Experts believe death could be conquered by the 2040s
August 14 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Other Year: General Rating: 6 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
The funny thing about life is that so far, nobody has managed to get out of it alive. Even with healthy diets; a lifelong commitment to exercise; the most powerful nutrients money can buy; and the best positive attitude imaginable, it sadly seems everyone is doomed to die sometime.
However, forward-thinkers believe that biotech and nanotech revolutions expected over the next three decades, will change this age-old thinking about life and death; even challenge our traditional views on what it means to be human.
Cutting-edge science and technologies, experts say, will one day provide everyone with radically increased intelligence, futuristic healthcare that prevents sickness and disease from ever happening, and a lifespan approaching immortality.
We begin our trek into this positive future with The Federal Initiative for Regenerative Medicine, an aggressive biotech program that promises to provide tissues and organs “on demand” for every American by 2020, regardless of ability to pay. With replaceable tissues and organs available, doctors will easily prevent deaths from cancer, heart disease, and many other human ailments.
In the following decade, 2020-2030, we will radically upgrade many physical and mental systems using advanced nanotech to replace frail biological parts with powerful non-biological components.
UCLA’s Robert Freitas believes nanotech will provide us with “respirocytes”, tiny robotic blood cells that can store extra oxygen. During a heart attack, these clever ‘bots would keep patients alive for hours until medical care arrived, preventing tissue damage and death.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil, in The Singularity is Near predicts that between 2025 and 2030, nanobot “cell-repair machines” will cruise through our bodies to prevent age-related damage to our cells and organs. These tiny superintelligent nano-robots will reprogram DNA where necessary keeping us forever young and in perfect health.
Stephen Hawking recently commented in Focus magazine that computer intelligence will surpass that of humans within a few decades. He advocated that we “develop as quickly as possible technologies that make a direct connection between mind and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it”.
By 2030, reverse engineering the human brain will be complete, which will enable non-biological intelligence to merge with our minds. It will be routine to have billions of nanobot computers coursing through our brains, communicating with each other and our neurons, allowing us to reach unimaginable levels of ‘processing power’.
“Merging with machines in this manner”, Kurzweil says, “will bring about a billion-fold increase in intelligence”.
As our brain and body becomes increasingly non-biological and more powerful, we will realize that we no longer need to accept the risks of living in a frail body. By 2035, most humans will have extensive amounts of technology inside them including ‘bots and other systems that maintain health and enhance experiences and intelligence.
In the 2040s, our 100% non-biological body will boast a zero failure rate. Even if a destructive accident were to occur, molecular nanotech would immediately construct a new body, retrieve our mind and memories, and allow life to continue; dying would be about as disruptive as a bee sting, and would take even less time to forget it ever happened.
Can this “magical future” without death become reality? This positive futurist believes it can! Comments welcome.
Comment Thread (12 Responses)
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“Don’t fall for the cult of immortality” – S. Jay Olshansky.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4059549.stm
Posted by: adbatstone80 August 14, 2008
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“What do the ancient purveyors of physical immortality all have in common? They are all dead.”
Posted by: adbatstone80 August 14, 2008
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In spite of negative naysayers, a positive future can happen.
Posted by: futuretalk August 14, 2008
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Yeah, and those ancient purveyors of physical immortality all lived in a time when we couldn’t control anything on an atomic scale. Most lived during a time when we couldn’t even move a carrigage without a donkey, or equivalent.
Adbatsone80, just because you read a sentence in a BBC article doesn’t make it true. Aubrey de Grey and a growing number of gerontologists happen to disagree with that position. All you’ve done is grab hold of what is becoming increasingly a minority opinion. If you search for naysayer opinions, you’ll sure as hell find them, even among professionals.
Adbatsone80, I really don’t think you’re aware that we’re entering an age where we are in control. We steer the research, and we can accomplish what we want with the necessary effort. People like you, who just release hot air, accomplish nothing.
However, even if we take the historical perspective, we know that (much more often than not), when a new technology was opposed, the naysayer was wrong. This is not the speculations of some greek philosopher; this is real research field, a “new technology” ripe for savaging by naysayers with no imagination. The gerontologists will get on with their work whether you rant or not.
Please, stop attacking this person’s blog, and go and do something which is more likely to succeed, such as scratching you bottom, for example.
Posted by: CptSunbeam August 14, 2008
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Thanks CptSunbeam; very well said.
Posted by: futuretalk August 14, 2008
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adbatstone80,
You have to realize that because of The Law of Accelerating Returns, by 2020 even 2+2 will not be 4 anymore. It will be like a million or something.
Posted by: johnfrink August 14, 2008
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That’s pretty funny, frinkster
Posted by: Joe Meme August 14, 2008
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Yeah, that’s real funny. Acceleration happens because 2 + 2 does equal 4, not because it doesn not. And the hing is, geniuses, that particular doubling (2+2 = 4) happened a long time ago.
It’s pity that some of you guys scoff at acceleration as though it’s some sort of cult idea. It’s odd that you can’t see that acceleration is entirely natural – new ideas build upon previous ones, we design the next generation of tools with the previous generation etc etc, and everything speeds up.
It’s not rocket science. Even biological evolution works this way, which is why the timescale for big changes keeps getting compressed, from billions to millions to thousands etc. So yeah, go ahead and laugh to your hearts content, it changes nothing, it simply confirns that you probably have small brains and limited imaginations.
GROW UP.
Posted by: CptSunbeam August 14, 2008
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I feel that death could be conquered but by the 2040s sounds a bit too recent for me. Or that could just be because it would be a frightening idea if it occurred during my lifetime. Which sounds ironic, in some sense.
Posted by: fantasywriter August 15, 2008
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Is it wrong to intervene in our human reality of frailty, suffering, and death; and try to end it? I think it is not!
Posted by: futuretalk August 15, 2008
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I believe that some of the recent breakthroughs will lead to technology aht greatly extends peoples lives, but I remain skeptical of conquering death altogether. One of my biggest fears if it does happen, is that the death of death will mean the death of birth. Perhaps I am thinking about it the wrong way, but I think it is a concern.
Posted by: Mielle Sullivan August 15, 2008
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I believe that humanity will always benefit from inserting new lives with fresh minds into its populations.
How these new “humans” will arrive, as infants to grow into adults, or ready-made, fully grown with a starter intelligence package aboard, may be determined by how fast tomorrow’s technologies advance.
And regardless of the fact that we may be living in non-biological bodies in this future time, I think we will still consider ourselves human beings.
One thing for sure, as we begin spreading our populations to the stars, we will certainly need more people to occupy our new lands.
Comments welcome.
Posted by: futuretalk August 15, 2008
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