Immortality only 20 years away says scientist


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Scientist Ray Kurzweil claims humans could become immortal in as little as 20 years' time through nanotechnology and an increased understanding of how the body works.

By Amy Willis

Published: 11:23AM BST 22 Sep 2009

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Ray Kurzweil claims we could all be cyborgs in 20 years.

The 61-year-old American, who has predicted new technologies arriving before, says our understanding of genes and computer technology is accelerating at an incredible rate.

He says theoretically, at the rate our understanding is increasing, nanotechnologies capable of replacing many of our vital organs could be available in 20 years time.

Mr Kurzweil adds that although his claims may seem far-fetched, artificial pancreases and neural implants are already available.

Mr Kurzweil calls his theory the Law of Accelerating Returns. Writing in The Sun, Mr Kurzweil said: "I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.

"Ultimately, nanobots will replace blood cells and do their work thousands of times more effectively.

"Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen.

"Heart-attack victims ? who haven't taken advantage of widely available bionic hearts ? will calmly drive to the doctors for a minor operation as their blood bots keep them alive.

"Nanotechnology will extend our mental capacities to such an extent we will be able to write books within minutes.

"If we want to go into virtual-reality mode, nanobots will shut down brain signals and take us wherever we want to go. Virtual sex will become commonplace. And in our daily lives, hologram like figures will pop in our brain to explain what is happening.

"So we can look forward to a world where humans become cyborgs, with artificial limbs and organs."

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The 61-year-old American, who has predicted new technologies arriving before, says our understanding of genes and computer technology is accelerating at an incredible rate.
But yet it is the most important part of the body that we know the least about: the human brain.
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I agree with Gamerhomie. as long as its not abused. I think for everyone who is going to die young it should be used

but the max aged allowed should be 120. you need to die at one point.

special exceptions could be made. depending on the person. for example people who are extremaly smart and have made MASSIVE advancments.

also see it would be useful for disease

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special exceptions could be made. depending on the person. for example people who are extremaly smart and have made MASSIVE advancments.

IF something like this were to ever be reality, you can bet that the elite rich and the politicians would be the ones doing it.

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I agree with Gamerhomie. as long as its not abused. I think for everyone who is going to die young it should be used

but the max aged allowed should be 120. you need to die at one point.

special exceptions could be made. depending on the person. for example people who are extremaly smart and have made MASSIVE advancments.

also see it would be useful for disease

who is going to define who is extremely smart, worthy of keeping alive? are you going to decide? a committee? the government?

how is the world going to cope with a population that doesn't die yet is still capable of conceiving and having children? extreme population booms putting even more strain on our limited resources?

there are a lot of big questions that have to be answered before this can even be close to a reality

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Yeah, I can't see a mandatory age where the government kills you if you live to that point ever happening.

Edit: One good thing about living for a long time is that it does away with one of the greatest problems with space travel, no big deal to travel to a planet 60 years away if you're going to live for 400.

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Seems farfetched, especially in only 20 years.

but the max aged allowed should be 120. you need to die at one point.

special exceptions could be made. depending on the person. for example people who are extremaly smart and have made MASSIVE advancments.

You can bet that most people would view that as an unacceptable solution. Who is someone else to tell me whether I can live or die?

It also opens up another ethical issue... what if someone was 200-300 years old and was tired of living? Should they be allowed to pull the plug?

120? What if someone lived to 120 without artificial means? We already have had people almost reach that age today.

Setting the maximum age wouldn't be immortality, would it?

Another issue, over population would need to be addressed.

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I think the population issue could be reduced a lot if we started building "arcologies", or even just started building up rather than out.

There's the food issue, but better techniques could help with that a whole lot (there are other ways to make meat than having a herd of cows and bulls)

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okay we will say 200

or else population gets to high

though colonization of mars would start. as oxygen wouldnt a giant problem as the nanobots could possibly change carbon dixoide to oxygen and keep doing that

though 20-30 years dosent seem far fetched. at least not for tests. you got to remember 50-60 years ago going to the moon was far fecthed

not to mention we can possibly began the exploration of everything far out in space.

because if the colonization of mars happens. thats a gateway to who knows what else. colonizing mars would be like inventing the first plane

the way I see it anyone around 20 will see the beginning of the colonization of mars at least. since NASA(last time I checked) was sending astronauts to mars around 2020 and leaving the stuff there. so actually almost everyone will see the VERY start

Edited by mokthraka
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120? What if someone lived to 120 without artificial means? We already have had people almost reach that age today.

As I recall, 122 is the documented record.

I think that the next big thing will be body features. Why do I have to be human shape if I'm 80% machine?

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WHEN science makes it possible for us to live longer than 200, expansion to other planets will become a necessity and extremely urgent.

wouldnt be that hard considering you could be enhanced(possibly changed) so you could survive in the conditions. hell if they made it so humans could breath CO2 that would be crazy mars would be much eaiser to live on :p

its not that crazy. we have done so much that was considered *crazy* before it was done

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I agree with Gamerhomie. as long as its not abused. I think for everyone who is going to die young it should be used

but the max aged allowed should be 120. you need to die at one point.

special exceptions could be made. depending on the person. for example people who are extremaly smart and have made MASSIVE advancments.

also see it would be useful for disease

Im not religious, but no one should be there to say who lives and who dies. Obviously advancements for unrightful deaths, by all means save a life. I nor want or will death upon myself but realize it is somthing that happens. Everything dies, thats just the way it is. Even soo all things considered, there would never be a life limit as you call it.

Anywho, booku points to science.

I don't even want to be immortal :( I just want cake!

There is no cake ;)

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