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People are a conundrum. We seem to want a brain-computer interface, or to free ourselves from our bodies and the fear of death, to let our consciousness live on

People are a conundrum. We seem to want a brain-computer interface, or to free ourselves from our bodies and the fear of death, to let our consciousness live on forever, allowing our brains (in artificial bodies) explore the cosmos. We dream about it in books and movies; chat about it in coffee shops and in our spare time at work. When the opportunity to explore the possibility begins to present itself, we balk at the idea. This hasn't even reached any stage where emotions or thought might emerge, anymore than an early abortion could be considered a life to anyone but to the most ardent fundamentalist and already we are cringing at the moral implications. Yes, I understand that we have to consider them before it is too late and a tragedy has occurred. We also can't stop progress on the notion that there is a "what if" scenario out there, like a boogie man waiting in the wings. Do it under supervision. Keep it transparent. But don't just stop it out of knee jerk fear of the unknown and what may be. How will anything move forward if we, as a global society become scared of everything?

beefield 8y ago
> We seem to want ... live on forever My humble opinion is that people have not thought that enough. I mean, eternity is a damn long time. I can somehow imagine my brain/consciousness/whatnot to find new and interesting stuff to engage with for a few thousand years, and that is stretching it a lot. Much more likely we are talking about a few hundred years and there is a real possibility that I am completely fed up with this world before I turn 100 years old. And now let's start stacking those years. So, say a billion years. Meaning a million thousand year periods. I get shivers just thinking I should be hanging around that long. And what comes to eternity, we have not even started yet. I can't think of eternal life as being anything but worst imaginable hell (regardless whether it would be in heaven or hell). (Admittably, I would be curious to know how how the story of humanity progresses and most likely ends at some point)
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  I think people's reasoning is like mathematical induction here. 10 years ago I wanted to live 10 more years. Today I want to live 10 more years. At any age N, I want to live to N+10. Therefore, I want to live forever. I also think people implicitly assume suicide should be an open option if they ever get bored with eternity.
- ddingus 8y ago
  I woukd be quite happy to be there for my family, the young ones, and their young ones. Experience is so valuable. And people are beautiful. There is a lot to do, experience, live, laugh. Yeah, will get tired of it, but not in my current lifespan. I can't even do and build all I want to. Forever is not realistic. But more? 2x? Yeah, sign me up. Easy.
  - shrimp_emoji 8y ago
    Why do you even suppose you'd get tired of it? It's like saying you'll get tired of good music someday.
    - ddingus 8y ago
      You know I might not. You may very well be right about that. However I really don't know, so I spoke to what I do know.
mockingbirdy 8y ago
> This hasn't even reached any stage where emotions or thought might emerge > we have to consider them before it is too late and a tragedy has occurred We have to talk about it before we get to the state of emotions and thoughts, because then it's already too late. > How will anything move forward if we, as a global society become scared of everything? We're not scared at all. Calling ethical considerations "scared" is a silly thing to say in the face of all the genocides, horrors like Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all the other things we did. We were not scared to use nuclear weapons and there are some people who aren't scared to clone humans. It's not about being scared, it's about being ethical. Being ethical is not necessarily a natural thing for us, we have to keep this in mind constantly so we don't lose what we call humanity. - - - related: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html and http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/ http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/ I don't want to live forever and I think people who think that eternity or a very long life lead to fulfillment are deceiving themselves.

beefield 8y ago

> We seem to want ... live on forever My humble opinion is that people have not thought that enough. I mean, eternity is a damn long time. I can somehow imagine my brain/consciousness/whatnot to find new and interesting stuff to engage with for a few thousand years, and that is stretching it a lot. Much more likely we are talking about a few hundred years and there is a real possibility that I am completely fed up with this world before I turn 100 years old. And now let's start stacking those years. So, say a billion years. Meaning a million thousand year periods. I get shivers just thinking I should be hanging around that long. And what comes to eternity, we have not even started yet. I can't think of eternal life as being anything but worst imaginable hell (regardless whether it would be in heaven or hell). (Admittably, I would be curious to know how how the story of humanity progresses and most likely ends at some point)

TeMPOraL 8y ago
I think people's reasoning is like mathematical induction here. 10 years ago I wanted to live 10 more years. Today I want to live 10 more years. At any age N, I want to live to N+10. Therefore, I want to live forever. I also think people implicitly assume suicide should be an open option if they ever get bored with eternity.
ddingus 8y ago
I woukd be quite happy to be there for my family, the young ones, and their young ones. Experience is so valuable. And people are beautiful. There is a lot to do, experience, live, laugh. Yeah, will get tired of it, but not in my current lifespan. I can't even do and build all I want to. Forever is not realistic. But more? 2x? Yeah, sign me up. Easy.
- shrimp_emoji 8y ago
  Why do you even suppose you'd get tired of it? It's like saying you'll get tired of good music someday.
  - ddingus 8y ago
    You know I might not. You may very well be right about that. However I really don't know, so I spoke to what I do know.

mockingbirdy 8y ago

> This hasn't even reached any stage where emotions or thought might emerge > we have to consider them before it is too late and a tragedy has occurred We have to talk about it before we get to the state of emotions and thoughts, because then it's already too late. > How will anything move forward if we, as a global society become scared of everything? We're not scared at all. Calling ethical considerations "scared" is a silly thing to say in the face of all the genocides, horrors like Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all the other things we did. We were not scared to use nuclear weapons and there are some people who aren't scared to clone humans. It's not about being scared, it's about being ethical. Being ethical is not necessarily a natural thing for us, we have to keep this in mind constantly so we don't lose what we call humanity. - - - related: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html and http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/ http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/ I don't want to live forever and I think people who think that eternity or a very long life lead to fulfillment are deceiving themselves.