Comments on: Defying Death

By: Jim S

Jim S — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 03:33:35 +0000

Right. The first of several adaptations of stories by Philip K. Dick.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 14:51:31 +0000

The idea of classes divided by access to health care was the subject of the book Bladerunner by Dr. Alan E. Nourse. Yes, as I understand it they paid him for the rights to the title so they could use it for the movie.
Interesting, Jim. The actual plot of the movie was from a book called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” right?

By: Jim S

Jim S — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 02:31:33 +0000

Joel, not having an easy answer isn’t the same as not having any answer.
Immortality in science fiction was dealt with by Poul Anderson in another book, World Without Stars. In that one when there are too many memories for the brain to hold they are selectively wiped. This is a large part of a subplot in the book. The idea of classes divided by access to health care was the subject of the book Bladerunner by Dr. Alan E. Nourse. Yes, as I understand it they paid him for the rights to the title so they could use it for the movie. Then there are the stories by James Gunn, collected as The Immortals, one of which was adapted to the TV series The Immortal. The TV show, of course, never dealt with the medical dystopia that the later stories told of.

By: Joel Thomas

Joel Thomas — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 22:31:33 +0000

I make a distinction between tinkering with cells to eliminate disease and tinkering with cells to keep them perpetually alive. With the latter, I think we lose the sense that there is consequence for sin. If there isn’t punishment for sin, why do we need God?
Eric,
As far as mental illness, I might agree with you as to such illness that is latent or “in-waiting.” However, I think mental illness already manifest is a complicated mixture of heredity and environment that life extension would not have easy answers for. Those already mentally ill might still be considered expendable.

By: C M

C M — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 22:20:03 +0000

The area of prolonged life has been covered extensively in sci-fi. There’s a book called Genesis, by Poul Anderson, that addresses it beautifully. Life retreats after a while into a jaded and meaningless search for interest and curiosity as the brain becomes more and more overloaded and incapable of producing valid correlations due to it’s limited storaged capacity. The search to overcome that lack of reason for existence in an overextended life then is transformed into a firm distinction between consciousness and physical life wherein consciousness is deemed completely superior. If consciousness is completely superior then why hold it in a body? If the consciousness can be housed in a non bio-chemical machine isn’t it far more conducive to the exploration of consciousness (which has been given primacy over body) to do so. It’s a really interesting read, and has dovetailed into my current interests in mind/body dualities and neo-Buddhist philosophy. Highly recommended.

By: Tierney

Tierney — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 21:13:06 +0000

“Correcting the damage in trillions of cells is an extremely high order.”
Yeah, but in theory you can just build self-replicating nanorobots and set them loose to repair your body one cell at a time. Of course, this is like saying “In theory, you can just travel to Alpha Centauri.”
Has anyone else noticed that, since the 1950’s, true artificial intelligence has always been twenty years away?

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 20:32:51 +0000

Oh, and I do share Joel’s concern about the impact on society of such technology. It’s easy to imagine society evolving into two castes–”immortals” who have built up immense wealth and power and the “mortals” who are basically the drones of society. Would make for some interesting sci-fi.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 20:30:14 +0000

I wonder if life can be so extended if the pressure to eliminate the mentally ill and those with severe birth defects will only increase.
Actually, if we ever have the capability to extend life indefinitely, I would expect that curing mental illness or birth defects would be a cakewalk.
The #1 impediment to extending the human lifespan is cancer. Even in a world free of pollution, ozone layer holes, etc., natural radiation and chemical agents cause a buildup of genetic damage. Correcting the damage in trillions of cells is an extremely high order.

By: Myopic Zeal

Myopic Zeal — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:51:00 +0000

Ray Kurzweil’s Fantastic Voyage.

UPDATE: Buy Raymond Kurzweil’s new book here, …

By: A Steve

A Steve — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 16:22:04 +0000

Having finally come to accept myself as I am, I now find that someone wants to offer me the chance to become something new? Sadly, I find I am too afraid of death (or too attached to life) to decline. It is more human, I suppose, to transgress limits than to define oneself by them.