Posted on 09/22/2009 4:16:27 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Scientist Ray Kurzweil claims humans could become immortal in as little as 20 years' time through nanotechnology and an increased understanding of how the body works.
The 61-year-old American, who has predicted new technologies arriving before, says our understanding of genes and computer technology is accelerating at an incredible rate. He says theoretically, at the rate our understanding is increasing, nanotechnologies capable of replacing many of our vital organs could be available in 20 years time.
Mr Kurzweil adds that although his claims may seem far-fetched, artificial pancreases and neural implants are already available.
Mr Kurzweil calls his theory the Law of Accelerating Returns. Writing in The Sun, Mr Kurzweil said: "I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.
"Ultimately, nanobots will replace blood cells and do their work thousands of times more effectively.
"Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen.
"Heart-attack victims – who haven't taken advantage of widely available bionic hearts – will calmly drive to the doctors for a minor operation as their blood bots keep them alive.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Even if this were true, people will still die -- murder, plane crashes, auto accidents, execution, fire, falling off cliffs, ...
So there is really no such thing is "immortality".
TTAGGG bump
I’m contemplating an eternity deef, limp, and wrinkled. Tell me again why this is a good thing?
Don’t worry. Immortality is only the first step. Reverse aging comes next !
While this is a wildly optimistic take on things... I think he’s probably not far from right. It’s not hard to believe that in coming decades there will be an explosion of new capabilities in various bio-medical technologies. There already has been some pretty impressive stuff, and it should do nothing but accelerate.
Live forever... probably not. But lots of things that kill people and age them today probably won’t sometime not too far in the future.
...plant a virus in the nanobots and drink it all up...
Human biology, though, is probably too messy for something like this, and too unreliable to bother trying. If you're young enough now, though, someday your boss or neighbor or spouse or "child" may be a machine and go on "living" for a very long time.
I’ll pass.
I’m looking forward to Heaven.
Immortality didn’t used to appeal to me but I’m 22 now ... it only four or five years more to senility. I want to live at leat long enough to be able to buy an Anna Paquin “love android”.
Doubt it. They might be able to keep unhealthy people alive another couple decades. But I wouldn’t expect any more than that.
How bout long enough to know where the “s” and “t” keys are on a standard querty board?
Day-O!
Aha. The real reason to kill off whoever ‘they’ can now.
LOL!
-- 'Prey' by Micheal Cricthon
Notice all the Seventy is the new fifty and we’re going to live thirty years longer bullshite lately?
Do you get the feeling the Dims are about to tell us that retirement age is going to be 75?
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