Do you expect to die?

[Kennigit]

I always thought of it as an Ayn Rand kind of thing

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Of course. We all die sooner or later, whether we believe in an afterlife or not. There's no chance we will live indefinitely due to technological advancement during this generation.

There is no chance - period.
If the age doesn't get you than a disease and if the disease doesn't get than an accident and if - somehow- an accident doesn't get you (which gets extremely unlikely extremely fast as the millenniums pass) then it will be a cosmic "accident" and if that even doesn't get you (you tough bastard), the universe itself will see to it that you are put in your (dead) place. To live means to die. Anything else is simply not conceivable for now.

That said, I wonder if at least being free off disease and aging would enable us to tend to live long enough so that we eventually won't mind to get over with it. Or if we will in the end still desperately cling to life. I strongly assume the latter, but I am not fully certain.

Given that there are no records to confirm that, Socrates allegedly used to say: "If our clerics are right and there is afterlife, there are lots of wise men of the past to meet with and talk with there; if the clerics are wrong, being dead must be similar to dreamless sleep; either way, there's nothing to be afraid of."

I find non-existence the most scary of them all.

 

[bhsup]

Weird, I think dying is the right-wing thing: Being aware that there are greater beings than humans in these terms - in theory - attempting to introduce immortality will simply bring carnage to humanity.

Yeah, non-leftist here who doesn't get the whole immortality craze. It goes against the cycle of life. The whole idea just rubs me wrong in a big way. But putting that aside, I personally certainly do not want to live forever.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

It goes against the cycle of life.

Being a Republican I wouldn't have bowed to Simba anyway (unless he would have threatened to eat me)

Spoiler :

hm well I suppose that was the reason why anyone bothered to bow in the first place...

 

[warpus]

Sudden immortality for all would for sure doom our planet. We just don't have the resources to take care of so many people.

And as we all know people love to breed... Death is the great balancer.. sort of. We're still growing in numbers, even with death killing a bunch of us every day.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Just tax children like China.

edit: Though it would be some truly tragic irony that those who could effort children would tend to have no time for them.

But hey! I just realized that this way we also prevent the premise of Idocracy!

 

[El_Machinae]

I personally certainly do not want to live forever.

I think God promised to destroy Hell 1000 years after the 2nd coming, so that might be your best shot at not living forever.

I want other people to die too


I wonder how this immortality is viewed from a political perspective. I'd say rejecting it is the leftist thing to do since it'd surely increase the gaps in society. Immortal families growing ever larger, accumulating wealth and power... yea, I'm joining the left for the moral high ground on this. Death to all

I guess it's technically leftist in many ways. As long as we have inheritance, it doesn't really matter. The effect of inheritance is basically the same thing.

I always thought of it as an Ayn Rand kind of thing

Very easily could be. It's in my enlightened self interest to help people with the end goal of helping myself and my loved ones. imo, anyway

 

[Tahuti]

I always thought of it as an Ayn Rand kind of thing

Ayn Rand should be in the autocensor.

 

[Kozmos]

Hmm...I don't think I'll make the cut for this bright, possible future we might have. That makes me a little sad in the sense I won't see all the amazing stuff we'll make up or get to die on Mars. Then again the hassle of every day living sometimes makes me really glad I'll die and be done it. Also I figured from the way the universe is configured...it's all just a big Game. So I don't take anything too seriously anymore and play to have fun, trying to laugh as much as I can.

 

[Greizer85]

What about head transplants, my fellow citizens? :why is there no 'scratches chin' smiley? add it, pronto!:
I seem to remember we were getting there. Then all we'd have to worry about is brain cancer, dementia, etc (the issue of supplying suitable replacement bodies I trust could be, err, solved, given humanity's current track record). And if this were to become a thing, we could simply breed new head-slaves and concentrate all medical resources on developing new 'brain-cures'. (Yes; I said any measures necessary. What did you think it means, slavebub? ) (Also someone needs to make this into a movie. Although there was that one where everyone died at 25, which is sort of a similar idea, but anyway it sucked and my body-snatching idea is way better. Objectively. EDIT: Also Matrix. Mine's better than that too. Objectively, ahem.)


EDIT: I guess 'immortality' by way of reproduction could be a #4 way out of the death dilemma. I sort of count it as part of #1, but then I never understood why people choose to have kids in Western countries.
You give away 20-30 of your middle-best years, bleed your potential investment fund on diapers, gaming gadgets, etc, and all you'll have to show for it is a 90 dB 'I HATE you!' on your 40th birthday. Then a visit once a week, then a month, eventually on Christmas day and your birthday, until it comes time to pounce on the ol' inheritance (if there's anything left at this point). Then a few tears might squeeze some extra pennies, so there's more visits on the menu.

Well, I guess there's that whole 'love and understanding' thing, but I never really got that either. And anyway you can't count on it. You'll have to be a good mother/father, and the kid(s) will have to turn out right, too (I'm not sure the one has as much bearing on the other as people like to think). I guess that's why people have more than one usually. Just in case they fail on the first try, or s/he gets driven over, or something. (Yes, I'd make a terrific father. Nice bed-time stories, ha! )

 

[Daw]

How about all of it? It starts out agreeing with you, and then goes on to list some of "side-effects" of various forms of meditation on the brain.

Well, it's an interesting and insufficiently explored area to research further.

For instance, gamma waves are quite poorly explored themselves. They are registered, but versions on what exactly they mean are pretty vague. Some say that they increase in frequency and magnitude when brain is busy with "circuit ring-up" procedures. Something like "pinging" its areas. It is a routine "idle" background activity and it intensifies when brain is searching for available resources (idle parts to "draft") to solve some problem it faces.

The fact that gamma waves are seen increasing during certain types of meditation can be interpreted as brain calling itself out, "Hello? Anybody in here? Am I still working OK?"

Hard to say if it is good or bad actually, and also I'm not claiming my explanation is anything but groundless version... But I'd be interested in a valid research there; one with design ensuring study integrity, clear baseline with test and control groups compared and equal at it, clear endpoints, comprehensive measurements leading to unambiguously interpretable results, etc.

Until then it's just another matter to believe or not.

Something I've always wondered is the point where you stop being alive/human and become a robot, presuming you gradually replace all of your organs with mechanical ones until you're entirely mechanical. At which point did you become a "robot" instead of a human? When the brain was replaced? How much of the brain? Is an entirely organic body with a partially robotic brain a robot?

The answer is known to Traumatologists and Neurosurgeons. There are cerebral traumas after which the person has their self-awareness/identity lost while still being technically alive: heart is beating, lungs take breathes in and out, etc.

Always wear helmet while cycling or driving a motorbike. Hold on to hand rails when walking up/down stairs or being at a height. Etc. Safety rules are written by no fools, but in blood of fools.

 

[wildcat22wilson]

I hope 80 at least. Not expecting much after that.