How much longer do you think it will before humans 'live' forever?

[yowolabi]

We haven't even answered the most important question yet. Is the only thing that make you "you" your memories? If I could copy my memories over to someone and have them believe that it was their own, does that make them me? I don't believe that. So if we can download memories and upload them somewhere else, I still wouldn't be living forever. Someone else who thinks they're me will be living and i'll still be dead.

Anyway, I don't see us even being able to download all memories. We can't even access all of our own past experiences. Much of what we remember is false. How is someone else going to get information we can't get? Who's to say that it's all still stored there? Who's to say it's stored in a form that's accessible by anyone other than the person themselves? However it's stored, it's not in film format. The parts we don't remember still helped to make us who we are. Before we'd be able to capture memories straight from the brain, we'd have to understand it completely. We aren't even close.

I also don't see us transplanting entire brains into another body. I don't think a brain could survive the shock of being removed from the body. The brain doesn't operate alone, it's part of a whole system. The spinal cord, nerves, neurons are all integrally connected and I don't think you can just separate the brain and have it continue to function. I also don't see where you're going to get a brainless developed body from to put it into.

My answer is that we will never live forever.

 

[bvalpati]

The body rebuilds itself constantly throughout your lifetime. There's no reason to think that we won't someday be able to understand that process well enough to use it to extend the physical life of a human body indefinitely, in fact there has already been much research into understanding the switches your cells have that determine the number of times each cell may split and reproduce itself.

The soul, if there is such a thing, is another matter entirely and might be beyond physical perception and manipulation altogether. If there truly is more to a human than the physical components, which we have zero empirical evidence to support, then moving a person around between bodies becomes problematic but unless the soul has a preset lifespan it shouldn't interfere with extending the life of the vessel it's contained in at all.

 

[shodge37]

i think it depends on how much bulk beef they end up eating

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: Alkaline5

Originally posted by: jjones
The interesting thing to me is that at this point, you will have been well past creating real artificial intelligence (intelligence so real as to be indistinguishable from a genuine person), what laws are in place describing the rights of these AIs, and what laws would be applicable to the replicated biological intelligence. Because no matter how well a person's brain is replicated in this future computer-like structure, it will not be the same person to the absolute finest detail. In essence, it could well be viewed in the same vein as an artificial intelligence.

It would be an artificial intelligence. All of this talk about "memory transfers" doesn't really have anything to do with "living forever". You would be dead and gone, and all that would be left would be an android that was impersonating you. This does you no good since you're dead, and I can't possibly see how it would be psychologically healthy for your loved ones to have a replicant around.

Short of brain transplants--which has already been discussed as virtually impossible--there is no way to keep "you" alive indefinitely. And even if that were possible there would have to be some method of counteracting senility.

Well, here you get into questions about the definition of what exactly is a living person, hence my interest in what would be the legal definitions, and/or rights, at the time regarding AI. While the physical body would be dead, the "person" or the entity itself - the consiousness, might be considered quite alive.

As for the loved ones, I'm sure at that point this sort of thing would most likely be quite acceptable since you're already talking about a long history of highly developed AIs being involved and integrated with society. Grandpa lives on sort of thing.

The possibility of the onset of dementia is another interesting question. Since physiological disease is no longer in the picture, would senility still be a factor, and could a type of senility manifest due to a consiusness's longevity alone?

 

[NanoStuff]

Wow what a mess, ok, let's clean it up a little.

Originally posted by: Alkaline5
It would be an artificial intelligence. All of this talk about "memory transfers" doesn't really have anything to do with "living forever". You would be dead and gone, and all that would be left would be an android that was impersonating you.

Wrong silly. A copy with the same brain structure as you is indifferent in that respect, therefore they are just as much you as you yourself are. It could be said you're impersonating the 'android' just as much as the android is impersonating you.

Such a transfer, while suspending the initial being, would in effect allow to escape your biology. A forking of individuals would likely be unwise, so the initial containment should probably suspended.

Originally posted by: Flyback
Who cares? Who cares if a "copy" of them could live on? It wouldn't be the real thing.

If you don't keep two copies, there is only one copy. That copy is you, whichever of the two substrates it may reside on.

Originally posted by: Syrch
My thoughts my knowledge would be in the new body but it wouldn't technically be me.

Depends on you definition of 'technically you'. If you expect everything to be exact to the atom, no it won't be technically you. But in this case, tomorrow you won't be technically you either.

Originally posted by: yowolabi
Is the only thing that make you "you" your memories?

No. There is more to the individual characteristics of a brain than memory alone.

Someone else who thinks they're me will be living and i'll still be dead.

Don't have your initial self around, then there can be no dispute that this someone else is you.

Originally posted by: yowolabi
How is someone else going to get information we can't get?

Scanning. Yup, it's that easy.

Originally posted by: yowolabi
Who's to say it's stored in a form that's accessible by anyone other than the person themselves?

I can, because I understand the problem 🙂

Originally posted by: yowolabi
Before we'd be able to capture memories straight from the brain, we'd have to understand it completely.

Wrong again. I would say you're well capable of copying music/video data that someone else has created without intimate knowledge of their operation. Getting the necessary scanning resolution is the major practical limitation at the moment.

Originally posted by: yowolabi
My answer is that we will never live forever.

Right you are, but excluding any disasterous events, many(not most) people alive today are likely to be around at least until the sun goes out. It largely depends on age. I would say that today's newborns pretty much have it made, with odds of survival until the transfer point naturally decreasing with increasing age.

Originally posted by: jjones
Since physiological disease is no longer in the picture, would senility still be a factor, and could a type of senility manifest due to a consiusness's longevity alone?

Interesting question, I've considered how the brain would handle 1000 years of stimuli. Cognitive architecture appears to get more efficient as you age, so it seems you would simply bottleneck on your intellect. Even healthy 100 year olds don't seem to be 'delusioned' due to such extended information input. Then again, by the time this starts becoming a problem if it ever will, science would have expectedly found a resolution for this as well. Of course in 1000 years it's likely humans as individuals will no longer exist, rather they would have formed some sort of united super-intelligent omega mesh.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Nope, never read any of his books. Might be an interesting read if I were into that kind of stuff. This was just a stray idea that came into my head and thought to post it.

The current medicines that prolong our lives now... I do not like. Right now at the age of 31, I do not see myself wanting to continue to live past 60. In fact even at 31, life is undoubtably fun. But I am already starting to feel the effects of aging. I would have no problems of living forever, just so long as I can stay within prime time body age. Have the new host body age up to a ripe 21-25, hit the copy button, put the old host body into sleep through whatever means no pain would be felt at all, then have the new host do a lethal injection.