What is Digg?421 Comments
- YumYumKittyLoaf, on 10/12/2007, -11/+368I just hope I can become a cyborg one day. Screw flesh and bone if I have gun arms! And chainsaw legs...
- Quactaur, on 10/12/2007, -5/+189If you can live forever, insurance costs would be the last of your concerns, really.
- waxoff, on 10/12/2007, -10/+136And flying cars, cold fusion generators, AI, and all that other crap "they" promised are just around the corner. Don't believe it. Predications about the future are always over dramatic. If doctors come up with a pill that'll extend a life by 3 years in the next 20 I'll be impressed. Predictions are easy, the work to reach those goals almost always ends up much harder than anticipated. In the meantime, GOTO THE GYM AND STOP EATING THAT *****.
- PFS1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+62>> Did anyone else notice the statistic; in the 1700s people lived to an average of 24. ??? 24? I am pretty sure lifespan averages were above that! I know I read that in ancient Egypt people lived into their mid 30s.
Even if it's technically true, that average is incredibly misleading. People weren't conking out at around 23/24/25 years of age...the 24-year "life expectancy" is just a more normal life expectancy being dragged down by a much higher infant mortality rate.
That stat is being misused to create a false trend that we will live to be 200 by the year 2056. - goodbeershow, on 10/12/2007, -4/+55"There can be only one!"
- lonnieh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+48500 year mortgages *forehead slap*
- spider-man, on 10/12/2007, -2/+44How would this make life insurance premiums higher? Seems like it would make it lower or be relatively unchanged. The higher the risk of you dying would increase premiums whereas the lower the risk would decrease premiums. This would lower the risk. Granted, your chances of being killed by an accident or disease would be higher during your lifetime, but it would only be because you are living much longer which one would think would outweigh these other factors. The insurance companies would typically be collecting money from you much longer than usual.
- imeddy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+38So, you think you have problems now? Just wait until you're immortal. THEN you'll have some real problems.
- waxoff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34Year 2346: Receives court summons for unpaid parking ticket dating back to 1991.
- robbiemuffin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33@Zippo: don't worry overly much about living forever. They don't mean you, they mean the rich. ;-p
- kitsonk, on 10/12/2007, -6/+36I would absolutly hate for you to live forever too...
Glad we could agree. - ClassicJBC, on 10/12/2007, -3/+32To paraphrase Lewis Black, "Only the good die young, but ***** live FOREVER!"
- williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+30Bring it.
Anyone who doesn't want to live forever can opt out. - greevar, on 10/12/2007, -11/+39>>>The article talks about healing your damage cells, theoretically you're NOT immortal! You're still vulnerable to accidents!!
Actually that's incorrect. You would be immortal, but not invulnerable. Immortal only means that your life does not end due to age. - Yoshi39, on 10/12/2007, -3/+31Did you miss both Armageddon and deep impact ;)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29"Just accept Jesus and live a life like he did"
You mean hated, chastisised, persecuted, attacked and finally beaten, tortured and put to death on a cross?
der... no thanks, i'll wait for the immortality, can't go to hell if you never die - frikk, on 10/12/2007, -19/+46The thing is - we as a society are not ready for this. Death causes change and refreshment.
Think about if the guys who were running the place 60 years ago were still alive. There would be no women's rights, no voting for blacks, etc. Social change is brought on by the radical youth of every generation. Until we solve global poverty, racial issues, etc, we are not ready (and I bet will not discover) eternal life. - ijacker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27If you are interested in this, I would reccomend "The Singularity is Near", by Ray Kurzweil.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27@Yoshi39
personally, I think I'd rather die of old age than live forever knowing I owe it all to Ben Affleck... - slsanity, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25Great website with specifics of active research against aging:
http://www.sens.org/
"SENS is a detailed plan for curing human aging. SENS is an engineering project, recognising that aging is a medical condition and that medicine is a branch of engineering. Aging is a set of progressive changes in body composition, at the molecular and cellular level, which are side-effects of essential metabolic processes. Many of these changes are eventually bad for us -- they are an accumulation of damage, which becomes pathogenic above a certain threshold of abundance." - trazor, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27Science can't seem to shake religion... Living forever just means they can be fanatical for a much longer time.
- 2Deluxe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Y'know Jesus rose from the dead, that means Jesus was a zombie.
- robbiemuffin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+24I'm all for living forever but somehow I think the odds are against that ... even though I feel like I am immortal. ;-p
Did anyone else notice the statistic; in the 1700s people lived to an average of 24. ??? 24? I am pretty sure lifespan averages were above that! I know I read that in ancient Egypt people lived into their mid 30s. - optigon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20You'd have to be a virgin. :P
Oh! Oops! This is digg! Nevermind!
j/k - Arkonnan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Wouldn't it be easier just to track down a vampire and ask him to hook you up?
- williebee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18McFly?
- robphillips, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22an interesting video hosted by Michio Kaku. same topic. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5634490469902803358&hl=en
- lovkraft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17The most interesting researcher in this field seems to be the controversial Aubrey de Gray. He is an engineer-turned-gerontologist through intensive self study - within two months of picking up a biology book for the first time he had published a scientific paper which changed the way we understand the mitochondria. In other words, he's a smart guy. He also believes that the first human to live to be 1000 years may be 60 years old today.
Grey is heading the SENS project which supports the Methuselah Mouse Prize whose objective is to increase the lifespan of a mouse the most time possible. Significantly increasing the life span of a mouse will raise enough attention, and money!, to pursue the same ambitions for humans.
What is remarkable about these efforts is "The 300" (battle of Thermopylae, ring a bell?), a commitment of 300 men to pay $1000 every year for the next 25 years. This money will go to life extension research and the effort to cure "the age problem". These 300 men will hold an important place in history as the warriors who fought age. That's the idea anyway.
Fascinating! These brains really think it can be done. I hope they are right!
http://www.mprize.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey
http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=thethreehundred
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caAjI5JO_Pw - AtraSolis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20All I want is a hoverboard.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17once we're immortal, we can start colonising other planets and not have to worry about one asteroid, after a few hundred years we may even have planetary sheilds that would vaporize an asteriod on contact.
yes, I've seen Star Wars too many times :P - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -11/+26You'll end up with 3 groups of people
1: Gnostics
The religious types that beleive in an afterlife and would not accept an Immortal life as a human as a substitute, they would, of course, choose to turn down the life extention process and die in order to go to their afterlife, whatever that may be. These people may accept an extension of up to 1000 years possibly, but in the end would choose death over immortality
2: Athiests
The non-religious types that don't beleive in God, nor do they beleive in an afterlife, they would choose immortality and would consider the life extension process a part of their routine possibly forever, or as long as the universe holds out.
3: Agnostics
These are the fence-sitters, I reside in this group, i don't know if a God or afterlife exist, and I would have many sleepless nights trying to determine if immortality is the right answer or not. We agnostics don't beleive there is enough proof either way and would be subjected to a limbo of wanting to live forever, but unsure if a potential afterlife would exist.
Personally, there would be a lot of variables to calculate before choosing life or death, My parents for example. My mother is a devout Christian and I would be quite sure of her leaning towards the idea of going to heaven instead of immortality as a human. My father, i beleive is in the same group as me, unsure of the outcome. If both chose death, I'm not sure if I could live immortal knowing there is the possiblility they are waiting for me. Even if one of them chose death, and the other life, I'm not sure what I would do.
Once immortality becomes a reality, the next big research project for the world should be to proove, either way, the existance or lack thereof, of an afterlife. The biggest resistance to this effort, of course, would be by religious fanatics, whom by that time will have chosen death anyway, so it would not be quite as contraversial at that time. All that would be left would be people who actually want a solid answer to that question instead of those who beleive it shouldn't even be questioned.
thats my $0.02 anyway - terror96, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15oh well global warming will pwn all you noobs so don't hold your breath!
- MotionAesthetic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16But is there Linux in heaven?
- Misterm65, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19Too bad you can't stop the comet that is going to wipe out all life on this big blue marble.
- adrenaline33, on 10/12/2007, -15/+28Why dont you go slit your wrists?
- cave, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Shut up, Jesus is dead.
- zhouray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13@mrgreen4242
Early 30's? More like 14, I think. ;) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Do you get paid to work? If so, you're not a slave. I get paid to do my job, and it's one that I don't hate. And my job allows me to have nice things like a Macbook Pro and 8Mbit cable internet.
Also, if you're living forever, you just work for the first 40-50 years of your life saving up every penny you earn.. and make some smart investments, you could be work-free for the rest of "forever."
I read something interesting about human immortality, too. The writer said that being able to live forever (or even just to 200 or 300) would change everything about how we live our lives. Instead of leaving home at 18 or so, we could stay with our parents two or three times longer, and get tons of higher education.
It's really interesting, and I hope that I'm around to see it.. Although in 20 years I'll be 42.. :( - eximious, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16I have seen talk of this before, especially of the Methuselah project. This title is inaccurate though. The biggest lifespan projection I've seen is 1000 years. The very nature of the universe makes perpetual life impossible.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12MACLEOD!
- skidzilla, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12LOL, I'M IN UR BASE PAIRS, H4x0RiNG UR TeL0mErE's. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere - WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12>>I just hope I can become a cyborg one day. Screw flesh and bone if I have gun arms! And chainsaw legs...
Can I be an adrian barbobot? - nyx210, on 10/12/2007, -6/+16But would that really be worth it? If people could live forever, then there wouldn't be any retirements. You'd be a slave working everyday for eternity...
- 1dog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@ masterbaiter
You would have your left hand replaced every hundred years or so . - everfalling, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10If we find they key to immortality, i'm gonna change my name to Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged
:-D - liminaldust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9well he probably means that all those old people actually die from heart problems, diabetes, cancers, ***** immunity systems and stuff like that.... all my close relatives deaths have been diagnosed to one of these things as far as I know. living longer / old age really is making you ultimately more susceptible to these things.
so yeah, you still gotta watch what you eat, dumbass - drsvijay, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11hacking the genes is a cool way..
- mrgreen4242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Er, I intend to be here in 20 years... how old are you, exactly? I was under the impression that the average age of a Digger was probably early 30's. Being 27, if they can stop me aging in 20 years I'll be 47. That's not bad. My dad's about that age and he's in some of the best shape he's been in for decades. You're old enough to not be looked at as a "kid" or "young man/woman" but young enough you aren't sidelined as being past your prime (professionally, I mean).
Sounds like a pretty decent age to stop at. I'll take it! Where do I sign up again? - Jusstin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Indeed I was very surprised this was NOT by Ray Kurzweil! He is the modern day Einstein in this area. Anyone interested these are his websites. www.kurzweilai.net and his newest book entitled "Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever" www.fantastic-voyage.net It's awesome to see so many Digg's on this because I've long been a believe but theres lots of controversy surrounding just the idea of it. This guy (Ray Kurzweil) has made very accurate predictions in the past and I believe this one will definitely carry-out over time. Moore's Law has held true, and soon we'll have to rebuild the foundation blocks for life, everything IMO will be built from the "ground up" and that will enable never ending ideas and possibilities to come forth.
"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." - Albert Einstein
As far as the "even if you could, would you want to?" questions, think of this. Look how far we've come in the past 20 years... and imagine. Once we reach this state (dubbed "the Singularity") - our thinking processes will have accelerated so much and our minds will have expanded in so many ways that living will be much different. I just have a very open mind and love this stuff ;)
We are accelerating an at exponential speed, indulge in it. - LordSpam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8All this and no magnetic rings to wear? Sign me up!
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