Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[i2amroy]

You could always just freeze yourself and hope for someone to eventually get around to reviving you once the tech is better (which you can actually do through life insurance for a very cheap amount).

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Everyone has always thought immortality was just around the corner. That doesn't mean we're wrong to think that today, but everyone before us sure was wrong despite being really hopeful and sure of it. I think the only way to think about it and actually remain hopeful is to realize that we slowly become more right over time, less ignorant, at least in most ways. Which suggests that at some point it will probably happen.

The pessimist in me looks at people like Aubrey De Grey and sees a person who is naive, deluded, or a charlatan.

[Reudh]

Finally got Grid and Grid 2 running at acceptable framerates. Woo.

[i2amroy]

Everyone has always thought immortality was just around the corner. That doesn't mean we're wrong to think that today, but everyone before us sure was wrong despite being really hopeful and sure of it. I think the only way to think about it and actually remain hopeful is to realize that we slowly become more right over time, less ignorant, at least in most ways. Which suggests that at some point it will probably happen.

The pessimist in me looks at people like Aubrey De Grey and sees a person who is naive, deluded, or a charlatan.

I do think we have one particular advantage over previous generations, in that we are trying to get our elixirs of immortality from the biological sciences rather then magical fountains or ancient chinese remedies. Personally I hope for the best but in the worst case hey, cryonics!

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Cue 3000 years later archaeologists are still digging up frozen people just shaking their heads in regret that freezing damages the cells in a way that makes the revival process impossible ...

[SalmonGod]

Spoiler: Spoiler'd for sad content (click to show/hide)

I'm really not so much.  I think the logic works, but that the progress timelines suggested by anti-aging/transhumanist promoters are just a little overly optimistic.  It's probably knowingly and intentionally so, because it would be harder to gather support for research if they didn't.  People wouldn't be as interested in the idea if they didn't think they would be alive long enough to benefit from it.

What I honestly expect is... well... I still halfway expect that civilization will self-destruct within our lifetimes due to ecosystem collapse coupled with social instability caused by extreme inequality... but if that stuff doesn't happen, I expect that we'll continue to see miraculous medical advancements within our lifetimes, to the point that my generation may very well produce some of the first immortals, but the technologies will take long enough to trickle down to mass availability that most of us won't make it. 

I used to think we would avoid that type of dystopia, because the internet would initiate a global movement towards more egalitarian social structures... but I'm slowly losing hope in that.  Those conflicts have pretty well played out.  Occupy, plus an unprecedented cascade of whistleblowing scandals, plus the general availability of information on the internet, have succeeded pretty well in raising awareness to a near-common knowledge level of how society is owned and operated by the ultra-wealthy, who will wage war on anyone and everyone with impunity to protect and expand their own power.  And it doesn't look to me like this is amounting to anything.

[Arx]

We have achieved short duration cryostasis in pigs, if I remember correctly.

[Karkov]

So, I know we're in the middle of a serious discussion and all, but I have to post a happy.

It's mah birthday!   Woo!  21!

Alright, back to serious discussion.

[GiglameshDespair]

Everyone has always thought immortality was just around the corner. That doesn't mean we're wrong to think that today, but everyone before us sure was wrong despite being really hopeful and sure of it. I think the only way to think about it and actually remain hopeful is to realize that we slowly become more right over time, less ignorant, at least in most ways. Which suggests that at some point it will probably happen.

The pessimist in me looks at people like Aubrey De Grey and sees a person who is naive, deluded, or a charlatan.

I do think we have one particular advantage over previous generations, in that we are trying to get our elixirs of immortality from the biological sciences rather then magical fountains or ancient chinese remedies. Personally I hope for the best but in the worst case hey, cryonics!

Well, it worked in X-Com, though you may wake up in 60 million years and then got shot by divers.

[Yoink]

Happy Birthday! Time to get smashed!

[Arx]

Spoiler: Flowerhatted Spider! (click to show/hide)

I know there's a spider thread, but it makes me happy, so I'm posting it here.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Yeah man, congratulations! In a more primitive culture we would all get together and go out into the wilderness, consume fermented fruit, and perform rituals that commemorate your transition into a full member of the tribe. Well, also it would probably happen like 6 years ago too. If you can down a caribou you can drink.

[Karkov]

Yeah man, congratulations! In a more primitive culture we would all get together and go out into the wilderness, consume fermented fruit, and perform rituals that commemorate your transition into a full member of the tribe. Well, also it would probably happen like 6 years ago too. If you can down a caribou you can drink.

Would it be possible to down said caribou with a firearm of some sort?  I'd probably have trouble tangling with a 1,500+ lbs caribou, truth be told.

[MaximumZero]

Yeah man, congratulations! In a more primitive culture we would all get together and go out into the wilderness, consume fermented fruit, and perform rituals that commemorate your transition into a full member of the tribe. Well, also it would probably happen like 6 years ago too. If you can down a caribou you can drink.

Would it be possible to down said caribou with a firearm of some sort?  I'd probably have trouble tangling with a 1,500+ lbs caribou, truth be told.

I need to teach you how to throw a punch like a grown man. C'mon, man.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

When you're little, you can go for the little ones. It's okay, it's all symbolic.