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The quest for immortality is popular, but it would mean the end of physical and cultural evolution. Seems as though this topic is gaining steam now, only as a l

by courtf 5y ago

The quest for immortality is popular, but it would mean the end of physical and cultural evolution. Seems as though this topic is gaining steam now, only as a large corpus of aging narcissists are finally grappling with the concept of death. It's another sign of the selfish immaturity ingrained into our culture.

kiba 5y ago
This is nonsense. We change everyday through forgetting and remembering and learning. Physical and cultural evolution don't stop. It's another sign of the selfish immaturity ingrained into our culture. Selfish immaturity? It seems that you yourself is a reflection of culture. One of our very first epic poems, the Epic of Gilgamesh basically railed against immortality and accepting one's fate.
- courtf 5y ago
  > Physical and cultural evolution don't stop. If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. This is basic. To the degree we evolve culturally, most of our culture comes to us in our eponymous "formative years." Leaving those behind tends to result in comparatively little change in culture over the remaining course of our lives. > Selfish immaturity? It seems that you yourself is a reflection of culture. I rest my case. > One of our very first epic poems, the Epic of Gilgamesh basically railed against immortality and accepting one's fate. This was not a call to try and live forever, this is a call to live boldly, take risks and not to fear death. Striving for immortality is the absolute opposite, the coward's response to the challenge made in the poem.
  - sigstoat 5y ago
    > If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. you skipped some lessons in biology class; you're not doing any evolving over the course of _your_ life. regardless of how long or short it is.
    - courtf 5y ago
      Evolution, by definition, occurs over the course of generations. So angry and yet so wrong. If a population lives forever, do you really think they'll continue having kids the entire time? Of course not.
  - Ostrogodsky 5y ago
    Please feel free to end your life at your convenience, billions of others will take the opportunity of living for as much as possible.
    - courtf 5y ago
      This is not an appropriate comment for HN.
  - kiba 5y ago
    If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. This is basic. To the degree we evolve culturally, most of our culture comes to us in our eponymous "formative years." Leaving those behind tends to result in comparatively little change in culture over the remaining course of our lives. That is not a law of physics or biology. People get heart implants, or even exercise and become stronger. I rest my case. Rest your case how? You didn't demonstrate that it is selfish and immature to desire to live, perhaps indefinitely. This was not a call to try and live forever, this is a call to live boldly, take risks and not to fear death. Striving for immortality is the absolute opposite, the coward's response to the challenge made in the poem. I assure you that I do not make conscious decisions about whether I live a thousand years if I undertake a given activity. I am also pretty sure that I routinely undertaken relatively dangerous activities that would kill me. I doubt most people who becomes immortal will become the sort of conscious decision makers deciding not to take risk lest they jeopardize their thousand years+ lifespan. That doesn't seem to jives with human nature.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  I am constantly attempting to improve myself. Sometimes, I wonder if I will finally achieve perfection only to run out of time and die :-/ There's a heluva lot I wish I could tell my 20 year old self. Sometimes I counsel my friends in their 20s, but they don't believe me, as I didn't believe this stuff in my 20s.
  - kiba 5y ago
    I second your thought. For sure, I am smarter and wiser then I was in my 20s, which wasn't long ago. But I am also carrying baggage of the past with me, which in some case makes less wise and less brave than I wanted to be.
    - reducesuffering 5y ago
      > There's a heluva lot I wish I could tell my 20 year old self. Like?
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - titzer 5y ago
    The bandwidth on that connection isn't great. You can't fit 20 (or 40) years worth of experience through the narrow tube of spoken language without massive compression. A single sentence can stand for years and years of trial and error. Or it could stand for nothing but frustration and regret. Young people have no context or wisdom or experience to relate to. So it's kind of impossible. Likewise it is impossible to communicate what 20 years of adult experiences feels like to someone who is barely an adult; not all years are the same. And then when they get to 40, likewise, communicating another 40 years of life experience to them doesn't work either. Growing up and aging can only be done first hand. Compound this with the fact that some old people are just dumb and angry. So young people can and should just shrug off some of what old nutters say.

by courtf 5y ago

kiba 5y ago

This is nonsense. We change everyday through forgetting and remembering and learning. Physical and cultural evolution don't stop. It's another sign of the selfish immaturity ingrained into our culture. Selfish immaturity? It seems that you yourself is a reflection of culture. One of our very first epic poems, the Epic of Gilgamesh basically railed against immortality and accepting one's fate.

courtf 5y ago
> Physical and cultural evolution don't stop. If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. This is basic. To the degree we evolve culturally, most of our culture comes to us in our eponymous "formative years." Leaving those behind tends to result in comparatively little change in culture over the remaining course of our lives. > Selfish immaturity? It seems that you yourself is a reflection of culture. I rest my case. > One of our very first epic poems, the Epic of Gilgamesh basically railed against immortality and accepting one's fate. This was not a call to try and live forever, this is a call to live boldly, take risks and not to fear death. Striving for immortality is the absolute opposite, the coward's response to the challenge made in the poem.
- sigstoat 5y ago
  > If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. you skipped some lessons in biology class; you're not doing any evolving over the course of _your_ life. regardless of how long or short it is.
  - courtf 5y ago
    Evolution, by definition, occurs over the course of generations. So angry and yet so wrong. If a population lives forever, do you really think they'll continue having kids the entire time? Of course not.
- Ostrogodsky 5y ago
  Please feel free to end your life at your convenience, billions of others will take the opportunity of living for as much as possible.
  - courtf 5y ago
    This is not an appropriate comment for HN.
- kiba 5y ago
  If someone lives forever, they don't evolve physically. This is basic. To the degree we evolve culturally, most of our culture comes to us in our eponymous "formative years." Leaving those behind tends to result in comparatively little change in culture over the remaining course of our lives. That is not a law of physics or biology. People get heart implants, or even exercise and become stronger. I rest my case. Rest your case how? You didn't demonstrate that it is selfish and immature to desire to live, perhaps indefinitely. This was not a call to try and live forever, this is a call to live boldly, take risks and not to fear death. Striving for immortality is the absolute opposite, the coward's response to the challenge made in the poem. I assure you that I do not make conscious decisions about whether I live a thousand years if I undertake a given activity. I am also pretty sure that I routinely undertaken relatively dangerous activities that would kill me. I doubt most people who becomes immortal will become the sort of conscious decision makers deciding not to take risk lest they jeopardize their thousand years+ lifespan. That doesn't seem to jives with human nature.
WalterBright 5y ago
I am constantly attempting to improve myself. Sometimes, I wonder if I will finally achieve perfection only to run out of time and die :-/ There's a heluva lot I wish I could tell my 20 year old self. Sometimes I counsel my friends in their 20s, but they don't believe me, as I didn't believe this stuff in my 20s.
- kiba 5y ago
  I second your thought. For sure, I am smarter and wiser then I was in my 20s, which wasn't long ago. But I am also carrying baggage of the past with me, which in some case makes less wise and less brave than I wanted to be.
  - reducesuffering 5y ago
    > There's a heluva lot I wish I could tell my 20 year old self. Like?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- titzer 5y ago
  The bandwidth on that connection isn't great. You can't fit 20 (or 40) years worth of experience through the narrow tube of spoken language without massive compression. A single sentence can stand for years and years of trial and error. Or it could stand for nothing but frustration and regret. Young people have no context or wisdom or experience to relate to. So it's kind of impossible. Likewise it is impossible to communicate what 20 years of adult experiences feels like to someone who is barely an adult; not all years are the same. And then when they get to 40, likewise, communicating another 40 years of life experience to them doesn't work either. Growing up and aging can only be done first hand. Compound this with the fact that some old people are just dumb and angry. So young people can and should just shrug off some of what old nutters say.