What about immortality?
I thought this subject was different enough from Markus's Afterlife thread to warrant a new thread.
We already have "atomic immortality" which is good for something.
What about "quantum immortality" or "artificial immortality"?
Or the immortality of the HeLa cells ( see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa ) or even bacteria?
I think us humans may figure out a way to actually replicate the human brain to the neuron level. Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm, has started a company to do just that. Maybe with this technology, one's own brain could be replicated or transferred to an artificial brain.
There are also folks working on keeping the human body alive for a very long time, and perhaps forever, barring accidental death! Here's a link to the Methuselah Foundation:
http://www.methuselahfoundation.org/
I think there is a good chance there will be a way to effectively prolong human life, perhaps for a very long time. My Daughter's joke is that I will die the day before such a breakthrough is made. Ha!
Here's some stuff from the Immortality Wiki to stimulate thought:
Quote:
Definitions
(See also 'Concepts of immortality', below.)
Spiritual afterlife - The belief in the immortal soul is a dogma of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. This belief is related to the philosophy of dualism.
Immortality through fame - Others believe that they can achieve immortality through the achievements that they leave behind. This view of immortality places value on how one will be remembered by generations to come. His or her good works 'live on' in the world. This view of immortality is embraced in many religious and humanistic philosophies.[citation needed] In Homer's Iliad, Achilles' main motive for fighting in the Trojan War is recognition and everlasting fame.
Philosophic immortality. This idea holds that metaphysical universals and abstract phenomena exist and can at least be partially interacted with by human beings. If an abstract phenomenon might have at least a partially eternal existence, then a person might obtain at least a transitory level of immortality by interacting with it.
Genetic immortality. This view of immortality concentrates on leaving offspring, or immortality via evolution, which is curiously similar to Richard Dawkins' theory of the selfish gene ("you never really quite die; as long as there is some of your genetic material left behind in this world").
Magically immortal - Many European and Chinese alchemists were among such people. The depiction in literature of Gilgamesh was one such as this and an entire cycle, or cycles of Arthurian legend exist in the British Isles, including the Knights of the Round Table going in search for the Holy grail; supposedly, the chalice from which Jesus and his disciples drank at the Last Supper. It may also be taken to mean being invincible or unable to be killed.
Never dying - Some believe life extension technologies will lead to rejuvenation. Some believe cryonics will allow the dead to be revived in a medically advanced future.
Atomic immortality - Your mind ceases with death. Your body decomposes. While "you" cease to exist in a living person sense, your body will be recycled until the end of the universe.
Quantum immortality - In the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the wavefunction never collapses, and thus all possible outcomes of a quantum event exist simultaneously, with each event apparently spawning an entirely new universe in which a single possible outcome exists. In this physical theory, one could hypothetically live forever as there might exist a string of possible quantum outcomes in which one never dies. This theory of quantum immortality, however, is not widely regarded by the scientific community as being a verifiable or even necessarily correct offshoot of the many worlds interpretation, which itself exists as one possible interpretation of quantum mechanics among many.
Artificial immortality - This represents the concept of transferring one's consciousness from the brain to an alternative media providing the same functionality as the brain. Such a media may be biological or non-biological. The transference may be gradual (e.g. through cognitive prostheses) or immediate (e.g. through a brain scan).
Relativistic immortality - Any person travelling to the stars and back at a significant fraction of the speed of light, or residing in an especially strong gravity well, would be able to invoke the twin paradox. An outside observer would notice the affected person ageing at a much slower rate than the observer.
[edit]Immortal species
See also List of long-living organisms
Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish — After becoming a sexually mature adult, the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula can transform itself back into a child (the polyp stage) using the cell conversion process of transdifferentiation. The Turritopsis nutricula repeats this cycle, meaning that it may have an indefinite lifespan, though it can be killed.[1]
Bacteria (as a colony) — Although they can be killed by antibiotics, radiation, or starvation, bacteria, as a colony, appear to never age. Bacteria reproduce through cell division. A parent bacterium splits itself into two identical daughter cells. These daughter cells then split themselves in half. This process repeats, thus making the bacterium colony essentially immortal. However, a bacterium, as an individual, is mortal since it “dies” when it divides in half.
Recent research, however, suggests that even bacteria as a colony may eventually die since each succeeding generation is slightly smaller, weaker, and more likely to die than the previous.[2]
Bristlecone Pines are speculated to be potentially immortal, but are susceptible to destruction by lighting, disease, and other causes. The oldest known living specimen is over 4800 years old.
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Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality
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Best,
Kurt