• Question: could it be possible to live forever (at a young age) and if you could, would you?

    Asked by mranderson to Alison, Artem, Caroline, John, Gunther on 14 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Matt Gunther

      Matt Gunther answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      The quest for eternal life has been a source of science fiction for years and is wrapped around the fear of death. Although living forever is an unobtainable goal, you’d be surprised how many scientists have attempted to extend the contraints of youth. Just walk into your local ASDA and stroll to the cosmetics section. You’ll be surprised by the amount of anti-aging creams and powders on the shelves, which promise to extend the youthful complexion of your skin. However, many of the exotic chemicals placed within these creams are simply fantasy, made-up by the companies who sell them!

      It’s a selling technique, which has never changed since the Victorian era. Back then, upon discovering the exotic chemical known as radium, scientists and businessmen would promote it’s ability to heal and restore one’s youthfulness. Even Marie Curie herself promoted radium as an elixir! However, they weren’t aware it was in fact a very dangerous substance and luckily it was removed from public sale!

      If I could live forever though would I? Although, it would be fun to live through the evolution of our society infinitum, all my friends would come and go. I reckon you’d be left feeling lonely. If you’ve heard the story of Dracula, it is quite sad in the sense that this monster is forced to live forever and ends up living in isolation, clinging to the memories of his own youthful years.

      Saying this, I’d be able to live to see the day of lightsabers, robots and flying cars… So, yes why not live forever!!

    • Photo: Artem Evdokimov

      Artem Evdokimov answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      Could it be possible – yes. There are living beings out there already that exhibit seemingly unlimited life spans, interrupted only by catastrophic circumstances (like disease or accidents – or us cooking and eating them).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligible_senescence

      Can it be done with an actual human being – questionable. It is more likely that ‘practical immortality’ may be bestowed by engineering the embryo, which means tough nuts for those who already live. However, please consider ‘digital consciousness’ and the possibility of mapping the brain onto new media (such as computational substrate).

      Would I do it – absolutely.

    • Photo: John Short

      John Short answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      In argeement with Artem, our brains/ consciousness could possibly live forever if we develop a means of transferring information from our brains to some sort of hard disk. However, our bodies will always degenerate no matter how much we slow that process down, or when we are able one day to beat the age related diseases of Alzeihmers and cancer.

      Would I want to live forever though? If i could live forever, it would mean that everyone else would have access to that technology. That means that dictators, evil people would be able to as well. Death and aging at the very least in the absence of democracy or even in a democracy means that new people will always have to take charge, meaning tyranny and bad leaders will always be cut short. Furthermore, new ideas are generally generated by new people overturning the old ways of thinking and doing things. If people were to live forever, even me, I would argue that society would most likely stagnate or not change as much as without death.

      Also, if we were able to live forever, as we have limited resources, no one would be able to start a new family. Planetary resources would quickly run out without death of people and if new people were born.

      So although the idea of living forever sounds quite appealing in terms of witnessing new techology etc, I don’t think I would choose to.

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