6 ms·

I think mankind should treat aging as the biggest threat it faces, and pour our every last resource into delivering us from its tyranny. It's like we all have

I think mankind should treat aging as the biggest threat it faces, and pour our every last resource into delivering us from its tyranny. It's like we all have this really slow and really insidious fatal disease (aging) and no one wants to admit that it's beatable. The downside to immortality is that the wealthy would just keep getting wealthier (since building wealth is at least partly a function of having wealth and having experience accumulating wealth) until eventually they are more important than governments. And the great War of 2188 will be of the nation of Zuckerberg vs the nation of the United States of Buffett, winner gets Earth, loser is expelled to roam space for all time. Ok, I should drink less coffee. :)

maratd 15y ago
> I think mankind should treat aging as the biggest threat it faces This is absolutely outrageous. We are already immortal. My children and my children's children are my continuation. They are me. More than that, your infinite existence is harmful and is a threat to your children, who are essentially you. It's very important that you die. Otherwise, your children will have to compete for resources not only with everyone else, but you as well. On top of all of that, we all go through phases as we age. Those phases are essential to our maturing and experiencing life. To stop aging is the equivalent of stopping the maturation process and stunting life itself. Death is as natural as birth. We are born, we grow, we experience, we die. To break that cycle is a perversion in itself and would destroy any concept of humanity that currently exists. We should fear untimely death, certainly. However, timely death should be embraced as much as birth. It is the completion of a cycle. There is absolutely no need to fear it.
- XLcommerce 15y ago
  Meh... you're entitled to your opinion. I wont lament the 'threat' to my unborn children's children. Of course if you're content to treat death as 'natural' then you're free to embrace it. I for one wish for eternal life... I can't imagine this ever getting boring.
- orangecat 15y ago
  Wow. My children and my children's children are my continuation. They are me. No, they aren't. More than that, your infinite existence is harmful Citation needed. Otherwise, your children will have to compete for resources not only with everyone else, but you as well. Yes, that's why we're so much worse off today than we were when the human population was 100 million. Death is as natural as birth. As is a 50% childhood mortality rate, people with bad eyesight being eaten by bears, cancer and Alzheimer's. To break that cycle is a perversion in itself and would destroy any concept of humanity that currently exists. Wow. Aging is terrible. Not only does it cause immense suffering and reduced quality of life, it's the major cause of the impending Medicare fiscal train wreck. Although by your "logic" we could get rid of all of that humanity-destroying medicine and solve that problem...
- hyko 15y ago
  This standpoint is a common example of an appeal to nature. In my opinion, it is specious reasoning; death may be natural, but that doesn't mean it's virtuous. Your children are certainly the continuation of some of your genes, but the personality we commonly refer to as 'you' almost certainly does not persist after death. As for resource competition, my preferred deal is simple - I would like to not be dealloced, and in return I will abstain from copying myself :)
- jodrellblank 15y ago
  If humans didn't age, weaken and die, would you vote to introduce it?
  - pjscott 15y ago
    And if death were inevitable but we got to pick the average live expectancy, what would you vote for? 80 years? 100? Perhaps go for a more natural 60-but-with-high-infant-mortality thing? Or perhaps if we push it out to 200 years, that would be more fun. Or 2000 years. When do you think the ideal death age is?
    - jodrellblank 15y ago
      Ideally, when you want to. If we could actually live "age" 20 indefinitely, we wouldn't be decrepid and weak and tired all the time. We could work to pay our way. We could collectively solve big problems like food and space in innovative ways.
  - maratd 15y ago
    > If humans didn't age, weaken and die, would you vote to introduce it? No. My advocacy of aging is based on the fact that it was a balance achieved by evolution. Every piece of evidence we have about aging points to it being a well-balanced and curated process of either evolution or design, whichever you prefer. There are plants on this planet that live thousands of years. Animals that live hundreds. We are not among them. If you think that's a result of bad luck or some such thing, then I'm sorry, you need to go read a bit about evolutionary biology. Longevity is a trait, crafted by an evolutionary path and the environment. Our life-spans are not an accident. They are not random. They are optimal. They might change over time. Get shorter. Get longer. Whatever the optimal solution, I'm for it. However, I'm definitely against treating various parts of our nature as if it is some sort of a disease.
    - noonespecial 15y ago
      What if the human brain is nothing more than evolution's play for an immortal creature? Create an animal with the capacity to make itself immortal, churn through them until one of them does. Seed the universe with them. Win.
- gte910h 15y ago
  The current accidental death and non-age based disease mortality still has us averaging a death at around 550-650. It's not forever.

maratd 15y ago

> I think mankind should treat aging as the biggest threat it faces This is absolutely outrageous. We are already immortal. My children and my children's children are my continuation. They are me. More than that, your infinite existence is harmful and is a threat to your children, who are essentially you. It's very important that you die. Otherwise, your children will have to compete for resources not only with everyone else, but you as well. On top of all of that, we all go through phases as we age. Those phases are essential to our maturing and experiencing life. To stop aging is the equivalent of stopping the maturation process and stunting life itself. Death is as natural as birth. We are born, we grow, we experience, we die. To break that cycle is a perversion in itself and would destroy any concept of humanity that currently exists. We should fear untimely death, certainly. However, timely death should be embraced as much as birth. It is the completion of a cycle. There is absolutely no need to fear it.

XLcommerce 15y ago
Meh... you're entitled to your opinion. I wont lament the 'threat' to my unborn children's children. Of course if you're content to treat death as 'natural' then you're free to embrace it. I for one wish for eternal life... I can't imagine this ever getting boring.
orangecat 15y ago
Wow. My children and my children's children are my continuation. They are me. No, they aren't. More than that, your infinite existence is harmful Citation needed. Otherwise, your children will have to compete for resources not only with everyone else, but you as well. Yes, that's why we're so much worse off today than we were when the human population was 100 million. Death is as natural as birth. As is a 50% childhood mortality rate, people with bad eyesight being eaten by bears, cancer and Alzheimer's. To break that cycle is a perversion in itself and would destroy any concept of humanity that currently exists. Wow. Aging is terrible. Not only does it cause immense suffering and reduced quality of life, it's the major cause of the impending Medicare fiscal train wreck. Although by your "logic" we could get rid of all of that humanity-destroying medicine and solve that problem...
hyko 15y ago
This standpoint is a common example of an appeal to nature. In my opinion, it is specious reasoning; death may be natural, but that doesn't mean it's virtuous. Your children are certainly the continuation of some of your genes, but the personality we commonly refer to as 'you' almost certainly does not persist after death. As for resource competition, my preferred deal is simple - I would like to not be dealloced, and in return I will abstain from copying myself :)
jodrellblank 15y ago
If humans didn't age, weaken and die, would you vote to introduce it?
- pjscott 15y ago
  And if death were inevitable but we got to pick the average live expectancy, what would you vote for? 80 years? 100? Perhaps go for a more natural 60-but-with-high-infant-mortality thing? Or perhaps if we push it out to 200 years, that would be more fun. Or 2000 years. When do you think the ideal death age is?
  - jodrellblank 15y ago
    Ideally, when you want to. If we could actually live "age" 20 indefinitely, we wouldn't be decrepid and weak and tired all the time. We could work to pay our way. We could collectively solve big problems like food and space in innovative ways.
- maratd 15y ago
  > If humans didn't age, weaken and die, would you vote to introduce it? No. My advocacy of aging is based on the fact that it was a balance achieved by evolution. Every piece of evidence we have about aging points to it being a well-balanced and curated process of either evolution or design, whichever you prefer. There are plants on this planet that live thousands of years. Animals that live hundreds. We are not among them. If you think that's a result of bad luck or some such thing, then I'm sorry, you need to go read a bit about evolutionary biology. Longevity is a trait, crafted by an evolutionary path and the environment. Our life-spans are not an accident. They are not random. They are optimal. They might change over time. Get shorter. Get longer. Whatever the optimal solution, I'm for it. However, I'm definitely against treating various parts of our nature as if it is some sort of a disease.
  - noonespecial 15y ago
    What if the human brain is nothing more than evolution's play for an immortal creature? Create an animal with the capacity to make itself immortal, churn through them until one of them does. Seed the universe with them. Win.
gte910h 15y ago
The current accidental death and non-age based disease mortality still has us averaging a death at around 550-650. It's not forever.