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Personally I don't want to live forever. Though one might argue people only live longer than they wish to because their body falls apart around their consciousn

Personally I don't want to live forever. Though one might argue people only live longer than they wish to because their body falls apart around their consciousness, or they are faced with losing their consciousness slowly (such as Robin Williams)

com2kid 3y ago
I can easily plan out a few hundred years of activities. Let's say I have a 500 year lifespan, all except the last 10 or so with health and vigor. Well at that point, the opportunity cost of skill mastery becomes tiny. Spend 20 years learning to become a really great piano player, and another 15 learning parkour. Master 3 or 4 martial arts, that is a good 20-30 years each. Homestead for a decade or two, doing everything from scratch by hand. Spend a couple decades doing volunteer work. 1 minute of ideas and I'm up to 150 years so far. I agree that need to achieve a post-scarcity society, which would involve a lot of uncomfortable trade-offs. E.g. if we just have food that we can 100% automate the production of and that doesn't cause any ecological harm, we'd dramatically limit what food exists for human consumption. Same goes for transit, consumer goods, and so forth. I honestly think that if humanity wanted to, we could transition to post scarcity in a few decades using today's technology, but it would be a drop in quality of life for the first world (no more steaks!) so there is no real motive by those with power and money.
- quesera 3y ago
  I can easily think of 150 years of things to do simply as a brain in a vat. Sure there are sensory inputs I'd miss. But as long as IO in the form of text and/or audio is working, with or without augmentation, I'm confident it would be worth a try. Vision would be a nice to have.
  - I_Am_Nous 3y ago
    I would not give up my agency in such a way. "No please don't!" Said the brain nobody was listening to anymore...
    - quesera 3y ago
      Well, I wouldn't choose it for fun. It would be as an alternative to death, and it would be a minimally-acceptable state. More would be better. I'd also cede things like property rights in exchange for long term care. People do this today! But a BIV's needs would be simpler than full body care. All I'd need would be physical protection, temperature control, food, and a network connection. :)
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  Me not wanting to live forever has nothing to do with a lack of things to do while living forever. As you said, if there were a post-scarcity society to make it so I don't have to work for food and housing it would help, but living is hard. Having to eat is a hassle. I'm 33 and tired of the speed I made my brain go on social media and have been slowing everything in my life down as a result.
  - com2kid 3y ago
    > but living is hard. Having to eat is a hassle. It is a matter of perspective. I find daily joy in movement and motion. There are thousands of foods I have yet to try, innumerable combinations of spices I have yet to experience. Heck, a very large number of flower varities I haven't smelled! If you get up every morning and hate eat your breakfast, your day will be off to a terrible start. If you get up and look forward to the new type of sausage you got from the farmers market over the weekend, then life is pretty grand!
happytoexplain 3y ago
You don't have to live forever - you could simply choose when to stop without a cap.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  Technically I have that choice now as well, but I'm not interested in taking it.

com2kid 3y ago

I can easily plan out a few hundred years of activities. Let's say I have a 500 year lifespan, all except the last 10 or so with health and vigor. Well at that point, the opportunity cost of skill mastery becomes tiny. Spend 20 years learning to become a really great piano player, and another 15 learning parkour. Master 3 or 4 martial arts, that is a good 20-30 years each. Homestead for a decade or two, doing everything from scratch by hand. Spend a couple decades doing volunteer work. 1 minute of ideas and I'm up to 150 years so far. I agree that need to achieve a post-scarcity society, which would involve a lot of uncomfortable trade-offs. E.g. if we just have food that we can 100% automate the production of and that doesn't cause any ecological harm, we'd dramatically limit what food exists for human consumption. Same goes for transit, consumer goods, and so forth. I honestly think that if humanity wanted to, we could transition to post scarcity in a few decades using today's technology, but it would be a drop in quality of life for the first world (no more steaks!) so there is no real motive by those with power and money.

quesera 3y ago
I can easily think of 150 years of things to do simply as a brain in a vat. Sure there are sensory inputs I'd miss. But as long as IO in the form of text and/or audio is working, with or without augmentation, I'm confident it would be worth a try. Vision would be a nice to have.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  I would not give up my agency in such a way. "No please don't!" Said the brain nobody was listening to anymore...
  - quesera 3y ago
    Well, I wouldn't choose it for fun. It would be as an alternative to death, and it would be a minimally-acceptable state. More would be better. I'd also cede things like property rights in exchange for long term care. People do this today! But a BIV's needs would be simpler than full body care. All I'd need would be physical protection, temperature control, food, and a network connection. :)
I_Am_Nous 3y ago
Me not wanting to live forever has nothing to do with a lack of things to do while living forever. As you said, if there were a post-scarcity society to make it so I don't have to work for food and housing it would help, but living is hard. Having to eat is a hassle. I'm 33 and tired of the speed I made my brain go on social media and have been slowing everything in my life down as a result.
- com2kid 3y ago
  > but living is hard. Having to eat is a hassle. It is a matter of perspective. I find daily joy in movement and motion. There are thousands of foods I have yet to try, innumerable combinations of spices I have yet to experience. Heck, a very large number of flower varities I haven't smelled! If you get up every morning and hate eat your breakfast, your day will be off to a terrible start. If you get up and look forward to the new type of sausage you got from the farmers market over the weekend, then life is pretty grand!

happytoexplain 3y ago

You don't have to live forever - you could simply choose when to stop without a cap.

I_Am_Nous 3y ago
Technically I have that choice now as well, but I'm not interested in taking it.