SpaceweaverThu, Jun 26, 2008 Xarene: First, thank you for the reference. I was not familiar with the book you mention here, and am looking forward to reading it.
In response to your thoughts, I do agree that many aspects of our present life, do not encourage the idea of life extension. However, it is possible for us to envision a future which is healed from the maladies of the past and the present. Otherwise, what are dreaming and imagination good for in the first place? :-) It might sound a bit naive, perhaps too idealistic, but then I believe in the possibility of human beings and human societies to transform.
As to the subject at hand, we can clearly relate to life extension on two different planes. The first is the individual plane, the second reflects on the social, cultural and economical aspects of life extension. Not that these two planes are entirely separable, yet I find they represent clearly distinct perspectives on the issue and thus should be related to distinctively.
In your comment, I read only about the second plane, the one that deals with the social and cultural web one is connected to. But given that we find a miraculous solution to all the practical economical and legal issues connected to life extension. Given that we even become better humans in the ethical and spiritual sense. Given all that, would you like to live a thousand years? or forever?
It seems to me that extreme life extension is a very complex package of many profound changes and paradigm shifts. Thinking about them holistically is daunting, and this is why the whole issue is often dismissed or trivialized as too complicated or too 'impossible'. Of course the foundations of our society, our economical system, and our legal system are based on the assumption that everybody dies within a few decades. The same goes for our culture, myths, religion, tradition and more. These are the consequences of the condition that we are mortal, not the cause of our mortality, and definitely there is nothing in all these that justify the fact of mortality. Our mortality is a biological condition. If it is eliminated, partly or entirely, all systems of human existence will adapt accordingly. This has happened more than once in the past, especially recently during the 19th and 20th centuries with changes that were not less traumatic and profound. Think for example about the introduction of vaccines and antibiotics. One could worry that if we eliminate all infectious diseases, we might end up with a population explosion, with unsustainable economy etc.
On the individual level, it seems to me that our culture in general and philosophy, psychology mythology , and spiritual traditions in particular do not offer to the individual any hints regarding how to think or how to feel about such a question. No wonder that we generally meet it unprepared, surprised and perhaps even embarrassed to the point of dismissing the issue altogether.
But it is not incredible. Extreme life extension is a plausible outcome of current and future medical research. The many riddles it opens, the choices it necessitates, I see first and foremost as an opportunity like which we, as a civilization, as a species, haven't got for millennia if ever. The opportunity of addressing the most profound issues of our existence with a fresh new and unbound perspective because we do not have a ready made perspective. We can invent ourselves anew in almost any conceivable dimension of human existence. This is a formidable challenge, and certainly one worth living for (a lot longer) individually and collectively.
Xarene: First, thank you for the reference. I was not familiar with the book you mention here, and am looking forward to reading it.
In response to your thoughts, I do agree that many aspects of our present life, do not encourage the idea of life extension. However, it is possible for us to envision a future which is healed from the maladies of the past and the present. Otherwise, what are dreaming and imagination good for in the first place? :-) It might sound a bit naive, perhaps too idealistic, but then I believe in the possibility of human beings and human societies to transform.
As to the subject at hand, we can clearly relate to life extension on two different planes. The first is the individual plane, the second reflects on the social, cultural and economical aspects of life extension. Not that these two planes are entirely separable, yet I find they represent clearly distinct perspectives on the issue and thus should be related to distinctively.
In your comment, I read only about the second plane, the one that deals with the social and cultural web one is connected to. But given that we find a miraculous solution to all the practical economical and legal issues connected to life extension. Given that we even become better humans in the ethical and spiritual sense. Given all that, would you like to live a thousand years? or forever?
It seems to me that extreme life extension is a very complex package of many profound changes and paradigm shifts. Thinking about them holistically is daunting, and this is why the whole issue is often dismissed or trivialized as too complicated or too 'impossible'. Of course the foundations of our society, our economical system, and our legal system are based on the assumption that everybody dies within a few decades. The same goes for our culture, myths, religion, tradition and more. These are the consequences of the condition that we are mortal, not the cause of our mortality, and definitely there is nothing in all these that justify the fact of mortality. Our mortality is a biological condition. If it is eliminated, partly or entirely, all systems of human existence will adapt accordingly. This has happened more than once in the past, especially recently during the 19th and 20th centuries with changes that were not less traumatic and profound. Think for example about the introduction of vaccines and antibiotics. One could worry that if we eliminate all infectious diseases, we might end up with a population explosion, with unsustainable economy etc.
On the individual level, it seems to me that our culture in general and philosophy, psychology mythology , and spiritual traditions in particular do not offer to the individual any hints regarding how to think or how to feel about such a question. No wonder that we generally meet it unprepared, surprised and perhaps even embarrassed to the point of dismissing the issue altogether.
But it is not incredible. Extreme life extension is a plausible outcome of current and future medical research. The many riddles it opens, the choices it necessitates, I see first and foremost as an opportunity like which we, as a civilization, as a species, haven't got for millennia if ever. The opportunity of addressing the most profound issues of our existence with a fresh new and unbound perspective because we do not have a ready made perspective. We can invent ourselves anew in almost any conceivable dimension of human existence. This is a formidable challenge, and certainly one worth living for (a lot longer) individually and collectively.