22 replies to this topic

[absent minded]

I'm going to have to go with neither, because I'm presuming humans will forever be prone to emotional turbulence for as long as they live. I guess it depends on how well designed the newfound ideology will be. A suicide would count as a pre-mature death.

I'd probably end up getting myself stuck in "hell" I bet, i.e. keeping myself in a positive feedback loop with heroin or some similar drug

Edited by absent minded, 01 January 2012 - 07:19 AM.

[mrszeta]

An indefinite lifespan will not happen by default. It will not be for everybody. It will only happen to those who make a certain effort to attain it (by, for example, keep using whatever treatments are necessary).

Therefore, it follows that only motivated people will eventually have indefinite lifespans and so, because they are motivated, will necessarily have inside them the wish to continue being more active, and more productive. People who have a tendency to sit around and do nothing will not have the motivation to continue a lifelong active effort that maintains life, and so they will not live indefinitely.

[seivtcho]

If I had an indefinate lfe, I would do my best to finish all things, that I have been thinking of - the majority of them are not even started. And since I will have more time, I would do them carefully and qualitively from the beginning to the end.

[Mind]

There will always be some time for procrastination/leisure activities. As long as we remain even remotely human (carbon-based with individual consciousness), then relaxation is healthy from time to time. However I can't image procrastinating ALL the time. I would find many productive things to do, I am sure.

[Stefanovic]

I'd be more relaxed like: okay, if it doesnt happen this decade, then it will happen next century. Now people are put under so much pressure. Women need to have children before a certain age,.....

[brokenportal]

The way it is, it is the younger people who are known for thinking they are going to live forever, for not recognizing their mortality that are known for living it up.

It is the older people, who are closer to death, that are known for being a lot more conservative, staying in, not going to the party, etc.

A smaller quantity does not mean quality, and a larger quantity does not mean less quality. You will be able to fill your days will quality or not on an individual daily basis. It will be up to you what you want to do, and the options are getting better and better. In the future you will be able to sleep in for a week, yawn, fall out of bed and take your hover board to a lecture about the latest state of the pursuit of the question of how the universe got here.

[Droplet]

I'm naturally someone who likes to be on the go and as such, I keep my life pretty packed. If I had a longer life, I would not be panicking like I do about "must get x done by x time or else it's too late due to that damned aging clock" but neither would I be someone to sit around and do nothing. I think the biggest change would be that I could procrastinate certain things if I wished. I admit to being one of those people who feel somehow bugged if I know things need doing.

Also, as someone drawn to risk and/or novelty and the thrill it brings, even if my aging was cured I'd still have a bit of a possibility of getting killed just by trying to feel alive. No matter whether my life was long or short, no two days would ever be the same and as such I'd try to enjoy each one as much as I could much like I do now. Even if we had indefinite lifespans, I reckon the world would still under go many changes as would your life as you'd have more opportunities and choices before you than ever.

Edited by Droplet, 08 January 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[hivemind]

mrszeta, on 05 January 2012 - 07:46 PM, said:

An indefinite lifespan will not happen by default. It will not be for everybody. It will only happen to those who make a certain effort to attain it (by, for example, keep using whatever treatments are necessary).

Therefore, it follows that only motivated people will eventually have indefinite lifespans and so, because they are motivated, will necessarily have inside them the wish to continue being more active, and more productive. People who have a tendency to sit around and do nothing will not have the motivation to continue a lifelong active effort that maintains life, and so they will not live indefinitely.

No, you just need a little bit of motivation to do those treatments. After that it could be total and indefinite hedonism. Endless sex orgies and erections and eating good food.

Motivation is not really needed. Money will be needed. You have to afford those treatments.

There will maybe be a new hierarchy among people: mortal slaves with short life spans who serve the immortal masters and breed more slaves when the old ones die.

Edited by hivemind, 12 January 2012 - 12:11 AM.

[mrszeta]

hivemind, on 12 January 2012 - 12:03 AM, said:

No, you just need a little bit of motivation to do those treatments. After that it could be total and indefinite hedonism. Endless sex orgies and erections and eating good food.

I cannot forsee any immortality treatment that is applied only initially and then just does not need to be repeated. The treatment will have to be repeated perpetually, otherwise aging and death will ensue.  Also, for me, an eternal life filled only with sex orgies and food, would be intolerable. After a few weeks of this, I would get bored.

hivemind, on 12 January 2012 - 12:03 AM, said:

There will maybe be a new hierarchy among people: mortal slaves with short life spans who serve the immortal masters and breed more slaves when the old ones die.

This is true, maybe even necessary for an indefinite lifespan. As it is, some philosophers are referring to the majority of ordinary population as 'human plankton'.

[hivemind]

mrszeta, on 12 January 2012 - 07:26 PM, said:

hivemind, on 12 January 2012 - 12:03 AM, said:

No, you just need a little bit of motivation to do those treatments. After that it could be total and indefinite hedonism. Endless sex orgies and erections and eating good food.

I cannot forsee any immortality treatment that is applied only initially and then just does not need to be repeated. The treatment will have to be repeated perpetually, otherwise aging and death will ensue.  Also, for me, an eternal life filled only with sex orgies and food, would be intolerable. After a few weeks of this, I would get bored.

I did not mean that. Of course you can do repeated treatments. Even once a week would not require much motivation, only money.

Eternal life without those things would be much worse. .

Edited by hivemind, 12 January 2012 - 08:02 PM.

[brokenportal]

Plankton, that's a good one. I still think there is hope for most of the plankton though, even if most of them are devoured by the various fad like cultures they cant manage to swim out of yet.

[Droplet]

brokenportal, on 13 January 2012 - 02:15 AM, said:

Plankton, that's a good one. I still think there is hope for most of the plankton though, even if most of them are devoured by the various fad like cultures they cant manage to swim out of yet.

Sure hope there's hope...I am on very low income and would probably class as one of the "plankton" you're talking about. Unless you are referring simply to the sheeple who won't even consider life extension/cannot be arsed to do anything. Still, the sooner that life extension is around the better, as some hope is better than none at all for plankton or otherwise.

Edited by Droplet, 13 January 2012 - 07:06 AM.

[mrszeta]

Droplet, on 13 January 2012 - 07:04 AM, said:

Sure hope there's hope...I am on very low income and would probably class as one of the "plankton" you're talking about. Unless you are referring simply to the sheeple who won't even consider life extension/cannot be arsed to do anything. Still, the sooner that life extension is around the better, as some hope is better than none at all for plankton or otherwise.

The 'human plankton' reference has nothing to do with money, but refers to those who blissfully come into this world, live their lives in virtual ignorance without asking 'why', and are happy to die when their time comes. They are those who have not 'seen' (in the Buddist sense, meaning 'I have seen and understood  what it is all truly about').

[Cuyan]

Well, everything that can happen will happen given enough time, every possible outcome of every possible possibility will be known.

That said, I feel the safest way to stay alive is to upload one's conciousness to a horde of nanobots, becoming an Artilect as it were. As that happens, our intellectual level will skyrocket and there's no telling what we'll be thinking and feeling.
Personally as of now I want to reshape every atom in the known universe, giving them intelligence, making them part of our machine-hivemind, So there's alot of work ahead, I reckon it would up my effort, but then again, I'd have all the time in the world. I can't agree with myself.....



EDIT: typos

Edited by Cuyan, 13 January 2012 - 09:29 AM.

[brokenportal]

It seems likely to me that the treatments will have to continue to be reapplied too. There are other ways it might happen that will cause that to be different though.

What Cuyan is saying reminds me of how FM2030 predicts, in his posthumously published book, I think its called the Countdown to Immortality, that in the future they will not only take off our limbs so our brains can be designed to be fitted into whatever kind of exoskeleton you want, but that even parts of the brain that arent needed will be shaved away until we are just a pint sized brain in an indestructible inspector gadget like shell. If a building, for instance, collapsed on us, he says the brain will have the tools to burrow out of it and free itself and go resume its life. Maybe, maybe not, I dont know of course, but it reminds me of football coaches who are asked about the playoffs and the superbowl and say they are just focusing on the next game right now. I think its that way with us. We focus on the next steps right now, informing the world, ending aging, trying to create an AGI, getting cryonics to work and a few other things. Once we get through those we can set our focus on the next steps. As it stands though, it seems like things like the FM2030 predictions are like predicting the next 25 super bowls they are planning to win.

I think that thinking about the future like that is very useful though, Im not saying its not. Exploring it by thinking about it, and the longer the better, seems like an absolutely crucial step. Things like science fiction seem to play a really important role in helping to shape the future. There is probably a bunch of great quotes that would help illustrate this point. I mean, for example, all of the science and technology and machines and gadgets that we have now were all fiction at one point weren't they?

[hivemind]

Life has no absolute value at all. It's all about relative value in comparison to other people. 120 years is nothing if most people can live 1000 years. Life extension is just another competition: if you can't beat them now then maybe you can outlive them.

[brokenportal]

hivemind, on 13 January 2012 - 08:28 PM, said:

Life has no absolute value at all. It's all about relative value in comparison to other people. 120 years is nothing if most people can live 1000 years. Life extension is just another competition: if you can't beat them now then maybe you can outlive them.

Life absolutely has value. You spell it out yourself in your following sentences. The value in life it seems is in having the choice to work to know as much of existence as you can come to want to know and have the chance to know.

[sciwalk]

With experiance comes change, change of mind, change of action.
When you are young you are not thinking about mortality and therefore can tend (not always) to be less focused on productivity.  You also are "young" and physically have the ability to do more things.
When you get older and closer to death you start to realize how nieve you were about your youth and wish that you would have been more productive when you were younger.  But, on the other hand you are older physically and can't do the things you used to do when you were younger.
If, in the idea of living forever, it is also meant that I would have youthful vigor, I would both be more productive and more out going.  But with my age has come knowledge which would allow me to turn that "play" into productivity.
I would defenately be more productive.

[hivemind]

Doing things is overrated. Feeling good is great, just happily existing.

Being productive can only have instrumental value. Feeling good right now in this moment is the best thing there is.

Edited by hivemind, 25 January 2012 - 07:31 AM.

[Droplet]

hivemind, on 25 January 2012 - 07:25 AM, said:

Doing things is overrated. Feeling good is great, just happily existing.

Being productive can only have instrumental value. Feeling good right now in this moment is the best thing there is.

I love that picture and caption! :D On a serious note, some people feel happy existing when they are doing something. One person's heaven is another's Hell. I cannot be happy just sitting around. It also depends how you define "productive." If you mean productive as in makes/does something of benefit then yes, you can be happy without doing such things. I mean going walking could be seen as "productive" in that you're doing something other than just sitting there but my wandering off only benefits me and could be looked upon by others as "unproductive." I cannot be happy without doing things that fall into the second idea I put forward as potentially "productive."

[revenant]

I don't think the knowledge of living a much longer life would change my motivation. I would however be more inclined to help other people out.

[josephrettig]

I can say simply that i don't accept that.


Joseph rettig
_________________________________
exerciseseniorcitizen.com

Edited by josephrettig, 07 February 2012 - 06:44 AM.

[Clifford Greenblatt]

First, just as a note, any nonzero probability of dying, no matter how miniscule, would result in a finite lifespan.

Procrastination could be seen as a defect of the mind. You know you need to get something done, but you simply can’t muster the strength or courage to attack the task. It is no problem to put a task aside for one of higher priority. It is also no problem to delay even an important task because there is plenty of time to get it done. However, it is problematic when an important task is neglected out of weakness of mind. I would think that an immortal mind would also be a perfected mind, which would not suffer from any kind of weakness.