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What if


SLither

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Hell yeah... where do I sign?

 

So the Idea of seeing all the new and wonderfull things yet to come does`nt appeal to you? It sure does to me, I think it`s such a waste to accumulate a lifetimes worth of knowledge and experience only to die at the end of it :(

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Naaaaah, that was just some freacky loop the guy got into, the "Pill" (I hope) wouldn`t come with such side effects, and do exactly as it said on the box (or as Slither said in the 1`st post)

besides, "Groundhog Day" ended kinda nice anyway :)

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I watched a show at the start of the year about what the future had in store for us and made claims that this would be the last generation to die or the first to live forever.

such a thing complicates my life.

 

For example it makes me wonder about taking medicines should i or should i not, if i want to die why prolong it.

It also brings up issues with youthenasia

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  • 8 months later...
Guest Sci-Fried

Hi folks,

 

I hope my interpolation here won't adversely affect the crux of this discussion! :)

 

I'm actually writing a Film screenplay with an aim to explore the concept of "Prolongevity" Vs Evolution from physical, mental, spiritual and philosophical standpoints.

 

I realise that this topic would be best placed in several different topic areas on this forum, but as the subject has already been initiated in this one, I thought I'd just 'jump on the bandwagon'. :P

 

In a rather large nutshell, the story involves a scenario that was touched on earlier on this thread, the idea that a select few of the leading personalities could be imbued with 'extended lifetimes' (in the same way that currently a 'select few' are earmarked for habitation in underground bunkers in the event of catastrophic events, or perhaps to a lesser degree, the way that certain celebraties have been 'frozen' cryogenically to preserve their genius), in this case (perhaps using 'nano-technology') those selected would be granted this prolonged existence to continue in their pursuits for the betterment of mankind, e.g. scientist could continue their research over hundreds of years, amassing unprecedented experience and knowledge in their field. Similarly, (for better or worse), certain World Leaders could also gain access to the technology, allowing them to potentially extend their duration in office to span several lifetimes, perhaps imbuing them with a seasoning and wisdom and wider perspective that might make the notion of replacing them with a 'Transient' polititian with only a handful of years of experience under his belt seem quite inconcievable.

 

The result would be an interesting perversion of science and technology, where instead of the usual 'evolution' of ideas, where each generation would normally bring new insight and a fresh perspective to enhance or replace existing ideas, in this potential future, the great minds of these 'Prolonged' scientists might simply extend and stretch and elaborate on their own existing ideas to a much greater (though perhaps ultimately futile) extent than would ever occur in our present world (think post-modern turned upon itself, a bit like the 'futuristic' creations of Leonardo Da Vinci and H.G. Wells). The same would occur with architecture, etc.

 

I guess it would be quite a dystopian future! :(

 

Of course, due to demographic (and perhaps economic and biological) considerations, only these 'elite' few protagonists would recieve the treatment, leaving the common majority of people in the world with their natural lifespans. It might be fair to say that a great rift may develop between those 'Prolonged' people and the 'Transient' masses who's opinions might be treated by the 'Prolonged' with the same respect an adult affords a child, and whose importance and relevance (and human rights) might start to be overlooked, and their potential contributions to science and politics, etc underestimated.

 

Ultimately, it may be that standing still and staying the same in a universe defined by change and movement is ultimately a futile endeavor and that the 'Transient' peoples would eventually 'evolve' and the minds and intelligence of even an average 'Transient' might exceed that of the greatest genius of the 'Prolonged' peoples original generation, even with all the experience and duration of study they would have amassed).

 

Of course, then there are psychological issues of what extended life would do to the human mind (uncharted levels of boredom and depession, even mental exhaustion come to mind - any of which could lead to insanity). Biologically, would a treatment extending longevity over a significant timescale mutate the subject? Would that subject without the need to procreate to continue his bloodline, lose the ability to procreate? How would his brain adapt to facilitate the abundance of memory and the scope of his thoughts based on centuries of experience (theoretically, if it could be regenerated, could a human brain actually continue to store increasing amounts of information indefinitely or would the individual begin to replace old memories, or just go insane?).

 

As you can see, my concept of this are still a big jumble of ideas and questions. But I think it is definitely a though-provoking and relevant subject (especially considering the increasing number of news articles on the subject indicating that such technology is right around the corner). I'll lay off the more spiritual, philosophical and religious aspects of the discussion to avoid getting any further off topic! Does anyone here have any comments or opinions about any of the issues raised in this rather 'prolonged' post?

 

I'd be greatful for any input you see fit to contribute! :)

 

Cheers!

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I'd hate to see what you'd do to yourself...

 

Being immortal would get boring. I mean, there's only so many times you can play Scrabble or Monopoly. But maybe if you could use it for short periods, say, if you need to finish a project or something when you're 83, or something like that.

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I would take a pill a day to keep my alive, why not? You can stop whenever you want.

Now that I think about it there's some weird stuff. If someone is liek 1423 and they have to take a pill a day or they die of old age, then what if someone stole their pills? What if that person died because they didn't get the pill, would it be murder?

What about a world where only the rich or the people who can buy the pills can live to older than 100?

The world would be very different. You goal in life could be to get enough money to live to the age 1000. I said it was weird :P

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Demon -- err, doesn't that stand against everything you believe in? (not meant as insult, true wonder..) if you lived forever you couldn't get to "afterlife" and so on... just wondering.

 

About me, I'd never take that pill.

 

I want to live long, but there's a time for everyone... living forever, knowing you'll never die -- that sounds like its something that turns someone COMPLETELY insane.

 

Think about it.. you have nothing to fear of, anymore. NOTHING.

Well, other than perhaps bullets from a gun... ;) but still.. I don't know.

 

I would definately want to make life longer, but not forever.

 

Other than that, it really does stand against everything I believe in because it means evolution would get COMPLETELY screwed, and nature (as it always does) will probably "find" a way to balance itself. Or ruin humans.. hwatever is easier ;)

If people never die, there's no regeneration and evolvement of the species. That's not good...

 

That's my feeling about this.

 

~moo

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Power is corruption......

Personally i wouldn't get into any wars..there are far worse things than death that could be done to you just because you couldn't die....but fighting, man bring on the fight club and pub brawling;)

How long do you think it would take to get bored of life? 1000 years i put it at

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I would definately take the pill. The human race is still in its very primitive stages, despite all our developments. I would give anything to be part of or witness phenomenal discovories in science! Like in a thousand year's time maybe scientists would have worked out exactly the theory behind quantum mechanincs and other mysteries in science. what if in a few hundred to a thousand years time scientists would have found a 'safe' way to travel to other galaxies, universes etc. And answers to the big bang? The next few thousand years are going to be the most amazing, since we in our present time are simply building the foundations of science. The possibilities of the future are endless.

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I agree with Skye, besides normal people get bored by 50, dosent mean that we will. Specially since we can do some many new things due to this pill

What if you could get a pill that kept you alive, e.g disease and old age didn't affetc you, but still, say......... crushing yur skull or a nasty car accident did still kill you, tahts the sort of permanent pill i would take of that kind

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I would still think about it...

 

It might be all pessimist me -- but I just have lots of troubles believing anything this "good" would exist without catchy side effects...

 

think you'll live forever but you'll smell bad.

 

That would stink... ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

No but seriously... I wonder wht side effects such pill would have.

I would still concider side effects.. and the fact that you won't get old while your friends will. That's a catch too.

 

~moo

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Wait! we haven't established what this pill could do.....

Would it let you grow old, just not let you die?

Stay young forever from the moment you took the pill?

Make you stink for the rest of your life?

 

Actually the possibility of this is actually being made is hardly believeable that it will ever happen. we were discussing whether or not people would take it......

Personally now i think i would have to know alot more info to judge properly if i would take it or not...

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How 'bout something a bit less abstract and a bit more "realistic" (pff right .. well.. cooperate with me ;) ---

 

NANOTECH robots! yaknow, the ones that fix you...

 

That way you won't die (they'll fix your wounds), you won't die of deseases either, and you won't grow old.

 

BUT I am not sure if I could live with a swarm of IA minds in my own mind....

 

 

 

Anyways this actually sounds less "scifi" than the magical pill.. though there's still a long way to go ;)

 

 

~mooo

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