Escaping Death - Is death a Principle or Just a Proposal?

in #steemstem6 years ago


Image - Pixabay

As we grow in our knowledge of science, genetics and cell biology, we come closer to the reality of immortality. The idea, however, is not in any sense new to our thoughts as intelligent beings. It has been man’s creed for millions of years to escape death or at least return after death to some better place. This wish has made civilizations invent and believe religious myths that promise them some kind of extra life or awakening after death. The idea hasn't changed though, today people are no longer satisfied with hope, or faith in things or ideas that they cannot be completely sure of.

Hence, many scientists still following the unconscious wish to live forever, are still trying to develop ways that will help us accomplish this dream and escape death now, doing it in a more subtle and intellectual way. Well, I guess the good news of this article is, we have gone a long way seeking this freedom from death and we are now not so far from it. After all, if you think about it, you also love the idea of having eternal life.

However, on a personal level, I do not subscribe to the idea of eternal life because of how detrimental it is to the planet. Though, of course, these same scientists would have probably found a way to fix this problem but given our current statistics on the progress of that, I wouldn’t wager that they’d sooner find the solution than pigs learning how to fly!

Ageing

It is universally accepted that ageing is one of the profound enemies of immortality. It is true that ageing may not be the exact seat of our problem (because we will still age even after defeating death), it is the reward - the wear and tear of our bio-functions - that comes with ageing, we are most worried about. To understand the root cause of the problem, we look at the Cells; the smallest form by which life can be represented.

As cells go about their daily life, operating with instructions from their DNA coding to performing tasks that will allow them to survive and reproduce. Cells reproduce by dividing and creating daughter versions of themselves. During this process, the quality of their DNA diminishes making their functions slow, old and vulnerable to harm or illness. A compound structure called telomeres which stays at the end of the chromosome are caps that protect the DNA during its activities. These caps are thought to be the key to stop cell degeneration, but because of the complex nature of the cap, we have not yet completely grasped how it really works.

When biologists figured out about the Telomeres (protective caps), they figured that if they strengthen and elongated the caps to offer more protection to the DNA it would result to a longer life for the organism. Since then, they have discovered that these cells go through complex internal processes to maintain the strength of their cap by themselves and at the same time they also strictly regulate the length of the Telomeres. Yes, turns out that if telomeres get too long, their extra length is followed by a host of negative side effects that may reduce lifespan.

Cancer is one of these fates. This is obviously not good news, yet, scientists are still on the matter. Many doctors and biologists around the globe are working hard to figure out as much as they can about the biological machines that contribute to keeping the caps stable and strong, their goal is to develop a way of elongating the caps to fine zone - not being too long or short but allowing it to be ‘just fine!’.

Our knowledge in genetic engineering has evolved to a point where we now have the ability to edit and rewrite the DNA coded information of an organism. This has helped us to make improving changes to the DNA of mammals and is a promising permanent cure for cancer if well understood. While the study of Gene biology is promising, it just might not be the knowledge that will lead us to our breakthrough, after all, if the human body can be repaired it can also be replaced.

The Digital man

Life may not be limited to biology alone!

Image - pixabay

As much as our knowledge of biology, genetics grow every day, it is undeniable that our level of technological understanding is outstanding. The virtual brain modelling and AI design have improved the way we define life. We can build servers or mechanical bodies that is relatively more efficient than the ones we possess. Think about all the things we could do with technology like this.

It has been a controversy as to whether it is ethical to spend money on projects like this, and some intellectuals even cast doubt on our ability to preserve the life of human beings outside the body. However, some powerful people and organizations like Elon Musk think this is possible and worth spending time and resources on. Elon Musk recently announced that he will soon present a breakthrough for the world. His idea is that, if a computer can directly connect and cooperate with a person's mind, it can also download and store it.

Ian Pearson announced his views on the matter saying: humans will be able to back up their consciousness in computer systems by 2050.

NSF, the National Science Foundation gave donations of about five hundred thousand dollars to some universities in Florida and Chicago to investigate continuously on this subject. They have a lot of hands working on archiving, computer imaging and virtual immortality.

The Digital Immortality Institute is also on this issue, they are putting the focus on the power of the internet and using it to explore virtual immortality.

And the sole aim of Dmitri Itskov's 2045 Initiative is to "create technologies enabling the transfer of an individual’s personality to a non-biological carrier, and extending existence, including to the point of immortality" - Web Archive

As a hopefully minimalistic definition then, digital immortality can be roughly considered as involving a person-centric repository containing a copy of everything that a person sees, hears, says, or engenders over his or her lifespan, including photographs, videos, audio recordings, movies, television shows, music albums/CDs, newspapers, documents, diaries and journals, interviews, meetings, love letters, notes, papers, art pieces, and so on, and so on; and if not everything, then at least as much as the person has and takes the time and trouble to include. The person’s personality, emotion profiles, thoughts, beliefs, and appearance are also captured and integrated into an artificially intelligent, interactive, conversational agent/avatar. This avatar is placed in charge of (and perhaps "equated" with) the collected material in the repository so that the agent can present the illusion of having the factual memories, thoughts, and beliefs of the person him/herself. - Susanne Asche, Kulturelles Gedächtnis in 21. Jahrhundert: Tagungsband des Internationalen Symposiums, Digital Immortality & Runaway Technology Digbib

Cloning

Imagine that you are cloned, you are now old, frail and tired, waiting on a queue for some scientists to finish installing your memory, feelings, thoughts, everything into your younger cloned body who looks young, fine and strong. The computer completely transferred everything that characterizes you into this clone and it becomes you. You might feel a bit worried that there is something missing but, in what sense is that person not you?


Image by Wikibob - Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

In the future, ideal models of human beings, both bodily and cognitively will be successfully cloned. It would be cool to still have the clones of Newton and Feynman around. The ethics of cloning is a controversial issue.

References

HOW STUFF WORK - How HeLa Cells Work

WIKIPEDIA - Digital Immortality

HUFFINGTON POST - Science and the future

WIKIPEDIA - Mind Uploading

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Hello @agbona, good work there! I enjoyed your post so much!

Death is such a strange concept. I mean the idea of not existing at all scares me a bit. Then I think about how I had no idea about anything before I was born, so I believe this is what it's probably like. I don't like this and hope I am wrong.

While the study of Gene biology is promising, it just might not be the knowledge that will lead us to our breakthrough, after all, if the human body can be repaired it can also be replaced.

That final line is so inspiring. Maybe that's where the solution to this problem lies.

Anyway, thanks for this nice read.
See you around!

Your comment really added great value to this post in many ways, and I totally agree with you on this

I had no idea about anything before I was born, so I believe this is what it's probably like."

I guess what really matters now, is to do the best with the life we have been given, and whatever comes next on the other side, I believe we will up to the task.

Many thanks for your invaluable feedback

I agree with your views, we should just try to make the best of it!

Thanks for the response, see you around :)

It would be cool to still have the clones of Newton and Feynman around.

Yeah it would.

Living forever is a curse. If this technology gets into wrong hands
Humanity might just be messed up by then.

Living forever is a curse

This just reminded me of a quote from Batman that goes "You can die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".

You are absolutely right, if this technology gets into the wrong hands, things will really spin out of control.

Valuable feedback!

Ian Pearson announced his views on the matter saying: humans will be able to back up their consciousness in computer systems by 2050.

Okay, this interests me. If the technology would be accessible to all, there could be dangers, as Criminal Minds could get a hold of it, and clone into several hundreds. Imagine having 300 Hitlers in the future, all of them Cloned (probably) undying bodies with the full-fledged consciousness of the man himself.

But then, if it isn't available to everyone, but is used to preserve some of earth's finest minds, who's to decide who lives on forever, and who dies?

Controversial, at best.

Absolutely!

This is an ethical controversy, as there is never a simple or easy answer, as both sides of the argument have valid points. Am not sure it will be between who lives and who dies, rather it will be who has made a valuable contribution to society to be worthy of living forever, and I believe that might be a future responsibility for the legislature to determine.

Imagine having 300 Hitlers in the future

Funny thing is, this doesn't scare me, as we have once had 15 Hitlers, in the person of King Leopold II of Belgium. Hitler killed 1 million Jews, King Leopold II killed 15 million Congolese.

And with the exponential increase in global population, in 2050, maybe 30 Hitlers is what humanity might need to restore balance. It might be an ugly process, but it may save our race from driving itself into extinction.

Dark conclusion. Lol. The right balance will come. In some other natural way i guess. I'd prefer it isn't bloodshed and a display of man's inhumanity to man.

We can only hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

I have nothing much to say, but I believe this quest for immortality is a typical case of "the more you seek, the less you find".

Sleek writing by the way.

I'll have to say that you're absolutely right on that one.

The feedback is massively appreciated

it's a pleasure actually.

Ian Pearson announced his views on the matter saying: humans will be able to back up their consciousness in computer systems by 2050.

lol i would love to be surprised really. Anticipating 2050

Well, its just 32 years away, we'll definitely be alive then. Let's see how it goes.

definitely? I wouldnt use the word 'definite' when the average life span of humans is 60.

Agreed, poor choice of word

Point is, we'll hopefully be alive then, to see if this becomes a reality or not.

I wonder if life is really an undiscovered subatomic particle ???? While we are alive, we bear the particle as we move through all the random occurrences of our lives. When our "life particle" decays, we cease to travel the space-time continuum.

Wow, this is a mind-blowing thought... but how can one analyse, test or experiment with this concept?

Well, I guess we just have to wait until someone does, or we die while contemplating, trying, or waiting 😉

I am always asking myself why can't people just be happy with the time that have. We need to leave room on this planet for the next generation. pfff......

We are humans, and we always want more of everything our minds can conceive. The next generation will do just fine.

Thanks for stopping by, sensei @lemouth

Well, if the planet is overpopulated, at some point it will be a problem. Actually, it is already a problem :)

Well, on that note, we humans should be content with the time we have and plan on leaving behind a better world for future generations.

I fully agree!

Hi @agbona!

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Come to think of it, one of the things that create balance in our world is death. Just like we have many other things in pairs of opposites maintaining equilibrium.

If we sort of find a way to eliminate death, dont you think we have tampered with the equilibrium?

You're absolutely right, elimaminating death might result in some form of imbalance that can throw our world into turmoil. However, personally I feel the concept death is too final, and not everyone was created equal.

Hence, the special ones amongst us should not be limited by death, because they have so much to contribute to our quality of life.

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