Vgamer1

Honestly, I'm not a biology or chemistry major. It seems that you are more knowledgeable about the technicalities of this stuff. But to out right say that it is impossible to repair damage isn't right. Again, I'm not a biology major, but you said that you need to know the original DNA code in order to repair damage? An entire genome is really not that much information. And it wouldn't have to be stored directly on the nanomachine. For example, the information needed could be transferred wirelessly. Or maybe the info could be stored directly on the nanobot, I'm not sure exactly and I don't know how you can be so sure, since nanotechnology is only in it's infancy. Another possibility is to replace our biological cells with synthetic cells. They already have artificial red blood cells that function in animals and are thousands of times more efficient.

Care to support your claims? People are already slowing the aging process through many means such as supplements, calorie restriction, exercise, etc. The next steps are on their way. Gene therapy and nanotechnology will allow us to actually repair damage to aging cells.

Mr Skeptic, I don't know if this thread is the place to get into this debate, but a "backup" wouldn't really be you if the original you dies, it would just be a copy. Are you guys familiar with the concept of singularity? It is directly related to the topic of ending biological aging. You should check out the immortality institute: http://www.imminst.org There's a forum there about these topics. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts merged Are you going to back this up at all? I could argue that immortality would be the best thing for humanity and ultimately humanity's end point. There is the idea (going along with the singularity) that we are approaching a post-human era, one of the features of which is immortality.

We can't replace genes yet, but we can modify them. And actually we do have nanobots. They aren't very advanced, but they do exist. Here's an example of nanobots being implemented to treat foot cancer: http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2008/apr/03/sciencehealth-researchers-shrink-cancer-treatment-/ The damage that cells undergo as a result of metabolism can be slowed, stopped, and reversed. It's like keeping up a car and replacing the parts when they break down.

The singularity occurring doesn't necessarily grant us the power to be immortal. I'm not really sure if true immortality is possible at all. Accidents can happen. I hope you don't want to get into the "but you could backup your consciousness" idea, because I'm having that debate on another forum and it's a bit tiring lol. Basically, I agree that we can be immune to "aging" at some point so that we'd never die of "natural causes" whatever that means. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts merged brokenportal is right. We're working on "immortality" as we speak, but that doesn't stop the random freak accidents or murders from happening.