Did you forget somebody?
Posted on 03/31/2014 8:58:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A pair of advocates—they do legitimate research too, but their ardor is so intense, it’s hard to call them scientists—believe that they will, within their lifetimes, make ours the first generation of humans to live forever.
+
Their quest is elegantly laid out in The Immortalists, a new documentary making its way around the film festival circuit. The Immortalists follows the triumphs and tragedies of three years in the lives of William H. Andrews and Aubrey de Grey, two men who prove just as interesting as the work they’re doing. The Immortalists is really a film about death, not life, which is what makes it so fascinating.
+
Here’s the trailer:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The goal of Andrews and de Grey is not merely to extend life, but to actually reverse the aging process. “Once we are really truly repairing things as fast as they go wrong, game over,” de Grey says in the film. “We will have the ability to live indefinitely.”
1
The mechanisms by which each man proposes to end death are radically different. Andrews suggests that in order to lengthen our lives, we may have only to extend the length of our telomeres, which are caps on the end of our DNA that shorten as we age, leading to the breakdown and demise of cells. This mechanism for extending life has the advantage of a potentially straightforward solution: If we can find a pill that lengthens telomeres, we’ve won. Andrews spends the duration of the film searching for one.
+
De Grey, a theorist who comes across as the better scientist despite his lack of experience “at the bench”—scientist parlance for doing research in a lab—disagrees with Andrews. While his solution to mortality isn’t as clearly articulated in the film, it seems to line up with the strategy articulated by the dean of transhumanism (a movement that aims to remove the limitations on human existence), Ray Kurzweil: Stay alive until microscopic robots that swim through our bloodstream and physically repair our cells are invented, in 20 or so years.
+
All this may sound crazy, but de Grey has convinced Silicon Valley luminaries such as PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel to give him millions of dollars to fund a full-fledged research foundation devoted to testing his ideas.
1
What will we do when some portion of humanity refuses to die?
The science behind this sort of thing is extremely controversial—and so are its philosophical implications. It might seem premature to start talking about what we’ll do when the day of the undead finally arrives, but after spending two hours with Andrews and de Gray, I came out convinced that this is a conversation at least worth starting.
2
David Alvarado, who made The Immortalists with Jason Sussberg, described a similar pivot to me after the film’s premier at South by Southwest. He said he went into this project feeling skeptical of the science behind life extension. Three years and countless hours of filming later, however, it struck him that, eventually, we will radically extend human lifespans—it’s just a question of when.
+
If humans could live forever, it would transform our civilization in ways more profound than just about any other technological breakthrough. Lifelong marriage—already on the ropes in the age of ever-lengthening lifespans—would cease to make sense. Overpopulation could become an even more significant issue than it is now. The cost of war might have to be re-evaluated. We could live long enough for humans to reach other stars. Young people might find themselves unable to compete in an ossified job market, full of people with centuries of experience.
1
The Immortalists poses a straightforward question: Why shouldn’t we cure death? But the answer to that question depends on who is asking it—any individual one of us, or all of us.
“They do not stop to consider that if men were immortal, they themselves would never have come into being.”
Galileo in Dialogues Concerning the Two Great World Systems
“It’s called “Receiving Jesus.” The only way you’re going to make it out of here alive.”
Ahh, so you believe that the only way God will ever work is by reaching down out of heaven and picking you up? You believe that the creator of the universe, and every physical law in it, would rely entirely on supernatural rather than natural means to achieve his will? You believe it’s impossible that the creator may have fashioned this world in such a way that, if his creations followed the right path, they would help achieve his will?
Consider this - might it be possible that human beings living right, behaving morally and righteously, striving every day to more deeply understand creation, might be taking steps to bring about the kingdom of God mentioned in the bible? You know, the one without disease, or want, or aging and death? Do you think the big guy needs to come down here personally and lay every brick for the divine city, or do you think that maybe he created a world where, if we were worthy of it, we’d help build it into something really great in the end?
Heck, he may be a carpenter, but he still contracted out for the construction of the ark. Sometimes we wait for a hand from heaven, forgetting that someone gave us a pair of our own and that we can use them to help bring us to the right place.
Not trying to be confrontational, and not trying to challenge any of your beliefs or be flippant, just throwing some thoughts out for consideration.
bttt
“I’ve got a better way. Take 3-D ultra-sounds of all organs.
3-D print them and replace before they wear out. Simple.”
Where can I sign Congress up for brain replacements?
How familiar are you, do you think, with Biblical Theology?
Who the hell would even want to live forever?
Does the word boredom enter into their thinking?
God gave every man and woman (every living creature on earth) a piece of time to make the most and the best of.
Most people I have ever heard of; or known, needed to die and get out of the way, including me.
My eternal life will (or not) be granted through the grace of the Lord Jesus and God Almighty, no mere human can even think to give me that.
Technically you may be correct. God has given us the brains and the will to conquer or create almost anything, time permitting. However, the book of our history has been written already...and it looks like we fail miserably (I cheated and read ahead). I guess we do get to live in a perfect world, but it won’t be one of our doing. Hey, we’re people, we mess up. That’s what we do.
Nobody has lived forever yet.
Bloodstream robot-induced psychosis.
We can choose what we do now in these temporary bodies and whether we choose Jesus determines where our spirits go after our body dies. But after our bodies die we have no control over what happens to our spirit.
If "living right" could save us, then Jesus wouldn't have had to die. Jesus is the only one to have lived without sin. He's the only person who ever lived who did not deserve to die, but he died for us so that we, who deserve to die don't have to.
I have considered your argument on more than one occasion, the key component of what you are looking for is “worthy of it”. You be sure to let me know when that happens; or it looks to be even close, won’t you?
No I don’t expect God to come down here and pluck me up to eternal bliss or happiness, that is something I will have to work long and hard for with my own hands and deeds.
You are right; God does sub-contract out some of His jobs here on earth, but I think for the eternity part of the project you are going to have to go back to the “PRIME CONTRACTOR”.
This is a fallen world. Eternal life is not possible in this realm.
If I discovered the secret to living forever, I would keep it a secret from the world except a tiny close-knit group
I enjoy my life, but I have zero interest in living forever. To do what exactly? . I procrastinate enough already. The natural order of life and purposeful living as we now know it will be destroyed by the tinkerings of scientists.
Laws could be passed mandating no one live past 150,-After that, the machines (maybe even passed from mother to child) inside you from birth will be programmed to kill you.
A terrorist or foreign government hijacks a satellite and programs nano machines to kill everyone in a country.
someone creates a program that allows you to use your wifi signal to turn off your neighbor's nano machines, or get them to tear up his insides...
Catching a 'virus' from the computer may make your brain shut down, or cause you to kill your family, or blow up a bridge...
“To do what exactly?”
Living ‘forever’ might be the only way to get back all that the govt stole from me and many others in FICA taxes.
Did you forget somebody?
I have been married for 13 years. It isn’t forever, but sometimes it feels like it!
If I discovered the secret to living forever, I would keep it a secret from the world except a tiny close-knit group.
One of whom is a great investor!
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.