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Now that you mentioned it, since I'm immortal, I might as well plunge into a gas giant.
I'd suggest being selective with the gas giants, although diving into any of them wouldn't be a pleasant experience, unless you'd enjoy being flattened thinner than a sheet of onionskin paper. Although, in our solar system, two of them are called ice giants, they're still gas giants. That said, I'd recommend avoiding Uranus. It's orbit is bent over, it's very gassy, and it stinks. Keep in mind that just being immortal (you don't age, but you can be killed) isn't the same as true immortality (you don't age and nothing can kill you).
I'd suggest being selective with the gas giants, although diving into any of them wouldn't be a pleasant experience, unless you'd enjoy being flattened thinner than a sheet of onionskin paper. Although, in our solar system, two of them are called ice giants, they're still gas giants. That said, I'd recommend avoiding Uranus. It's orbit is bent over, it's very gassy, and it stinks. Keep in mind that just being immortal (you don't age, but you can be killed) isn't the same as true immortality (you don't age and nothing can kill you).
You know, I was actually wondering whether immortal meant the same thing in scientific terms as it does in pop culture. In the latter, invincible is used to describe a being that cannot be harmed.
You know, I was actually wondering whether immortal meant the same thing in scientific terms as it does in pop culture. In the latter, invincible is used to describe a being that cannot be harmed.
Right, being invincible means you'd have super resistance to harmful effects that would kill anyone else. Sort of like Superman isn't fazed by bullets, a direct bomb blast, a speeding train, you wouldn't drown, you could swim in magma or a dive into the Sun unscathed. But just because you can survive catastrophic events, doesn't mean you'll have an extended lifespan. You'd die of old age.
I did a bit of hunting on the words. Here's my understanding:
-- Immortality means you wouldn't age, but you could die. As long as you're reasonably healthy, and can avoid accidents or diseases, you could live indefinitely. For example, if you had a terrible accident and lost your head or took a bullet to the brain, it's game over. Get hit by a 5-ton block of concrete dropped on you, it'd completely crush you. You're dead. Step out into space without a suit, you'll be listed as deceased in the Vital Statistics. You could probably even kill yourself if you chose to do so. You're immortal, not invincible.
-- Invincibility means nothing external can harm or kill you, except you'll still age. Bullets would bounce off you harmlessly, but when the timer of your body clock is up, your lifespan is over. You'd be invincible, not immortal. Exactly how long you would live, I have no idea. Probably just a typical lifespan. Microbes, viruses, and diseases, might adapt and evolve in your body to become invincible and happily continue gnawing away at you though. We know that there are viruses, and bacteria that adapt to medications to become so-called super-strains that are resistant to such medications. If you still experience cell division, the telomeres will still shrink with each division until they can no longer divide. In the end, the Grim Reaper would eventually be paying you a visit.
-- True Immortality (as I understand it) would mean you'd essentially have the best of both -- invincibility and immortality. Nothing would harm you and you'd never age, and could live forever, foiling the plans of the Grim Reaper. Although I suspect if you dove into Jupiter, you'd survive, but might be stuck at the core indefinitely. Unlike Superman, you wouldn't be able to fly out of the planet. But, hey. you'd still be alive. On the other hand, all you'd have to do is wait it out until the planet fades out of existence. I mean living forever would have its benefits. A few billion years is meaningless in comparison to an eternal lifespan. Even if the Universe fades away, you'll still be alive. Exactly where is unknown, perhaps a true vacuum or some multidimensional bulk space where anything that can pop in and out of existence will, maybe more Big Bangs forming new universes. Even if you had to wait for multiple googleplexes of time, no big deal compared to an infinite amount of time. Or maybe time doesn't exist in such a scenario.
Adding just a decade to the lifespan would be significant. (As long as those were relatively healthy years). Adding, say, two decades, and we would probably start speaking of adding an additional phase to life.
The thing about wanting to live forever sounds great but what if the afterlife is even greater? Maybe there is a heaven that has everything you want to be happy and maybe living forever will make you become very unsatisfied as the universe around you changes in ways you may not want. ie the world you love is destroyed etc
Well maybe not forever but I intend to live a very long time, thousands of years or more.
I decided to start this thread here because it has to do with science and the progress of information technology. There is a book called "The Singularity is Near" and a documentary called "Transcendent Man" by Ray Kurzweil. This is the teaser from youtube:
In it he discusses the law of accelerating returns and More's Law that say information technology grows at a exponential rate. When I was a kid in the 1970's computers took up a whole room. Now my cell phone has more computing ability then that computer did and in 20 years computers will be the size of a blood cell. That will allow us to have super strong immune systems and help us be even smarter as our biology will blend with nano technology. They have already found the aging gene and fat gene and are working on being able to stop and even reverse them. Then by 2029 computers will be as intelligent as humans and by 2045 a single computer will be as intelligent as all of the humans on earth combined. We will, also, have virtual reality that will be as real as "the real world". Picture the hollow deck on Star Trek but a 1,000 times better in my life time. I can't wait. This is the best time to be alive!
I am betting you are pretty young. Believe me, when you get older, you will not want to live forever. Even if your body held up and you didn’t have nagging pain everywhere, you will realize that you eventually run out of new experiences. Take travel for instance. Traveling overseas for the first tine is pretty exciting. Traveling overseas for the 50th time or visiting your 50th county is really not all that exciting. Ditto for any other amazing life experience.
Adding just a decade to the lifespan would be significant. (As long as those were relatively healthy years). Adding, say, two decades, and we would probably start speaking of adding an additional phase to life.
Good point actually. Say retirement happens at 65. Up to 85 would be the current expectations - and how society can function with this cohort's use of resources vs lack of productivity at this point. But even if you stretch the general average to 105, not completely out of this world (though increasingly difficult as we've seem to hit a huge plateau with conventional medicine), that's 40 years for every average human to be in a retired phase for.
Assuming that we can hopefully also shift aging by 20 years - i.e. a 65 year old is close to as healthy as a 45 year old, and an 85 year old a 65 year old - that will make a big difference in rethinking what the "productive years" of a general lifespan should be. But do we really want 60 year careers even if we live - and are healthy - for 20 years longer?
Assuming that we can hopefully also shift aging by 20 years - i.e. a 65 year old is close to as healthy as a 45 year old, and an 85 year old a 65 year old - that will make a big difference in rethinking what the "productive years" of a general lifespan should be. But do we really want 60 year careers even if we live - and are healthy - for 20 years longer?
Once they are able to transfer your memory or conscience, if you will, to a humanoid (human-like robot), you will be able to technically live forever, just as long as someone is there to charge or replace your batteries!
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