A serious question - Immortality ?

[cyber888]

So, you have saved a lot of money, and you are retired.
Have you ever dedicated some research time, and energy
to immortality. Well, when I mean 'immortality', I don't
mean living forever, but living another 500 - 1000 years.

Human beings in the bible like Methusala, Noah, Abraham,
Enoch, live between 300 - 1000 years.
I have translated Buddhist scriptures for a Buddhist master,
and according to my Buddhist master, ancient scriptures
talk about how humans use to live to 10,000 years. The same scripture
also said that before this world ends and becomes a dead planet - human life will only have a lifespan of 20 years as world conditions and the environment would be too harsh for life to be more than that.

Cell telomeres have been recently discovered as the key to prolonging
human life. As we grow older, they become shorter until they cannot replicate. Just like a xerox copy, the more you copy a copy - it degrades further. We may just have been cloned from the original humans, and our DNA flawed to age quickly. The bible mentioned after the Tower of Babel that 'God' capped human age to around '100', and the Great Flood was meant to destroy the nephilim giants, who were sons of angel and men.

The selling of 'MonoAtomic Gold' has also flourished, and I'm not sure if anyone has tried it. For so many years, Gold has always been a precious metal and no one really knows much use for it. Men in history have always tried to hord and accumulate gold. Now, everyone says, we must have it in our body, just like having iron, copper, and other mineral elements, because it is a superconductor and can reverse aging, and the only metal that does not corrode under water.

Anyway, I've said enough. Please don't flame me for just bringing up the possibilities. Several men of intellect and scholars have searched for immortality. And scientist today are still doing just that. Just thought it's an interesting topic of discussion.

[Gone4Good]

I don't see why immortality is a biological impossibility.

We do spend a good portion of our lives growing stronger. So it's not like the replacement of old cells with newer, even better, cells is something our bodies are incapable of doing already.

I suspect one day we'll figure out why we transition from growing stronger to growing weaker and maybe even how to stop that deterioration. But by then we'll all be cyborgs with replaceable parts or we'll have already uploaded our consciousness to the singularity.

But no, it's not something I think about.

[dixonge]

[Sunset]

Its already been proven a restricted diet in mice allows them to live 20% longer than average mice.
All the old folks at the retirement home are basically thin, I don't see any fat ones there in the 80-100 yr range, so I guess it applies to humans as well.

Just the other day I was talking to a 94 yr old lady, sharp as a pin, who told me about her 2 dead husbands, and her dead daughter. I told her, she was like an immortal !!

Turns out there is a downside to immortality.

[cyber888]

Trans-humanism is a growing discussion - When we incorporate technology into our body.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gone4Good I don't see why immortality is a biological impossibility. We do spend a good portion of our lives growing stronger. So it's not like the replacement of old cells with newer, even better, cells is something our bodies are incapable of doing already. I suspect one day we'll figure out why we transition from growing stronger to growing weaker and maybe even how to stop that deterioration. But by then we'll all be cyborgs with replaceable parts or we'll have already uploaded our consciousness to the singularity. But no, it's not something I think about.

[GrayHare]

Extended life is interesting only if it has quality. That means healthy enough to at minimum get out and about, look after myself, etc. as well as having friends and family who have similar extended lifespans. It also means having the legal ability to end the extension when I desire. Science fiction has explored extended lifespan, and without quality it doesn't look appealing.

[frayne]

I think the human species life span will continue to increase incrementally due to good science and healthier diets. Just think, the next Early Retirement Forum maybe targeting those getting out of the rat race at 90 and getting their first social security check at 102 !

[Gone4Good]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare Extended life is interesting only if it has quality. That means healthy enough to at minimum get out and about, look after myself, etc. as well as having friends and family who have similar extended lifespans. It also means having the legal ability to end the extension when I desire. Science fiction has explored extended lifespan, and without quality it doesn't look appealing.

That's the situation we have now. After the big increases in life expectancy from water treatment and antibiotics that happened a few generations ago most of the progress we've made hasn't so much extended life as it has extend old age.

[cyber888]

Yes, there's a downside. My wife is 13 years my senior, and she looks 30 years younger than her age (no kidding). At our last annual check-up at our primary physician's office, there was a new nurse. She looked at my wife and could not believe her age. My wife tried to convince her but to no avail. So, she was about to report my wife as a fraud and an Identity Theft taking someone else insurance. But before she did, she reported it to our doctor. And the doctor laughed at her and said, Yes, Ms.xxx has been coming here for the last 14 years and she is who she says. I can see how this is a problem in society. If you've seen the movie 'Age of Adaline', the woman gained immortality and she was running her whole life afraid that society might discover her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Its already been proven a restricted diet in mice allows them to live 20% longer than average mice. All the old folks at the retirement home are basically thin, I don't see any fat ones there in the 80-100 yr range, so I guess it applies to humans as well. Just the other day I was talking to a 94 yr old lady, sharp as a pin, who told me about her 2 dead husbands, and her dead daughter. I told her, she was like an immortal !! Turns out there is a downside to immortality.

[NW-Bound]

Interesting how while laymen are so optimistic, medical experts are somewhat glum about the advance of medicine.

References:

The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee (2010)
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Atul Gawande (2014)
The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery, George Johnson (2013)

[Texas Proud]

First, you have to believe that the bible is telling the truth... if you are religious then you do... if you are not some of what they put down is a stretch....



From my limited knowledge (and it is very limited), I have not read anything in the fossil records that would show that any of the ancient people lived a long life... heck, it shows that 40 was old....

I am not saying that there might not be some way to extend life to between 500 and 1000 years.... but even if that became a reality that is still a blip in time according to the cosmic time frame... not immortality....

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare Science fiction has explored extended lifespan, and without quality it doesn't look appealing.

Altered Carbon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon

[athena53]

Read Simone de Beauvoir's "All Men are Mortal" (Tous les homes sont mortels). A guy in the middle Ages takes a potion that will allow him to live forever and by the 20th century he's survived countless wives and children, fought too many battles, and he's bored out of his mind. (DH tells me there's a lot of science fiction with this plot.) Even if it were possible I wouldn't be interested.

[hurricane harry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 Altered Carbon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon

Good book

[travelover]

I'm more interested in immorality.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I'm more interested in immorality.

No reason you can't combine the two.

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 Read Simone de Beauvoir's "All Men are Mortal" (Tous les homes sont mortels). A guy in the middle Ages takes a potion that will allow him to live forever and by the 20th century he's survived countless wives and children, fought too many battles, and he's bored out of his mind. (DH tells me there's a lot of science fiction with this plot.) Even if it were possible I wouldn't be interested.

Heck, they told me the same thing when I ER'd quite a while ago "you'll be bored to tears, what are you going to do all day?". Well, it hasn't happened yet. I rather suspect that truly long life spans would be wonderful (assuming commensurate health that is). So you want to travel the universe and see what's out there at sub light speeds? No problem, you got the money honey I got the time...imagination is the limit.

As to true immortality as in forever? From everything I've read our solar system and even the universe won't last forever so I'll worry about that after I've toured a billion galaxies or so

[Gone4Good]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 Read Simone de Beauvoir's "All Men are Mortal" (Tous les homes sont mortels). A guy in the middle Ages takes a potion that will allow him to live forever and by the 20th century he's survived countless wives and children, fought too many battles, and he's bored out of his mind. (DH tells me there's a lot of science fiction with this plot.) Even if it were possible I wouldn't be interested.

I'm not hugely interested in outliving all my friends and family either. But that's not what scientific life extension would entail. Presumably all my friends and family would be in the same immortality boat as me.

And I can't imagine life ever being too boring. You know what sounds really boring? Not living.

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare Extended life is interesting only if it has quality. That means healthy enough to at minimum get out and about, look after myself, etc. as well as having friends and family who have similar extended lifespans. It also means having the legal ability to end the extension when I desire. Science fiction has explored extended lifespan, and without quality it doesn't look appealing.

Why wouldn't an extended life span have the same quality as it does now?

All things being equal, one could assume that someone who today lives to 90 that started to go downhill at 85, that with an extended life to age 130 they would start to go downhill at 120 - 125 rather than at 85.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gone4Good I'm not hugely interested in outliving all my friends and family either......

Interesting point. My late aunt and uncle were like Energizer bunnies right into their 90's, always active and current. Then he died rather suddenly and finally she really was ready to die, as well, as she had outlived all her friends and family except their kids. It was strange to see that change in her.

So, yea, being immortal but losing everyone around you would be kinda suck.