On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:02:39 -0800, Jon Schild wrote:


Robert Clark wrote:
Would you give up your immortality to ensure the success of a
posthuman world?

Absolutely. And it isn't that hard a question. Maybe when you are 20 or
30 the idea of living forever seems attractive, but wait until you get
older and assorted body parts no longer work like they should. Then you
can understand the full meaning of a button I have seen at several
worldcons:

"Immortality -- A Fate Worse than Death"

Which mostly only means that the English language doesn't yet have the
right terminology for discussing "immortality".

Any technology capable of vastly extending the human lifespan, would
almost certainly be capable of ensuring that all the assorted body
parts work the way they should. After all, it is the increasing
dysfunction of many of those body parts that causes mortality in the
first place; it seems highly unlikely that we'd be able to perfectly
repair only those parts relating to the duration of life but not the
ones relating to the quality of life.

So, "immortality" in the body you had at twenty-five? Because I think
that, barring a short transitional period, that's the only sort that's
really in the cards.

And I don't think we'll actually see it in fifteen years, but possibly
within fifty years.


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