite like the fact that I've got a finite span to do my living in. "We are all under a sentence of death, but with a sort of indefinite reprieve." - Victor Hugo.

Nitefly said:
By that, I meant life has been around for approximately 4.5 billion years (give or take several hundred million).
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Indeed, what's a few hundred million between friends? It's several orders of magnitude less than America's national debt for instance. :p
 
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