Peregrine Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 If God wanted us to cure diseases he wouldn't have put them here. God made them as a test of our devotion, and if you choose life at any cost over God's plan, you burn in Hell forever. And I suppose you're also one of those evil people who dares treat their injuries. If you get hurt, its all for a reason! Fixing that broken leg is against God's plan! Pray to God for your survival, and if he wants you to live, you will. Get the point? The "god wouldn't want it" argument is one of the worst I've ever heard. If you dismiss the idea of extending our lives as wrong for that reason, you have to extend it to every other form of intervention in life/death. Or accept that you're just making an unthinking argument out of reflex/your own ignorance. Malchik, the point I was trying to make is that its not a definite thing that we could adjust to it. Say someone tomorrow comes up with a way to add 500 years onto our lives, costs almost nothing and can be given to anyone. They find that aging system and a way to turn it off. Now can you say the same? I agree that we are amazingly good at adapting, but there's no way to test it without being there. It would all depend on how quickly the average lifespan goes up. Perhaps an increase spead out over hundreds or thousands of years would give time to adapt. But a sudden discovery could easily end in trouble dealing with the fact that we're going to live so long, and the consequences of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malchik Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 I didn't miss your point Peregrine. I was not suggesting adaptation would be instant, easy or pleasant, merely that it would happen. Survival of the fittest (a generally accepted principle of evolution) would apply just as much if the ability to live to 500 was discovered tomorrow or over a period of 500 years. What seems more troublesome to me is that such advances in science will be limited to those who can pay. But that I suspect is another topic entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faust870 Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 See thats why i said "God gave us the intellegence to play god"... therefore he wants us to...he gave us free thought to do as we please... So technically perhaps, God "wanted" us to learn to be immortal? Know what i mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akrid Posted December 5, 2003 Author Share Posted December 5, 2003 I just realized I spelled immortality wrong for the topic title :oops: If I had any idea that it might be possible to live forever, I would pursue it extreamly and put everything else aside. Any comlications that come from it I would deal with later, at least I took the hardest first step. As for becoming deranged and commiting suicide, I can't imagine the way sombody who is hundreds of years would think, so I can't say, I guess I could take prozac. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikeman85 Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Entering into a related field, I'll share my thoughts on this. Is biological immortality possible? Yes. Is it likely within our lifetimes? It is a distinct possibility, with all the research going into nanotechnology. I would say it will take between 50-200 years to make biological immortality practical. Will it be true immortality, i.e. can a bullet or a car crash kill us? Technically no, however it would be quite easy to, with advanced nanotechnology, replace your skull with a skull made of laticed (sp?) carbon, which is virtually indestructible, as well as having machines in your head that will repair any internal damage as it happens. So yes, that is possible as well, but many people will not want to replace parts of their bodies. Will we have to eat/drink/sleep? Yes and no. You won't absolutely HAVE to, with the right implants and changes, however in some circumstances it might be a better idea to do so, because at first, changing everything won't be a good idea, until they get the bugs out of the system. The system that would be implanted in you. Is it possible for the technology to be used to create a race of super warriors? Yes, yes it is. However, it is virtually impossible to stop science/technology from progressing, unless you have a ruthless repression of it everywhere. There is some country, somewhere, where the experiments will be allowed. So instead, as a scientist, my opinion would be that we should deal with effective solutions that allow us to live with this technology and PREVENT disasters from happening with it. However, seeing as we already have the means to virtually destroy the Earth with our weapons, there isn't much further we can go. Won't immortality get boring/everyone will die/I wouldn't want to live forever? Very possible it could get boring. I don't see how so as I find my life interesting at all times, but some people might. You always have the option to die yourself. As for other people, they would likely be immortal too, but sometimes they would chose to die. So people would die every now and again. If you truly wanted you could have those memories erased with the right technology, but you might not want that (some would consider it dehumanizing) As for not wanting to live forever? Hey, to each their own. Not a good idea to try to prevent others from doing so just because you want to, though. Corrupt politicians will use it all for themselves won't they? Unlikely. Largely because a corporation or corporations would most likely be the people who would develop it, and think of the profit they would make from biological immortality. It'd definitely have to be government controlled or something though eventually. Pollution/Overpopulation/Overcrowding. Probably the largest concern with an immortal population. However, the same technology that we need for immortality (Heavily advanced nanotechnology... we have the basics now as we speak) is the same that could likely build continents in space, the moon, or mars, with very little human effort, and would be INCREDIBLY cost effective. Thus, yes, we would have to expand into space. But that's a given anyways. As I believe it was Carl Sagan who said, Earth is the Cradle, those who don't go beyond the cradle, die. If anyone else has any concerns, just ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancalagon Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 My take on this 'God will punish us for playing God' or 'God gave us the intelligence to play God' is this: Supposing that there is a supreme being from whence all of this came, evolution and the big bang theorey put aside, perhaps it created life in order to find out how itself came to be. If this is the case, then playing God would be ok, because the end result in thousands if not hundreds of thousands or even millions of years (if we survive that long) could very well turn up another supreme being. And suppose that this Birth of another supreme being would yield a Big Bang or the creation of another Universe. I don't know, it's a thought, sort of a mix between Anne Rice's Memnoc the Devil and Akira, but I think that it makes some sense. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akrid Posted December 5, 2003 Author Share Posted December 5, 2003 I only have one comment to Pikeman85, Whoa you mean some people won't?!!!!If you truly wanted you could have those memories erased with the right technology, but you might not want that (some would consider it dehumanizing) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancalagon Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Earth is the Cradle, those who don't go beyond the cradle, die. It's....so....true! That sums up my belief that we need to get the hell off of Earth ASAP and by any means nescessary. Thank you for fortifying my beleif. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akrid Posted December 5, 2003 Author Share Posted December 5, 2003 Well I'm working on a space-ship, but all I have so far is some ply wood and gasoline, ah hell screw it I'lll just have a bon-fire. Sorry had to do somthing bad, all this behaving is making me ill :bleh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojlnir Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Pikeman makes excellent arguments concerning nanotechnology and the possibilities of achieving immortality. I find the prospect slightly scary myself, not because of "playing God" or over population but because I have a hard time believing that humans are meant to live forever. Our biological bodies are "time-bombed" so to speak and I think thats perfectly acceptable. I too am never bored with my life, but then again I have not been alive for 300 hundred years. I have a feeling that my opinion would be different were that the case. I also strongly agree that our continued survival as a race is dependent upon our getting off of Earth and colonizing other places. Advancing technology will eventually allow us to feed ourselves, continue mass consumption, expand in numbers and live in harmony with nature...but do we want to keep all our eggs in one basket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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