Life extension and transhumanism are very hot topics these days. People like to talk about these things a lot more than they used to but mostly, in a different tone. What I mean by that is that at one point it was a discussion on the edge of possibilities - maybe, one day, humanity will be able to be so advanced that we'll live forever - but nowadays it seems to be to have taken a somewhat nostalgic view.
Nostalgic in that people are sure this will be possible very soon, but not soon enough for them.
"Oh, I was born a little too late, I bet these little kids might live 150 or more while I'll die an early 80!"
That, I think ,it's amazing in itself. Over the course of one generation we went from SF to almost certainty that we will extend our life indefinitely.
The most famous life extension prophet and one who heavily invest in research in this direction is the Sillicon Valley mogul Peter Thiel. Love him or hate him, he is an extraordinary guy who thinks and does extraordinary things. Every time I read an interview with him I learn something. That's rare. He famously said:
‘I think there are probably three main modes of approaching death,’ he says. ‘You can accept it, you can deny it or you can fight it. I think our society is dominated by people who are into denial or acceptance, and I prefer to fight it.’
Our weapons against death are better medicine, gene manipulation, and some sort of reverse of aging in incremenets. Most futurists ( yes, this is a job!) seem to believe that you will "cure" death in 10years interval. Go to the doctor to get a treatment as you go now for a haircut.
"You look so young! What are you? 140?"
"160"
"Oh wow, I wish I'll look as good as you when I hit that...we'll see 40 years to go!"
This could actually be a real-life dialogue in 2200.
Turning to transhumanism, which is less discussed but also familiar from SF and various shows and movies.
This is mostly a philosophy or maybe a belief? that we are not yet complete and that we can take evolution in our own hands and evolve as a humans to unforeseen limits. It's really about being more, better, achieving our full potential but without losing our humanity as some claim it will happen if we keep give in to the possibilites offered to us by science.
As a subject of discussion is a fascinating topic and one could wax poetic about what future could be if we implant ourselves with bionics and maybe even download our minds into machines.
Important answers, interesting observations and more info on how transhumanism evolved and where is it going now can be found here. I think some questions are important to ask like:
or maybe like
These people hope to achieve this immortality throw all kind of enchancements: bionics, nanotech and uploading. If they can't do it in their lifetime, no worries! Just sign up for "cryonics" and you might get a chance later.
In the book: " To be a Machine", Mark explores this world of transhumanist and interview and spends time with a lot of people that are true believers. Reading the book is a lot like reading about cryptoheads..a bunch of very optimistic people that await for the rest of the humanity to truly awake to their ideas and make it happen already.
One guy, in his 20s, says at one point in the book:
"I can't imagine I won't be enhanced by the time I'm 40."
HUH!
Look, I love all these ideas and while 10 years ago I would have said it's stupid to WANT to live so much, now I'm older and I get it. Despite what most seem to think and say, living longer has a lot of advantages especially in how you see and appreciate it. Seriously, respect your elders is wisdom. A man who's 60 has 30 years on you, punk and that's a lot of experience even if he is less educated than you are. I don't dismiss age anymore :)
THAT being said I have something to say about enhancements. They will be, at first, very shitty.
WTF DO I KNOW?
Well, I already AM enhanced! I have a hearing aid! That's a tech that makes my hearing electronic basically. Sure, this is not an improvement over the human condition, I am enhanced because my hearing SUCKS without it but there you have it...
As it is, there is a lot of maintanance that these transhumanist seem to forget about.
Let me paint a picture:
- You can't swimm, take a shower, or get too wet or the aid breaks. ( funny? I forgot to take it off in the shower COUNTLESS times)
- You need to take it off when you sleep, keep it in a moist-proof box.
- You need to clean it constantly.
- You need to always have batteries on hand.
- You need to adjust its settings with some regulatory.
- The software gets old, you need a new one.
- And if it breaks...you need to take it to service like a laptop and wait and wait and wait.
There are 100 little things that take out of the fun. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE IT and I could not live without it ( in fact, I want to raise money to get a new one because mine is already kind of old at only 3 years...) but I'm just being realistic here. Being a tranhumanism won't be a ride in the park at first. It will be like having a car back in the 20s. A lot of work but hey, was better than a horse right?! ( A lot of people disagreed with this actually!)
What's your take on all this? Do you want to live forever?Would you enhance yourself given the chance? Are you afraid of these impeding changes? Are we all headed towards doom?
Leave a comment!
PS: 