4 ms·
There're likely to be some structural issues with human neurology - things like Alzheimers, but software-level bit rot or overfitting instead of physical failur
by saulrh 9y ago
There're likely to be some structural issues with human neurology - things like Alzheimers, but software-level bit rot or overfitting instead of physical failure - that will need to be addressed as part of immortality science. For example, we'll likely need to tweak our brains' hard-coded exploration/exploitation tuning so people don't end up stagnating or ossifying and not being able to appreciate the future. Trauma is somewhat related here; suicide, and the mental health issues that lead to it, is just as valid immortality-research topics as cancer and general senescence.
Summary: "Immortality" isn't just anti-aging. Mental health and intellectual extensibility are just as important to immortality as oncology.
- exergy 9y agoBut...why? What possible good could come out of immortality? Why do we never stop to ask "why" anymore? The trite "Just because we can..." thing is irritating but true. My utopian vision doesn't involve millenia-old people everywhere. It involves a smaller world population that succeeds in leaving ever smaller footprints on the planet and living in harmony with other creatures.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jakeogh 9y agoIf brain function does not degrade it's obvious that more experience to draw upon means better decisions. Hence voting age etc. Maybe others assume those decisions will be net detrimental to others but I don't. Who is anyone else to decide who survives anyway?
- vt100 9y agoWhen your brain starts to slow down from too much malware, maybe can backup the data, and re-install the OS.