Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Time Mag article on singularity

Posted on 03/02/2011 3:56:45 PM PST by Strk321

I'm just wondering if anyone on FR read this and what they think of it.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html

I myself think the idea of man becoming one with machines is nonsense, but the idea of slowing or reversing the aging process is very intriguing.

If it happened, what would it mean for society? Would we all live to 300 and have the body of a 40-year old (or something to that effect) to the end? There's a lot to think about.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: timemagazinesux; wedonotreadtime

1 posted on 03/02/2011 3:56:49 PM PST by Strk321
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Strk321

As Glenn at Instapundit says...Faster please!


2 posted on 03/02/2011 3:58:03 PM PST by aynrandfreak (Being a Democrat means never having to say you're sorry)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aynrandfreak

I had a discussion with this on another site, and I said “So, if everyone doesn’t age, it would mean you’ll never want or need to retire from your job. Which means that young people will have a hard time finding work.”

And someone suggested to me (with a touch of humor) that “They should just give Social Security checks to everyone when they turn 18. You then live on the public dole for 100 years until your elders die at 300 and you get their job.”


3 posted on 03/02/2011 4:02:25 PM PST by Strk321
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

I’ll wait for my resurrection body, thank you. it will be infinitely superior to any bionic body that man can devise. (And that body, too, will die.)


4 posted on 03/02/2011 4:07:22 PM PST by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

That’s the whole POINT of the Singularity: things will suddenly change out of all current recognition. Between Infotech, AI, and Nanotech. . . things are already changing fast.

Hold on, you ain’t seen NOTHING yet. . .


5 posted on 03/02/2011 4:07:27 PM PST by Salgak (Acme Lasers presents: The Energizer Border: I dare you to try and cross it. . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

We are the Borg; you will be assimilated.


6 posted on 03/02/2011 4:07:38 PM PST by Jack Hammer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

Just think of the consequences that a slower aging process and lower global mortality rates would do to a world population of 9 billion expected by 2050.


7 posted on 03/02/2011 4:08:08 PM PST by lbryce (BHO:Satan's Evil Twin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

Not in our lifetime!


8 posted on 03/02/2011 4:09:34 PM PST by lonestar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

Ray Kurzweil is a mad scientist.


9 posted on 03/02/2011 4:13:40 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (Every knife in my back pushes me forward.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

I’ll be 88 in 2045. Just my luck... I will turn 65 the year Social Security goes bankrupt, and die the year before mankind becomes immortal.


10 posted on 03/02/2011 4:14:06 PM PST by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lbryce; All

As we’ve already achieved with current technology.

I stumbled across an article yesterday about South Carolina. Said that in 1900, only 3% of that state’s population was over the age of 65. It’s now nearly 25%. Because in olden times, people died young of what are now easily treatable conditions.

However, by allowing longer lifespans, we’ve created a host of new medical problems. Things like Alzheimer’s and other conditions of advanced age that didn’t exist back then because most people didn’t live long enough to be affected by them.

I have a theory on aging that I came up with. Goes like this:

If you live to an advanced age, but are in poor health, you likely don’t have good genetics and probably would have died young in an earlier time. If you enjoy good health, you likely would have lived to advanced age at any time in history.


11 posted on 03/02/2011 4:20:07 PM PST by Strk321
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

Just imagine if a tyrant like Mao, Stalin, or Saddam Hussein could buy the power to live forever...


12 posted on 03/02/2011 4:50:58 PM PST by kenavi (The good ol' US of A: 57 state laboratories for the future.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

I saw a man become one with a machine. It took the fire dept. over half an hour to undo it. The car and the man died when separated.


13 posted on 03/02/2011 4:53:38 PM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

“I’ll be 88 in 2045.”

Incidentally, I don’t think simple longevity means that you have good genetics. All that proves is that modern medicine is able to keep people with poor genes alive longer. It’s the kind of health you’re in that counts.

For example, go in a nursing home and see people with Alzheimer’s, people with walkers, etc. They’re the kind (IMO anyway) who probably would have died young before modern medicine.


14 posted on 03/02/2011 5:18:09 PM PST by Strk321
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Strk321

Probably never happen. It seems to me that western civilization has reached its peak and is now being dragged down the other slope by the political correct toleration of degeneracy promoted by radical Islam, multigenerational welfare dependency, and the various other fruits of liberalism. I do not think that scientific progress can continue when society as a whole becomes a cesspool.


15 posted on 03/02/2011 5:36:12 PM PST by tickmeister (tickmeister)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kenavi

I wouldn’t sweat it. Hitler would have still offed himself in his bunker.


16 posted on 03/02/2011 6:30:41 PM PST by Melas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Melas

What about Oprah?


17 posted on 03/02/2011 7:25:30 PM PST by kenavi (The good ol' US of A: 57 state laboratories for the future.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: kenavi

I don’t have anything against Oprah.


18 posted on 03/02/2011 8:03:10 PM PST by Melas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Melas

Well, it sounds like H-— to me!


19 posted on 03/03/2011 3:24:51 PM PST by kenavi (The good ol' US of A: 57 state laboratories for the future.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson