This whole thread really made my head hurt. Not because I misunderstood what was said but because of the intense disruption to my own closely held beliefs of what is going to become in the future. And the disappointment that a person of privelage and an educated one at that would make such broad assumptions involving pie in the sky thinking which doesn't reflect the day to day lives which we all encounter. Not because of the original seven fallacies, but of what conclusions Mr Kyriazis has taken to make them. Let me make it clear that I do not attack the original 7 fallacies, they are mostly correct.
Maybe I am incorrect in assuming that natural selection is what you believe. You Mr Kyraizis state:
4. The Fallacy of the pill
Aging will be eliminated by taking a pill (or a combination of pills, injections, something physical).
No, it won?t. It will be eliminated through a change in the direction of human evolution, when billions of humans continue to engage with technology (or via other, abstract global technologically-dependent means). As the general direction of evolution is towards a more complex state which makes us better adapted to our environment, there would come a point when our hyper-technological environment would select individual longevity instead of aging and degeneration, as a more thermodynamically efficient situation.
I do hope that you believe what I believe, in that it is not natural selection which will promote the longevity of humans.
If not then I see it as a problem. In paticular the assumption that it will require evolution to eliminate ageing and not one of medical pursuits to solve the problem. (Essentially requiring me to give offspring and die and let generations of my own offspring continue to exist until such a time in the future as my offspring will live longer)
I for one actually believe that evolution has become stunted and stopped completely as a result of the distractions of modern day society. Hollywood for example has replaced an evolutionary roll of the dice which is accessible for all for a secular and narrow gene pool with which to select from, namely women who favour men who will make money and do so as a result of hate/bigotry/violence/theft/illogical pursuits and worshipping the almighty dollar against people who consider themselves to be meek/unbiased/kind/rational/logical/scientific. Essentially we are all being led by Neanderthals.
I also humbly believe that not only has evolution stopped but it has caused a fundamental shift in the methods of natural selection for the other species of our planet and that a continual destruction of our environment at the hands of these Neanderthals.
So, in action, yes Mr Kyriazis is correct, evolution will be the only method of eliminating aging if natural selection was favoured towards that, however natural selection is not only non existent in our current environment it has become completely disrupted by artifical selection, and artificial selection will be at the hands of people who are fond of survival traits which in the current atmosphere of money making will be aimed towards intelligence and leadership, not longevity.
Society already believes that human beings are disposable, just look at all of the World Wars that have shaped our history in the past.
Now think the Sci-Fi movie Gattaca.
The only escape from this current existence that I can see is to survive to a point whereby I can financially afford a position in a Cryofreezer and then be revived with the aid of nanobots repairing each individual cell in my brain, then transplanting my brain into a Cyborg body. This is as far as I can see the only method of escape for those people who are already alive today.
Another problem:
The automobile analogy.
It's a great analogy but Where this breaks down is where people forget the fact that every single cell in our body is eventually replaced at least once already, I'm not sure if this includes the brain. So if we assume that is true then the body is already repairing the Model T Ford completely from the ground up.
I have had great sucess with restoring vehicles over the years, and one thing which bugs me with this Automobile analogy being false is the fact that it is dismissing the repairing capabilities of Nanobots. YES there is the possibility of being wiped out by a thermonuclear warhead, but to survive that is merely a technological problem. If Science Fiction has taught me one thing if you have x amount of megajoules of energy attacking your body then you simply need x + a measurable amount more in shielding against that energy to either absorb and release or deflect that energy towards another point in space and time.
In example. I for one completely expect to have my head decapitated from my body and my brain put into a jar for the purposes of the attachment to a robotic humanoid, a Cyborg in human-like form. With the benefits of improved cognition as supplementation of my own mind is made with the latest technology of the time I would be capable of split second action, involuntarily self preservation is already a part of our existence, our instinct keeps us safe in certian situations.
So I would be able to avoid getting into the path of the nuclear warhead altogether through the use of survival skills, but even if I did not heed those warnings there would be a measurable chance of survival if we integrate EMP-Proof nanobot technology and personal shielding and Cyborg enhancements into the equasion.
Basically, if we have a 100 year old Model T Ford, and we consider the engine of the vehicle to be its brain, as long as we can focus on the aging and repetitive replacement through the use of nanobots, structurally the vehicle is exactly the same as the vehicle that it was when it drove off the assembly line. It is atomically NOT the same car however functionally it is, and as far as I have experienced so far, replacement of every single atom in my body has gone unnoticed, so why should I worry about the consequences of undergoing this process in an accelerated state? As long as I stay biological and not become 100% technological I don't see any reason why I won't think of myself as the same human being as I am today. Ailbeit considerably far more advanced than I am today.
Essentially, if we give the Ford Shielding, armor plating, colission avoidance technology (an enhancement above our current instinctive methods of self preservation) and give ourselves knowledge which will keep us out of harms way (for example, don't walk down dark alleyways at night, don't work in a job which will be dangerous.) and then combine this with Nanotechnology which will enhance the already existing repair process of our bodies. We are for all intents and purposes immortal.
And when we go towards the stars we will need to withstand the energy output of a supernova, the crash of an asteroid or comet into our spacecraft, we will need to undergo the effects of exposure to the hard vacuum of space, and the exposure to immense levels of varying degrees of radiation from the entire electromagnetic and visible spectrum of radiated energy. This is just a fact of life and will need to be ready for it.
Evolution is too slow, we need to get off this rock as soon as possible, not later. I predict that we as a species will have another large scale extinction event before Evolution is capable of influencing our lifespans in any way shape or form.
So I do hope that you believe what I believe.
Thank you for your time.
Edited by Layberinthius, 26 April 2014 - 11:52 AM.
