As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
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Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#2The choices already exist. Dennis Ritchie and Steve Jobs could certainly have cryopreserved themselves if they wanted to. It's not like Alcor is unknown, especially in the circles Ritchie and Jobs were in.
What do you (since this is a self post) think we as society should do about it?
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#3What makes you think no one wants to die?
No one knows for sure if there's anything on the other side, but I definitely don't want to stick around this world forever. Immortality would be a curse.
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#4I don't think cryopreservation is that likely to work. Even its proponents are not that confident in it. I've collected some estimates:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajn1LpstEUO_dE0...
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#5It's not the lack of cryo arrangements that's the problem. (I've considered cryo myself, but I'm not impressed with the likelyhood of success. Too many fracturing events, not to mention the likely extreme costs of recovery post-freezer. But if you're looking for more life, it's your only potential option.) The problem is that we haven't been focusing enough on the real issue: Death. Finding ways to extend human life indefinitely should be our generation's "Space Race." Our Apollo Program. Want to create jobs? Help us find the cure. Instead we obsess over petty things. (And I'm as guilty as the rest.)
But regardless, there is one truth we all have to face: We will one day die. Even should you beat the biological death, should you somehow survive the backlash of fellow humans who reject your bid for immortality, you will still fail. Because one day the Universe will either run out of energy or contract back upon itself, at which point you will either starve or be crushed. You have a few billion years to find an answer for that.
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#6Maybe when there's real evidence that cryonics is actually useful?
Hackers of all people ought to know that no matter what your models say, it's all bullshit until you test it. And as far as I know, there's not even a model generally accepted by the scientific community that indicates any reasonable probability of success anyway.
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#7It's not the lack of cryo arrangements that's the problem. (I've considered cryo myself, but I'm not impressed with the likelyhood of success. Too many fracturing events, not to mention the likely extreme costs of recovery post-freezer. But if you're looking for more life, it's your only potential option.) The problem is that we haven't been focusing enough on the real issue: Death. Finding ways to extend human life…
I hadn't considered my greatest fear, but now I recognize it:
Finding ways to extend human life indefinitely should be our generation's "Space Race."
We already suffer from over-population and pollution. Death is a key piece of the demographic shift, and just about every other anthropological process related to the change and evolution of culture and society.
Living longer would not increase our society's capability or capacity, it would almost assuredly decrease it, not to mention life would be exceptionally crowded, everywhere.
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#8As the countless quotes show without an eventual demise Steve Jobs might not have done what he did.
Why not redefine the question as will life extension actually help?
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#9It's not the lack of cryo arrangements that's the problem. (I've considered cryo myself, but I'm not impressed with the likelyhood of success. Too many fracturing events, not to mention the likely extreme costs of recovery post-freezer. But if you're looking for more life, it's your only potential option.) The problem is that we haven't been focusing enough on the real issue: Death. Finding ways to extend human life…
I hadn't considered my greatest fear, but now I recognize it: Finding ways to extend human life indefinitely should be our generation's "Space Race." We already suffer from over-population and pollution. Death is a key piece of the demographic shift, and just about every other anthropological process related to the change and evolution of culture and society. Living longer would not increase our society's capability…
I never said it would be easy. Life changes. Human life before the Industrial Revolution was considerably different than now. Birth rates would have to fall. We would have to find ways to support more of us on fewer resources. Major sacrifices and changes in lifestyle would be absolutely required. Our species as it is now would likely not survive such a transition.
But, as Carl Sagan said: "It will not be we who reach Alpha Centauri and the other nearby stars. It will be a species very like us, but with more of our strengths and fewer of our weaknesses."
Re: As more hackers start to die, when do we finally do something about it?
#10What makes you think no one wants to die? No one knows for sure if there's anything on the other side, but I definitely don't want to stick around this world forever. Immortality would be a curse.
True, outlive-the-heat-death-of-the-universe immortality would be a curse. For people who are happy, living indefinitely would not.