The second law of thermodynamics answers this question with a definitive "no".
Maybe not forever, but eons.
Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
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Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#22Assuming we could keep the human body alive forever, I don't think we could handle it a person would eventually go insane. Also it would get incredibly boring at some point and I imagine the suicide rate would be somewhere near a 100% or at minimum people would allow themselves to die. I definitely don't want to live forever. So my answer is No, and no one will ever be immortal.
What is boring about it? Is living 40 years more boring than living 30? What about living 1000 years instead of living 100 years? At what point does it become boring? It's hard for humans to conceptualize eternity, so don't think of it in those terms. If I could live in my current body for 1000 years, I'd still never get around to most of my backlog of things I'd like to do. Boredom is mostly caused by lack of purpos…
Boredom is a common argument against immortality that is completely derived from pure speculation because nobody has ever lived long enough to experience that feeling of suicidal boredom.
I spend great portions of my life being bored. Never has my boredom ever interfered or had any connection with my desire to live or be immortal. It's pure bullshit to even imply there is a connection.
Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#23Assuming we could keep the human body alive forever, I don't think we could handle it a person would eventually go insane. Also it would get incredibly boring at some point and I imagine the suicide rate would be somewhere near a 100% or at minimum people would allow themselves to die. I definitely don't want to live forever. So my answer is No, and no one will ever be immortal.
Hey, I'll let you die if you want to.
I would personally like to live for as long as possible. I have a lot to live for.
Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#24Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is boring about it? Is living 40 years more boring than living 30? What about living 1000 years instead of living 100 years? At what point does it become boring? It's hard for humans to conceptualize eternity, so don't think of it in those terms. If I could live in my current body for 1000 years, I'd still never get around to most of my backlog of things I'd like to do. Boredom is mostly caused by lack of purpos…
Boredom is a common argument against immortality that is completely derived from pure speculation because nobody has ever lived long enough to experience that feeling of suicidal boredom. I spend great portions of my life being bored. Never has my boredom ever interfered or had any connection with my desire to live or be immortal. It's pure bullshit to even imply there is a connection.
I would find it hard to believe there's a single human in all of history that would be bored if they found themselves living in present day. Especially now that we're in the Information Age, more and more boredom is becoming a conscious choice for anyone with an internet connection, rather than an inescapable circumstance.
Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#26Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#27There's a short story of a woman who was a bit of a luddite, but late in life her children and grandchildren convinced her to adopt "upgrades" here and there, until she became almost entirely virtual. She retained much of her humanity, but was able to be in many places at once, "inhabiting" purpose-built bodies, and building up a certain reputation and popularity. Eventually humanity's probes make contact with aliens…
If you liked that one, you may also enjoy 'Accelerando' by Charlie Stross.
It's available for free at Stross' blog: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera...
Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#28The second law of thermodynamics answers this question with a definitive "no".
Even if we had a "permanent" energy source, we have only a finite number of atoms. So one day we would actually also be guaranteed to cycle our thoughts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poincar%C3%A9_recurrence_theore...
So for me true immortality is not only about unbounded time but also unbounded size, neither of which seems achievable.
For all purposes of regular human condition though, an approximation is good enough.
Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#29Re: Has the First Person to Achieve Immortality Already Been Born?
#30The second law of thermodynamics answers this question with a definitive "no".
They aren't speaking literally. From my point of view, a human who can live, say, 10,000 years is as good as 'immortal'. Sure its literally wrong, but I heard webster now defines 'literally' as 'figuratively' so I'm ready to give up on pedantry.