[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'd')inopello is right.

Unless you think we're going to somehow perfectly rebuild neurons ( ), I don't think our brains will last much beyond their current life expectancies. We have machines that replace organs but the brain degrades over time. We can pump your blood, oxygenate it, clean out its metabolic wastes, and infuse it with nutrients...but we can't rebuild a brain. It's one thing to rebuild a heart with technology, it's just a pump. But a brain is several orders of magnitude more complicated.

We are designed to die after a certain period of time. We MUST accept this fact and plan accordingly.

There may be immortality after our time on Earth, but we certainly won't have it here.

[Arthur75]

lol, these grand declarations smell so much of self hate and ultra utilitarianism mindset, it's quite funny.
(besides, I thought the principle of science was to publish something when you found something ?)

[crude_intentions]

Zardoz I remember seeing that movie as a child and wondering why James Bond wearing a diaper

"The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was, but the gun shoots death, and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth . . . and kill! "

"Given their perpetual life-span, the Eternals have grown bored and become corrupt: the needlessness of procreation has rendered the men impotent"

Eternal life and youth but no F###ing sounds like hell to me.

[Carlhole]

Once you accept that it is possible for science to understand the workings of proteins, the basis of cell biology, it ultimately leads you to conclude that things like "immortality" will be indeed be possible. Because the protein-folding and combining processes involved are tedious and difficult to uncover, but they do not defy comprehension. So, yes, this knowledge will be used with ever greater mastery.

Life On Earth has had billions of years to slowly develop winning configurations of folded proteins. But this same sort of evolutionary testing could probably be done on supercomputers at blistering speeds. Also, the rate at which scientists improve their knowledge is measured is in years and decades - not billions of years.

It's not too hard to accept that medicine will soon be able to produce a brand new liver grown from a patient's own stem cells. Kidneys too, Skin? Hearts? Why not? But, the brain? It's a more complicated organ, sure. But, it too, works by processes that can be studied and copied just like the liver.

In the case, of the brain, though - this implies that an augmented, improved or optimized brain would be possible as well. And a network of super brains would also be possible. And Earth covered by trillions of points of super-awareness might be possible. Such an advent would spell the end of human beings as the dominant life-form on the planet; we would become like the horseshoe crabs you see on East Coast beaches - sheer anachronisms, remnants of a life-form that was state-of-the-art a billion years ago.

Blue Brain Project is now attempting to crack the brain's information-processing secrets and finally discover the true source of consciousness. The lead researchers claims that an artificial brain is possible within ten years.

If the mystery of awareness becomes fathomable, and it seems likely that it eventually will be, all bets are off about the future. ...Because now you're talking about the Singularity, the point at which it becomes unimaginable for any of us presently to perceive how events might subsequently evolve. Even our notion of "immortality" may eventually seem hopelessly inadequate when observed from some point in the future. We overlay onto the idea of "immortality" too much of our own preconceived notions about what it is and how it might eventually exist in the world.

[The Lorax]

Catholicism to medieval European peasant: your lives may be pathetic and meaningless with no way out, but if you do as we say, you’ll live forever in heaven in your current body

Corporatism to modern American: just keep following all of the rules, paying all of your taxes, don’t ask questions about morality, and believe what we say - and we’ll give you immortality in this world!! Look at all we’ve given you already!! Don’t you feel fantastically stimulated? Besides, you know you’d be helpless and starving without us anyway….
There are plenty of examples throughout history where the absolute ruling power uses the prevailing myth of the time to help them maintain domestication of the common folk. Immortality is always promised as a reward for those who remain unquestioningly loyal. I’m highly skeptical of this technology. You can’t get a f***ing laptop computer that doesn’t break in three years, and you’re going to put a bunch of tiny robots in your body and expect them to work flawlessly for years with no maintenance? I realize we’re talking about a hypothetical situation where cheap energy arrives to power 20 more years of exponential technological progress here, but still that’s asking a lot for mass production of nanotechnology… you slip, fall, dislodge a nanobot, and you’ll be pissing out of your ears.

Humans have learned, documented, and communicated an awesome amount of information since the Enlightenment, and I feel extremely lucky to live at a time where so much of it is available for me to reflect on and make use of in my life. However, we have managed to prove that we still know relatively little, and have made very little “progress” as a species, as evidenced by the still widespread killing, raping, oppressing, and destruction of all kinds that takes place all over the world each minute on account of us. Sure, we know now what makes up water and sunlight and soil and air, and all material things; and increasingly, we learn more and more how to better exploit nature for our benefit.
But, we seem to have learned little to nothing about what makes up love, compassion, empathy, respect or cooperation. These unlimited resources are left relatively untapped. Without them, any advances in material technology made from now until that not so distant day when there’s no more energy cheap enough to power the advances will follow the tried and true model of increasing inequality, resentment, social unrest, and violence.

Next Hollywood blockbuster: Masses of the “mortal” underclass are at war with the immortal elite and their hired henchmen – who will come out on top!?

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')
My wife begs to differ though and says being bored is a sign of a boring mind.

[AgentR]

If I'm going to be immortal, someone better come up with better hot-swap parts like, shoulders, knees, and hips.

I'm gonna shoot the person that says I'm living to 120 on the current set. (figuratively, that is.)

[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he 61-year-old American, who has predicted new technologies arriving before, says our understanding of genes and computer technology is accelerating at an incredible rate.

He says theoretically, at the rate our understanding is increasing, nanotechnologies capable of replacing many of our vital organs could be available in 20 years time.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The Lorax', 'H')umans have learned, documented, and communicated an awesome amount of information since the Enlightenment, and I feel extremely lucky to live at a time where so much of it is available for me to reflect on and make use of in my life. However, we have managed to prove that we still know relatively little, and have made very little “progress” as a species, as evidenced by the still widespread killing, raping, oppressing, and destruction of all kinds that takes place all over the world each minute on account of us. Sure, we know now what makes up water and sunlight and soil and air, and all material things; and increasingly, we learn more and more how to better exploit nature for our benefit.
But, we seem to have learned little to nothing about what makes up love, compassion, empathy, respect or cooperation. These unlimited resources are left relatively untapped. Without them, any advances in material technology made from now until that not so distant day when there’s no more energy cheap enough to power the advances will follow the tried and true model of increasing inequality, resentment, social unrest, and violence.

Next Hollywood blockbuster: Masses of the “mortal” underclass are at war with the immortal elite and their hired henchmen – who will come out on top!?

[jbrovont]

Actually - this is pretty far out, but we already have computer-brain interfaces, rat brain cells grown on silicon chips that have learned to fly a flight sim (neurons integrated their function with a chip essentially) and stem cell therapies that integrate new neurons with damaged brain cells to restore brain (neuron-neuron interfacing) and even "chimeric" thereapies where rat stem cells have been interfaced with human nerve tissue.

I think we've reached or neared the point in overcoming the physical connection issue of direct neural interfaces - now it's a matter of figuring out how best to talk over the connection, and maintain the "health" of the interface.

Creepy imo, but I have to admit as a tech junkie I'm a little excited about it.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')Unless you think we're going to somehow perfectly rebuild neurons ( ),

[aldente]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('crude_intentions', 'Z')ardoz I remember seeing that movie as a child and wondering why James Bond wearing a diaper

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The Lorax', 'C')atholicism to medieval European peasant: your lives may be pathetic and meaningless with no way out, but if you do as we say, you’ll live forever in heaven in your current body

Corporatism to modern American: just keep following all of the rules, paying all of your taxes, don’t ask questions about morality, and believe what we say - and we’ll give you immortality in this world!! Look at all we’ve given you already!! Don’t you feel fantastically stimulated? Besides, you know you’d be helpless and starving without us anyway….
There are plenty of examples throughout history where the absolute ruling power uses the prevailing myth of the time to help them maintain domestication of the common folk. Immortality is always promised as a reward for those who remain unquestioningly loyal. I’m highly skeptical of this technology. You can’t get a f***ing laptop computer that doesn’t break in three years, and you’re going to put a bunch of tiny robots in your body and expect them to work flawlessly for years with no maintenance? I realize we’re talking about a hypothetical situation where cheap energy arrives to power 20 more years of exponential technological progress here, but still that’s asking a lot for mass production of nanotechnology… you slip, fall, dislodge a nanobot, and you’ll be pissing out of your ears.

Humans have learned, documented, and communicated an awesome amount of information since the Enlightenment, and I feel extremely lucky to live at a time where so much of it is available for me to reflect on and make use of in my life. However, we have managed to prove that we still know relatively little, and have made very little “progress” as a species, as evidenced by the still widespread killing, raping, oppressing, and destruction of all kinds that takes place all over the world each minute on account of us. Sure, we know now what makes up water and sunlight and soil and air, and all material things; and increasingly, we learn more and more how to better exploit nature for our benefit.
But, we seem to have learned little to nothing about what makes up love, compassion, empathy, respect or cooperation. These unlimited resources are left relatively untapped. Without them, any advances in material technology made from now until that not so distant day when there’s no more energy cheap enough to power the advances will follow the tried and true model of increasing inequality, resentment, social unrest, and violence.

Next Hollywood blockbuster: Masses of the “mortal” underclass are at war with the immortal elite and their hired henchmen – who will come out on top!?

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'H')umans are just advanced chimps that still do what a chimp tribe does when it gets too large for the resources in its area: split into 2 tribes and murder each other. If you want to know why humans are brutal, observe chimps.

[davep]

I think the big problem is that modern science (including medicine) is based on Cartesian reductionism, looking at individual organs then cells then mitochondria etc and trying to find some kind of truth therein. Furthermore, it is also skewed by the interests of big business.

The scientific method is not efficient at understanding the complex processes involved in the human body, so will not be able to adequately heal anything but acute trauma or simple cause and effect problems for a long time, IMO.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'H')umans are just advanced chimps that still do what a chimp tribe does when it gets too large for the resources in its area: split into 2 tribes and murder each other. If you want to know why humans are brutal, observe chimps.

[Sixstrings]

Well, we're not descended from modern apes -- we're related to them. The two species of chimpanzee are our closest cousins, sharing the same tribe as us. Chimpanzees are the genus Pan, whereas we are genus Homo -- there have been a number of species of humans in the past, the last one (neanderthals) dying out about 24,000 years ago. So we're the last of our genus, the chimps are the last of their genus, and we both share the same parents.


Here's an interesting graph charting the more recent species of humans:


Now for you Creationists out there.. how do you account for these other species of human? Note that just 200,000 years ago, there were three species of humans on the planet at the same time -- neanderthals, homo sapiens, and homo erectus. At that time, homo erectus died out in Africa but lived on in Asia almost until the arrival of homo sapiens.

As most of us know, neanderthals and homo sapiens shared the same territory in Europe.. there is debate as to whether neanderthals were genetically close enough to us to have disappeared via cross breeding. It's more likely that we out-competed them and drove them to extinction.

But again, what's the Bible tell you about all this? What, does the Bible say that neanderthals were not intelligent, and were just another animal on Noah's ark?

[vision-master]

Bible? Show me the missing link. Guess what, you can't, bc there is none. $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here is a remarkable difference between Western prophecies and those of native peoples. When Western prophets see into the future they envision Armageddon. The end of the world. When native prophets look down that same path they see the completion of a great cycle. A change of worlds.

The reason for these vastly different views is found in the way time is experienced. In the West time is history. There is a past, a present, and a future; a beginning, a middle, and an end. Like a stick. Native peoples experience time as a cycle. There are four stages, such as the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Like a hoop. Each stage is a preparation for the next. At the center of the hoop is a still timelessness; the eternal present around which the cycles revolve. The visions of native prophets occur at that center point from where the cycles of change can be seen. There is no end.

[TheAntiDoomer]

+100! I can't believe there are so many creationist on this site, yikes. Wonder if they have been to the creationist museum and see humans walk the earth with dinosaurs!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'W')ell, we're not descended from modern apes -- we're related to them. The two species of chimpanzee are our closest cousins, sharing the same tribe as us. Chimpanzees are the genus Pan, whereas we are genus Homo -- there have been a number of species of humans in the past, the last one (neanderthals) dying out about 24,000 years ago. --snip-- But again, what's the Bible tell you about all this? What, does the Bible say that neanderthals were not intelligent, and were just another animal on Noah's ark?