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Death Is An Outrage
Re: Death Is An Outrage
by Ferretlover » Mon 14 Apr 2008, 16:22:22
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', ' ')Ok who else wants to play God?
*Jumping up and down on my chair, holding one arm up in the air with the other arm* Me! Me! I do! I do! (Boy, do I have a list of things that I [s]could [/s]would do!)
"Open the gates of hell!" ~Morgan Freeman's character in the movie, Olympus Has Fallen.
- Ferretlover
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Re: Death Is An Outrage
by Atlantean_Relic » Mon 14 Apr 2008, 16:41:49
Why is sciences making furries? 
Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God
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Re: Death Is An Outrage
by Schadenfreude » Tue 15 Apr 2008, 01:50:01
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'W')e aren't going to live forever because there is a genetic limit to human longevity.
Forget about all the moral and environmental concerns. And forget about the sheer outlandishness of the pursuit...
It seems like on the molecular level, the problem of aging reduces simply to understanding the chemistry underlying the copying and repairing of DNA information accurately while that chemical information is constantly being damaged or changed. Maybe aging is more fundamental than this?
On a purely scientific level, it doesn't appear to present an insurmountable barrier for human beings to understand the complex biochemical process of how DNA replicates and repairs itself on a cellular and mitochondrial level. And it doesn't seem like way far out science fiction that human beings will be able to manipulate and/or change the ways cells reproduce.
At the rate that bioengineering is advancing right now, I wouldn't put this sort of capability out much further than around 2050. That's not very far off.
I certainly would not want to live forever either. If given a choice between living a short life but one that is extremely rich in subjective experience and deep participation in the world, or living a life that is nearly interminable but essentially one that is just, well, me as I am now forever unchanging -- I think I'd have to opt for the former.
- Schadenfreude
Re: Death Is An Outrage
by Tyler_JC » Tue 15 Apr 2008, 02:12:16
I have a strong aversion to selfish experimenting with human genetics. So strong that it clouds my scientific understanding of the topic, unfortunately.
I can see us cutting out genes that cause disease but eliminating/severely reducing aging doesn't seem within our abilities.
I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet an ounce of gold that we won't eliminate aging by 2050.
Of course, you probably won't be around to collect if you win. Actually, you would be alive because we managed to eliminate aging.
I can see us cutting out genes that cause disease but eliminating/severely reducing aging doesn't seem within our abilities.
I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet an ounce of gold that we won't eliminate aging by 2050.
Of course, you probably won't be around to collect if you win. Actually, you would be alive because we managed to eliminate aging.
"www.peakoil.com is the Myspace of the Apocalypse."
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Re: Death Is An Outrage
by mos6507 » Tue 15 Apr 2008, 05:38:02
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', ' ')We aren't going to live forever because there is a genetic limit to human longevity.
After that biological limit is reached you'd download your wetware into some silicon hardware.
Be sure to keep a backup copy of yourself somewhere safe in case of a crash, and then off you could go again.
"Damn, my wetware download crashed the system again. Has anyone seen that USB with my personality backup on it?"
At least I can move an arm and my mouth!
- mos6507
