Running from Death #2: Misunderstandings of Indefinite Life Extension

Indefinite life does *not* mean getting frailer and more decrepit over time - contrary to Jonathan Swift. It also does not mean outliving all the people you know and care about, contrary to many popular fears and folk tales.

In the second installement of the "Running from Death" series, Mr. Stolyarov dispels some common misunderstandings of what indefinite life extension would entail. It turns out that what many people fear about living indefinitely cannot be part of the experience.

Resources:

"Eliminating Death" video series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNIbKgC3FT8&feature=PlayList&p=8C5FA12...
"Jonathan Swift's Struldbrugs, Immortality, and Negligible Senescence": http://progressofliberty.blogdog.com/2009/02/16/struldbrugs/

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Mr. Stolyarov will also answer intelligent listener questions and arguments in subsequent broadcasts. Post them as comments here or send an e-mail to gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• indefinite
• life
• extension
• immortal
• immortality
• death
• senescence
• technology
• progress
• attitudes
• ideas
• thinking
• philosophy
• aging
• struldbrugs
• jonathan
• swift
• misconceptions
• misunderstandings
• outlive
• relatives
• fallacies

[NorthKoreaTroll]

Another fantastic video! Thumbs up

[GStolyarovII]

@NorthKoreaTroll Thank you!

[nonchalantd]

The introduction was spot on too:  "Good evening ladies and gentleman; I am again...running from death." Lol, excellent!

[nonchalantd]

Of course, I loved your commentary, but, as a side note, I had to comment on how much I loved the "running from death" graphic. Good eye.

[brokenportal]

Fantastic running from death series. Can I nominate this for a Pulitzer Prize? This particular one is also popularly known as the "Tithonus Error". In Greek Mythology Eos asked Zues that Tithonus be granted Immortality, but she forgot to ask for perpetual youth as well and so he became increasingly feeble and senile while never dying. As you go over, that wont happen.

[Akatam0t0ma]

@GStolyarovII:

Yeah, I am indeed talking about bureaucracies as an albatross around the neck of human progress,rather than the deliberate obstruction of it by ill-intentioned people(Such as pious religionists).While it's very easy to point out at the evil and destructiveness of religious way of thinking,it is far harder to argue against the idea of bureaucracies that in theory supposed to help progress(But in reality don't), an idea which too many of our fellow forward-minded people bought into.

[GStolyarovII]

@Akatam0t0ma One other point on this matter is that incremental advances in technology could improve people's incentives (and improve many people, too) so as to produce better institutions, at least in some respects. For instance, today's medical progress would not have been possible with 16th-century political and societal organizations and norms, so humanity has come a long way. Every step in humanity's rise from barbarism would render subsequent steps easier or at least more conceivable.

[GStolyarovII]

@Akatam0t0ma Moreover, because the advances leading up to indefinite life will not all come at once (and many will appear to established institutions to be innocuous steps in beating back a disease or two), it will be difficult for advocates of mortality to resist these advances in practice. There may, of course, be situations where advances are prevented by the routine bureaucracy from reaching the market as soon as they might have. But this would only delay, not prevent, indefinite lifespans.

[GStolyarovII]

@Akatam0t0ma I discuss this subject to some extent in Parts 15 and 16 of the "Eliminating Death" series. It is certainly true that institutional obstacles can hold back progress in this field, as in others, and in sufficiently oppressive environments (e.g., the late Roman Empire), knowledge could even be lost. However, there are selection processes that act in favor of the eventual attainment of indefinite life...

[GStolyarovII]

@Shezmu I, too, look forward to the great technological/philosophical changes to come. May they bring about a more enlightened, prosperous, peaceful, and productive future for humankind.