Is it theoretically possible that science might one day make it possible for human beings to indefinetely avoid death within the same consciousness? And if so, what would it mean existentially? Chaos?
fuck yes, i wanted to talk about this with someone . it is entirely possible to never die. no human being dies of "old age", something causes death. science is already almost to that point, we're on the VERGE of being able to re-build cells inside the body. the inevitability is a myth. death is caused mostly by expecting it to happen. there have already been loads of people who have decided not to die, and haven't, and have lived long, long lives in young bodies. one scientist is calling the end of death the next step in our evolution. from apes, to humans, to... what? gods? that said, the environment has gone to shit and if we want to protect ourselves we need to take better care of our bodies than most people are willing to do. the guy i mentioned takes more than 130 supplements a day. there are some things you absolutely HAVE TO do if you don't want to die. existentially, i don't think most of the population would believe this. if they did, i don't think they'd want to go to the trouble of keeping themselves alive. people would still die from accidents. and i think stress would still kill off a lot of us. but i think if the option of immortality was made widely known, and a handfull of people really devoted themselves to it, those people could "save the world". in darwinian "survival of the fittest", they would be at the top, and eventually, after a few generations, maybe the whole world would consist of living gods on earth. but then, there are still apes who haven't evolved to humans, so there will probably be populations of humans that don't evolve to gods. if we were to accept that death is not a certainty, we'd have to accept that a lot of "impossible" things are within our reach. some people think that the wars of the future will be psychic wars, and i agree it's probable. who knows?
That is exactly my question... I think the impossibility of death would mean chaos. All values would be erased: eating a vegetarian meal would be as healthy as jumping off a 50-storey building. Think about it... In a way, death is what gives the human condition partial meaning.
Theoretically: If the mass volume in the universe is finite as relativity states, then there would be a complication with human immortality. So long as we keep reproducing and not dying, matter would be compressed into the make up of the human body in incredibly high population numbers...say a few hundred thousand billion trillion zillions... Then... eventually there would be no living matter that human beings could utilize for nourishment. I don't know if immortality is even theoretically possible, from a scientific standpoint. Nuclear fission was discovered theoretically prior to its experimentation. Can the same be done in the realm of the biology of immortality? Where are the science experts who'll give me an answer?
I would assume that not everyone would chose to live ("forever") until instantaneous death (by impact, gunshot, fire, brain trauma, etc). But surely the world population would still grow at an even higher rate, and that is a major problem which can offset the balance of our ecosystems. It is still entirely possible to create enough food to nourish a large populace.. the problem is that our attention is focused on variety, rather than quantity.
it's not like it's gonna be easy. it's gonna be a huge lifestyle choice the way living in a monestary or joining the army is. and when you stopped maintaining it you'd die. like leaving shangri-la. a lot of people would rather just enjoy their lives and die than go through the trouble of living forever.
I wouldn't be able to tolerate living forever, man. I gotta die......it will be the ultimate trip. I am anxious to get to the other side, wherever that other side may be, and reflect on the circumstances surrounding my death and also to see what really happens after one dies, because none of us really know what happens. Curiosity led the cat to invite death.
"were all one and life flows on within you and without you"-George Harrison were immortal. our physical bodies die...but our spirit/soul lives on in the vast collectiveness of everything. Everything is one...and life will still flow despite the fact that my souls vehicle is finished. physical immortality is impossible. but the soul..the life energy that runs through all of us, lives on forever. death/birth/death/birth/death/birth...there all just chapters in the eternal story of our soul.
Mankind is always trying to improve his situation, but he can't predict the side-effects. Mankind is like a reckless teenager playing with fire. Sure, I think it's possible that we could conquer physical death, but what would that actually do to us and the world we live in? Where would it take us? I think people should try to live quality lives, rather than simply living a long time. Age is just a number, a measurement, a basic quantity. Strive for meaning and happiness in your life, strive for a quality life, and maybe death won't matter when it comes.
I dont think it would be possible. I generally don't feel that in an impermanent universe you can make 'things' last indefinitely...Maybe they will find a way to stop the aging process physically, but I think the mind is a different matter entirely because I don't believe it's a physical thing that is just a part of the physical brain, more it's just a non-physical result of that (maybe like software). Either way I don't think the human mind could handle it. You know it's like in Tolkeins Silmarillion/middle-earth universe. He explains that even though the elves are immortal eventually they get sick and disatisfied with life after they've lived through thousands of years, watching others die from disease, war, accidents etc So they eventually wish to die and some resent the humans for there mortality... I think maybe the question is would you really want to live 'forever'? Wouldn't life just lose all meaning after 10,000+ years? Personally i'm more daunted by the prospect of living forever than dying...
Well I wouldn't doubt that the government has some new hybrid lab where they are conducting experiments and have already made a breakthrough. But the purpose of living forever probably won't ever be introduced into the public. It's not like there gonnna have some potion where you drink it and dont ever die. So I think as far as seeing global immortality, its a long shot which we wont ever witness at least.
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You mean barring catastrophe/someone blowing your head off, right? I can't imagine how science would prevent someone's head from being blown off, or how it would put the pieces back together if it were. Unless they build a force field you can put around your head, which to me would be restrictive of freedom -- so I guess there are scenarios in which protecting one's life can be restrictive of one's freedom. That said, if you live long enough it's probably the same as being dead. I imagine death is chaos, if chaos is freedom.
There's a good description of ageing in one of George Sheehan's books, Did I Win? He describes the cumulative damage to cell structure and function that occurs due to more or less random chemical events as life goes on. Free radicals rip through a cell leaving fractured and damaged proteins around. Radiation chews up transfer RNA. The cell components are no longer able to communicate or join in the great dance in the necessary ways. Eventually life grinds to a halt. Energy transport, digestion, all the rest are inhibited by disfunctional cells. The whole organism weakens beyond repair. More details of the process may be found in Sherwin Nuland's excellent book, How We Die. There's a law of thermodynamics that says that in systems not subject to a net input of energy from external sources, there is a non-decrease in randomness. It's a big leap from this Second Law, so-called, to the ageing process described above, but I think it's a sound (that is, both valid and true) inference. Furthermore, all life forms more complex than bacteria eventually die. The cell nuclei collapse, consciousness (in the case of animals) ends permanently, all the cells disintegrate. The organism, unless it gets cremated, gets eaten by other organisms, big and small. Prevention of this process is just as much wishful thinking as is praying for some pie in the sky afterlife. "There's seven people dead on a South Dakota farm. Seven people dead there on a South Dakota farm. Somewhere off in the cold distance, there's seven new people born." -- Bob Dylan
