Thread: Live forever ?

What do you think would be the social consequences if humans developed a pill or something to give you everlasting life?

Just some ideas....

Would pregnancy be illegal for the majority ?

Who would be allowed to give birth to replace those that died by accident? Or would those people who did died be replaced by identical clones, or (better) design clones ?

If it was developed by a government, do you think the pill would be kept a secret and only given to a select few ? or be made available to the country's citizens ?

Would you take one ?

I wouldnt take such a pill since im still mortal and limited by my organic components. Id rather replace it with mechanical parts and achive imortality that way

But if we were to get such a pill id say let all smart ones have it and all people who give something good to society reproduce we can then finally get humanity go forward even faster

Instead of like now, the "she's so pretty" syndrome.

Originally Posted by Cat1981(England)

What do you think would be the social consequences if humans developed a pill or something to give you everlasting life?

AAAGGH!!!! haha, you probably haven't heard my argument on this but I feel it is beginning to get popular since I have used it so much.

Here it is.

We already have everlasting life. Your idea of death and individualiy is an illusion. At what point in human existance has life stopped? Our individual selves have a sort of programmed death. You wonder why it is so hard for use to stop ageing? Have you ever considered why we age? It is because we become obsolete. If we had some magic pill we would be dependent on it. As soon as we stopped using our load of drugs that we would be taking all the new pathogens would eat us up in a very short time. We would weaken ourselves. In fact if I did have to live forever I think I would go along with the machanical body like Zelos... pathogens require life and a machine is not life.

Anyways, if we did find a way to "live forever" I think the universe would implode. We would be like "what's the point" and would all commit suicide or something. It would not last long and probably created some sort of disaster. OR We would all be in a state of everlasting nervana and live happily ever after. THE END. I think our veiws on ethics would be all twisted (compared to now) if we did use this "pill" and many strange things would be going on. Have you ever heard of the game "DOOM". Or maybe you have seen the movie. I think this is a good example of what might happen. We would unleash something terrible... Like Zelos.

Have you ever considered why we age?

Yes, i thought it was because of free radicals or cell dividing until the dna becomes damaged.

Originally Posted by Cat1981(England)

Yes, i thought it was because of free radicals or cell dividing until the dna becomes damaged.

on that last part about the dna... specifically, it's the shortening of the telomeres

Originally Posted by Cat1981(England)

Have you ever considered why we age?

Yes, i thought it was because of free radicals or cell dividing until the dna becomes damaged.

O.K. think a little harder. If things life aged and died just simply by cells dividing and "getting old" than life would have stopped long, long ago. Same Idea with the free radicals. There are always free radicals and the body is always dealing with them yet for the first 20 years of your life you are growing as opposed to ageing.
Sperm and egg cells divide in the same manner as any other cell. In fact sperm cells multiply so fast that, according to your theory we should be dead at birth. The cells also have free radicals.

My point is that what you say is not the reason we die. It may contribute to the cause but, it is most definitely not the reason. The reason is because in time we become physically obsolete (although these days it seems the newer generations are more physically obsolete but anyways...) and die so that a stronger version of ourselves can live.

I'm sorry, but i can't get my head around what you are saying. :?
Are you saying...

1)I die so my children can have their children and their children have their children etc, in a word evolution ?

or

2)I die, go to heaven and have a better, more fuller life ?

or

3)Have I completely missed the point ?

Thank you.

------Edit------

4)That i am not important. That I am no more than a cell, and after I die the human race will continue ?

Sorry I wasn't very clear.

Let's take your first example: Free radicals.

A free radical would be some sort of atom or molecule that is very reactive because of an unpaired electron. This type of reactivity can damage DNA.

Now my point is that the same thing is going on in a new born child yet they aren't aging.

Second example: Cells divide so much that things just eventually go wrong.

Same idea. From the male's point of veiw sperm is constantly being produced at an unimaginable rate. Isn't it ironic that the cells that do the most dividing are responsible for half the newborn. This is proof to me that constant cell division has nothing to do with age since a newborn growing child is the result of such cell division.

I want to use these two examples to help strengthen my main point:

We die because our DNA becomes obsolete and is no longer needed by the speices. Therefor we are discarded (we die) to make room for the new 'individuals'.

Is that more clear?

Originally Posted by DaBOB

Sorry I wasn't very clear.

Thanks for the reply, you were probably very clear, i'm just a little slow.

We die because our DNA becomes obsolete and is no longer needed by the speices. Therefor we are discarded (we die) to make room for the new 'individuals'.

So you think i should look at the human species as a single thing. I will in my lifetime be replacing myself with my children, who are more evolved. Such as a do with my computer, which over the course of many years will be gradually upgraded, but will still be (after i have replaced everything) my computer?

It wont be you since you is the data contained in your brain and the way its processed and in your children it aint the same data nor the same way of processing it therefor it isnt you but someone else that contain 50% of your genes.

Eternal life can only be achived by replacing all organic parts with mechanical ones that can be replaced easly

Originally Posted by Cat1981(England)

Originally Posted by DaBOB

Sorry I wasn't very clear.

Thanks for the reply, you were probably very clear, i'm just a little slow.

We die because our DNA becomes obsolete and is no longer needed by the speices. Therefor we are discarded (we die) to make room for the new 'individuals'.

So you think i should look at the human species as a single thing. I will in my lifetime be replacing myself with my children, who are more evolved. Such as a do with my computer, which over the course of many years will be gradually upgraded, but will still be (after i have replaced everything) my computer?

I don't think you should do anything. I am suggesting the idea if yin and yang. Parts and wholes. We are the whole and an individual is a part, just as a cell is a part of a whole organ which is part of a whole body and so on.

Our way of updating (using you computer lingo) is to reproduce a new individual. Although like zelos said, unlike a computer, the update not only changes the physical appearance or mental capability but, many other things. To sum them all up I would suggest that a new soul inhabits the body, giving a new personality and thought process among the other things.

To sum them all up I would suggest that a new soul inhabits the body, giving a new personality and thought process among the other things.

This statement is only true if you by soul refer to the minds information and processing.
But this can easly be replaced by another mind if the right tachnology is aviable

Honestly I don't like the word soul. Media has given me this picture of a cloudy something that is inside us and I don't like that. So I really don't mind what you call the soul. If you can come to the same conclusion with your own meaning of the word than, as of now, it is good enough for me.

When you say the mind, are you refering to the brain? Do you think that if a brain transplant were done the person would have the personality of the donor or of themselves or both? Or, it sounds as though you are suggesting that a mechanical brain is used. I wonder; if we had a mechanical brain would we be ourselves?

When you say the mind, are you refering to the brain?

The brain is the unit but for mind i refer to the information stored in the brain and the way it is processed

Do you think that if a brain transplant were done the person would have the personality of the donor or of themselves or both

If you transplant a brain the person inside the new body will be the one the brain came from and if the other brain is discarded i say that person previusly owning that body is dead

Or, it sounds as though you are suggesting that a mechanical brain is used. I wonder; if we had a mechanical brain would we be ourselves?

You is the information and the way it is processed. So if a mechanical brain can match our brains capabilities there is no reason why you could be inside a mechanical brain once the inforamtion have been transfered to it

we would be trapped in these stupid bodies forever