4 replies to this topic

[Liquidus]

Now, without going too far off into the future to the point where individual consciousness is uploaded/transferred into some kind of digital computer data, if aging is to be cured sometime in the future, it would be interesting to consider how to enhance the protection of our most important aspect of life, our brains. By the time aging finally is cured, staying young is great, but the accidents that lead to unforeseen death is still somewhat of a risk just in the capacity of living everyday life (car accidents, industrial accidents, murder, etc...). Assuming that aging is cured, and we have indefinite lifespans in terms of the aging process, I think it's important to look at how to better protect our brains in the physical sense.

If you've followed nanotechnology at all, it's not really that hard to imagine a replacement to the human skull, or say a 'cover' over the human skull made of nanoscale materials that, in the most reasonable of senses, its physically impenetrable. The possibilities of nanotechnology make this idea somewhat of a foreseeable reality. Sure it makes the person with it seem more 'cyborg' than anything else, but that person who does have the skull nano covering/replacement would be infinitely more protected from brain trauma (or insert similar type of positive effect here).

If you want to go even further, you could consider how by that point in the future, batteries will be so small and efficient, that if they were ingrained into the protective nano cover, they could preserve the brain in the event of decapitation (with GPS capabilities for Search and Rescue). Of course this seems like a bit of a pipe-dream at present day, but if you really consider the limitless possibilities of some of the future technologies that will likely show up, it's not exactly that impossible to at least consider.

That's just my random thought for the evening, comments are welcome .

[Shepard]

Adamantium, baby.

[Andrew Shevchuk]

List of Fictional Super Metals

I think it's interesting that Aubrey avoids the whole "nanotech defense" aspect of the future in his book. It may not be directly related to aging, but it's certainly an important element of securing immortality. I can understand why he did it though, as it lends more credibility to him if he avoids those subjects when trying to persuade the public that aging is reversible. Do you guys think that once we achieve practical immortality that we should start the Invincibility Institute? To abolish all possible means of death or harm is much more daunting than avoiding them. Unfortunately this also leads to the ultimate in bad if the wrong people (or AIs) became invincible.

[Liquidus]

Unfortunately this also leads to the ultimate in bad if the wrong people (or AIs) became invincible.

My opinion on this aspect of indefinite lifespans, is that there are more 'good' people who are willing to protect the interests of the innocent, than there are bad people who are looking to infringe on the rights of the innocent. I think as civilization evolves over time into a more logical and responsible body, there are much less instances of violence and negative deviant behavior. Besides, spending life in a correctional facility now would suck, spending eternity in a correction facility on the basis that the accused did something extremely hurtful is an even larger detractor from crime. I think it's safe to assume that even if a person/entity is invincible, they likely wouldn't be non-containable, meaning that they could be locked up and isolated for a negative deviant act.

As for Aubrey avoiding branching off his discussion into other fields, my assumption is that he's trying to expose a new generation to a new generation idea, and it would be best to keep his approach as straight forward and relevant as possible (in terms of discussion purely life-extension strategies). It would not surprise me if, once Aubrey's audience 'matures' more into a better understanding of future technologies, Aubrey releases a new book that details various other aspects of life-extension such as nano defense mechanism, etc..., as it is right now, it's likely way too soon to be throwing overburdening concepts at an audience that is likely still trying to feel out the concept of life-extension by itself.

[Reno]

Now, without going too far off into the future to the point where individual consciousness is uploaded/transferred into some kind of digital computer data, if aging is to be cured sometime in the future, it would be interesting to consider how to enhance the protection of our most important aspect of life, our brains. By the time aging finally is cured, staying young is great, but the accidents that lead to unforeseen death is still somewhat of a risk just in the capacity of living everyday life (car accidents, industrial accidents, murder, etc...). Assuming that aging is cured, and we have indefinite lifespans in terms of the aging process, I think it's important to look at how to better protect our brains in the physical sense.

If you've followed nanotechnology at all, it's not really that hard to imagine a replacement to the human skull, or say a 'cover' over the human skull made of nanoscale materials that, in the most reasonable of senses, its physically impenetrable. The possibilities of nanotechnology make this idea somewhat of a foreseeable reality. Sure it makes the person with it seem more 'cyborg' than anything else, but that person who does have the skull nano covering/replacement would be infinitely more protected from brain trauma (or insert similar type of positive effect here).

If you want to go even further, you could consider how by that point in the future, batteries will be so small and efficient, that if they were ingrained into the protective nano cover, they could preserve the brain in the event of decapitation (with GPS capabilities for Search and Rescue). Of course this seems like a bit of a pipe-dream at present day, but if you really consider the limitless possibilities of some of the future technologies that will likely show up, it's not exactly that impossible to at least consider.

That's just my random thought for the evening, comments are welcome .

I don't know about a skull cover. The brain tends to swell against the skull when you get thrown up against something hard. Sometimes in the case of a real bad concussion a surgeon will actually drill a hole into your skull to release the pressure of the swelling brain.

I think nanotechnology lends us another path to protect our minds. I imagine a future where the unique arrangement of the components of a person's brain are able to be mapped and stored by nanotech flowing through the bloodstream. If at some point your head got smashed in by a car accident, your body would be able to repair itself.