Immortality! Would we ever achieve it?

[Windu Chi]

I was watching a program on the Science Channel one day called "KAPOW! Superhero Science".

I heard a molecular biologist say that there are some old people who don't age no more on a cellular or molecular level.

They won't die as a result of the so called aging process.

When I heard that I thought that was bulls**t.

But I started to believe it after I thought about what the hell he was talking about.

Anybody else believe that someone will live forever and ever and ever.

Well you get the picture.

[Alkonium]

No. Immortality is a flawed concept because all things end. The closest we could come to being immortal is having a very long lifespan, which makes a slight bit more sense than living forever.

[Tyrion]

Maybe if we have a soul. But suns themselves burn out eventually; I doubt we'll go much further than to fade away, so to say.

(And I wouldn't say all things end. Matter, by it's very definition, does not end.)

[Emperor Devon]

Originally Posted by windu6

I heard a molecular scientist say that there are some old people who don't age no more on a cellular or molecular level.

Then what you heard was a load of nonsense.

Originally Posted by windu6

They won't die as a result of the so called aging process.

Can you provide any proof of this?

[edlib]

Even is we could expand our lifespans indefinitely, there is always violence and fatal accidents.

Some people might live a very long time, but everybody and every living thing had to die in the end.

The universe will eventually die.

I think with technology and medical advances we can someday expect to at least double the natural human lifespan... but I'm not sure we could ever manage to get it much beyond that.

I don't think immortality is in the cards... even if you could remove our brains and place then in a near indestructible container with sensors that let us interact with the world. You can probably slow, but I don't think you can ever stop cellular decay.

There's a lot of evidence that we are already living longer than our bodies were designed by evolution to handle, anyway. More than that will be pushing the envelope.

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by Emperor Devon

Then what you heard was a load of nonsense.



Can you provide any proof of this?

I said, I saw it on the program called KAPOW! Superhero Science that was on the Science Channel on digital cable.
You should watch it when it come on that channel again.
Since you think I am making up, Devon.
Or you can go to the science channel web site to find out about the program.

[Emperor Devon]

Originally Posted by windu6

You should watch it when it come on that channel again.
Since you think I am making up, Devon.
Or you can go to the science channel web site to find out about the program.

I'll be specific. Can you point to a very reliable source that claims this?

[Jae Onasi]

The other question--would we _want_ to be immortal?

[Emperor Devon]

Absolutely.

[Nancy Allen``]

Sounds like hell to me. Outliving your children and grandchildren. Were it based across the board it wouldn't be so bad, but what about those who follow religion and believe in heaven, paradise, ect?

[Ray Jones]

How long is forever?

[Pho3nix]

No.

Nothing is supposed to last forever. Death is a natural part of life.

[MasterRoss08]

Everything ends on this earth. well will end sometime anyway . (agrees with Pho3nix)!

[TSR]

one simple word. No

i wouldnt want it to either

[Dagobahn Eagle]

Good topic (although this "no aging" statement sounds to me to be dubious, to say the least).

Would we be able to achieve immortality? I don't think so. Even if we can stop the aging process at x years of age, which we eventually probably will be able to, there'll still be things such as plane accidents, homicide, suicide, euthanasia, and so on.

Would I want immortality (read: A stopped aging process)? Definetly. You have only one life, and once you die, that's it. I want to live young for as long as possible, until I die in a car accident or murder or some other non-natural cause. I want to experience as much of this world as I can. So although I'm an atheist, I picked option number three, as it's the closest one to what I want to get across.

Nothing is supposed to last forever.

We aren't "supposed to" be able to fly around at 3000+ km/h either.

Death is a natural part of life.

So's doing math in your head. Doesn't stop me from using calculators.

Sounds like hell to me. Outliving your children and grandchildren.

Give them immortality, too.

[toms]

Live forever as an old person? No thanks.

I can only see universal immortality leading to problems. The world's population would quickly get out of control. If people lived forever but were old then we'd have an ancient population, with no way to support it. If they lived forever and were young then they'd have to work forever.. this would have a major impact on the economy, jobs, etc..

The highlander tv series explored a lot of interesting issues with immortality being only available to the few: outliving loved ones. Some people made the most of it and used their time to keep improving themselves. Others lost all motivation because they just got fed up. Some lost all respect for those that didn't live forever.. or never wanted to form attachments because they'd lost too many people. There are a whole host of impacts.

I'd settle for being able to be fit, active and healthy up until i drop dead... and avoiding arthritis, parkinsons, senility and so on.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

I suppose colonization of the seas, underwater, wastelands, and eventually even orbit, the Moon, and other planetoids would be a definite must if we were to live forever.

That, and some serious birth control.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes. Back in Ancient Egypt, the expected lengt of life was thirty years - today in most developed countries, it's nearly eighty.

Maybe most of our descendants will live for centuries? Would be damned interesting to be them (and maybe that's what the Ancient Egyptians said about lives that lasted three-quarters of a century [read: industrialized world of 2006 CE]).

[Emperor Devon]

Oh my, if I'd been granted my wish yesterday I'd have regretted it for eternity. Immortality would be truly horrible if after a thousand years you kept aging but never died. I think there was a Greek myth where that happened.

If I never grew past 80, I'd love to live forever. The alternative, which is to no longer exist, if unfathomable.

Damn, I just reminded myself. It's such a depressing matter.

[Davinq]

Originally Posted by windu6

Immortality! Would we ever achieve it?

NO.

All things must end.

only some despotic tyrant would want immortality, so he could "rule the world" forever.

I would never want immortality for the same reason as Nancy, and because it's a pretty lame "superpower," so to speak.

And wouldn't the subject's body deteriorate over time regardless?

[Mike Windu]

You know, we all assume that all things must end

but we've never experienced something not ending.

We all see the rock falling to the ground when we drop it, and we all know it falls to the ground, but that's the only thing we know because we've never seen it fall up.

What if we decided to screw gravity?

Some philosophy for you guys to nibble on.

(I, of course, doubt immortality is achievable. I don't see any form of medical capacity for stopping the aging process. But you never know.)

[El Sitherino]

Everything has it's opposing force, something to counter. Immortality is an impossibility.

[St. Jimmy]

I don't even know if I'd WANT to live forever as some people have already stated. An extended youth (or life) sure, but not eternal. Not on Earth anyway.

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by Emperor Devon

I'll be specific. Can you point to a very reliable source that claims this?

I found this e-book tonight at 7:51pm-8:20pm CT, while searching yahoo.
This e-book tells of discovery in evolutionary biology about aging ceasing in late life that was made the early 1990s.
A discovery made by Carey 1992 & Curtsinger 1992 which suggested that the period of age-related deterioration eventually comes to an end, leaving
a residual post-aging period.

The e-book link Late Life: A New Frontier for Physiology

Another e-book link concerning the topic The evolution of late life

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by El Sitherino

Everything has it's opposing force, something to counter. Immortality is an impossibility.

You may believe in impossibilities but not me, nothing is impossible.

[Emperor Devon]

Originally Posted by windu6

I found this e-book tonight at 7:51pm-8:20pm CT, while searching yahoo.

Good. I still don't believe people can live forever.

[Jae Onasi]

Originally Posted by windu6

A discovery made by Carey 1992 & Curtsinger 1992 which suggested that the period of age-related deterioration eventually comes to an end, leaving
a residual post-aging period.

Those of us in the medical field call this period of ending age-related deterioration 'death'.

I've seen lots and lots of elderly people, sometimes over the course of a number of years, and I can see the decline from year to year. I've never seen this decline suddenly stop until death.

A lot of the body's cells are programmed to die after a certain period of time. Some cells can't repair themselves--we only get a certain amount, and once they're gone, they're gone. Until we can figure out how to maintain cell repair or repair cells that can't repair themselves, and stop the programmed cell death, we won't be able to achieve immortality.

[Nancy Allen``]

Originally Posted by windu6

You may believe in impossibilities but not me, nothing is impossible.

Except religion.

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by Jae Onasi

Those of us in the medical field call this period of ending age-related deterioration 'death'.

I've seen lots and lots of elderly people, sometimes over the course of a number of years, and I can see the decline from year to year. I've never seen this decline suddenly stop until death.

A lot of the body's cells are programmed to die after a certain period of time. Some cells can't repair themselves--we only get a certain amount, and once they're gone, they're gone. Until we can figure out how to maintain cell repair or repair cells that can't repair themselves, and stop the programmed cell death, we won't be able to achieve immortality.

Did you, Jae read the e-books that I have link to this post?

I understand your opinions about not believing in immortality.
Physical violence can cause death, diseases can can cause death and genetic afflictions can cause death.
But I don't believe in impossibilties, the evidence against immortality is base on evidence of the example of life on Earth.

There is still a whole galaxy and universe out there left to explore, to possibility discover if that evidence stands up in the rest of the universe.
Everything, I believe has a solution to be found.

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by Nancy Allen``

Except religion.

What do you mean, Nancy?

[Nancy Allen``]

The '**** God and **** everyone who believes him' opinion.

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by Nancy Allen``

The '**** God and **** everyone who believes him' opinion.

Who said that?
I believe in God, I just hate that thing.

[Jae Onasi]

Originally Posted by windu6

Did you, Jae read the e-books that I have link to this post?

No, because I've had enough anatomy/physiology and read enough journals to know we've got a very long way to go. I didn't say it was impossible, I just delineated some of the things we'd have to overcome to achieve immortality, and we don't begin to understand cell functioning to that degree yet.

[Nancy Allen``]

Originally Posted by windu6

Who said that?
I believe in God, I just hate that thing.

Ah. Well fell free to explain why, we might be able to help. Not to covert you to being a Christian, I wouldn't do that, but to be able to accept that people choose to follow it.

[Q]

The question should be: Why on Earth would we want to achieve it? Afterlife or no, I certainly don't want to spend eternity here. I would prefer oblivion to that scenario.

[MasterRoss08]

Agreed with Qliveur here. Why would we want imortality when eventually this earth is gonna run out of resources heck maybe this Earth will go byby someday who knows. Do you want to be here when that will happen if it does?

[igyman]

Although I voted yes, I'm actually not quite sure what to think. I am sure that humanity will not discover the means to immortality during our lifespans, but I am also sure that many medical breakthroughs will be made while we are still alive and some of them could possibly have something to do with prolonging the human lifespan.
Will we ever achieve immortality? Who knows? If humans change their priorities in life and instead of each person working for his/her own gain, humans start working for the benefit of the species, anything might become possible.

[Windu Chi]

Originally Posted by MasterRoss08

Agreed with Qliveur here. Why would we want imortality when eventually this earth is gonna run out of resources heck maybe this Earth will go byby someday who knows. Do you want to be here when that will happen if it does?

Humans will not remain stuck on Earth forever we are going to leave this planet, solar system and the galaxy eventually.
If any of us obtain immortality our choices of residences will not only be this planet in this solar system or even in this galaxy while experiencing it.
The jury is still out of where those luck few of us will dwell if immortality is obtain by those few.