Neil deGrasse Tyson talked about his view of death with Larry King the other day.
'Would you want immortality?' asks Mr King.
To Mr Tyson, death gives meaning to life. A reason to do, now. To love, now. To accomplish, now. Immortality would lead to, 'why get up in the morning, there is always tomorrow'. He would not want immortality.
What about death? Is there existence after death? To Mr Tyson death is nothingness - he has no real objective evidence to the contrary. But he's ok with that. Except that of course he's really not. Give him a near death experience and see how calm he remains. But he does accept the inevitability of it - and to him that gives life meaning.
I couldn't agree more. Except that the entire discussion was based on our current capabilities, our current cultures, our current level of intelligence, our current mindset and biases. Mr King kept framing it in terms of current lifespans vs. immortality. But it is unlikely that anything that even remotely resembles us will ever attain immortality.
It is true that aging is for the most part a biologic process, not a consequence of time. As such it will be 'cured'. This will include age related processes - dementia, rigidity of thought, attenuation of creativity, the ability to learn, loss of energy and strength.
And since disease is disruption of normal biochemical processes, as we learn to manipulate genetic apparatus in our cells - all disease will be cured.
And so our live spans will be greatly increased. Immortality? - pretty doubtful. Catastrophic trauma will continue. Accidents and murder will limit human life - probably always, to about a thousand years.
And so the much more interesting question would have been would you want to live for a thousand years - the lifespan determined by your odds of dying traumatically if aging and disease did not factor?
Worried about getting up in the morning with so much time? Don't be. Along with scientific advancements to cure aging and disease will come enhancements in intelligence. And as our sphere of knowledge and intelligence expands so too the area of unknown surrounding it. A thousand years won't even begin to scratch the surface - so much to learn, to do, to accomplish, to live.
'Would you want immortality?' asks Mr King.
To Mr Tyson, death gives meaning to life. A reason to do, now. To love, now. To accomplish, now. Immortality would lead to, 'why get up in the morning, there is always tomorrow'. He would not want immortality.
What about death? Is there existence after death? To Mr Tyson death is nothingness - he has no real objective evidence to the contrary. But he's ok with that. Except that of course he's really not. Give him a near death experience and see how calm he remains. But he does accept the inevitability of it - and to him that gives life meaning.
I couldn't agree more. Except that the entire discussion was based on our current capabilities, our current cultures, our current level of intelligence, our current mindset and biases. Mr King kept framing it in terms of current lifespans vs. immortality. But it is unlikely that anything that even remotely resembles us will ever attain immortality.
It is true that aging is for the most part a biologic process, not a consequence of time. As such it will be 'cured'. This will include age related processes - dementia, rigidity of thought, attenuation of creativity, the ability to learn, loss of energy and strength.
And since disease is disruption of normal biochemical processes, as we learn to manipulate genetic apparatus in our cells - all disease will be cured.
And so our live spans will be greatly increased. Immortality? - pretty doubtful. Catastrophic trauma will continue. Accidents and murder will limit human life - probably always, to about a thousand years.
And so the much more interesting question would have been would you want to live for a thousand years - the lifespan determined by your odds of dying traumatically if aging and disease did not factor?
Worried about getting up in the morning with so much time? Don't be. Along with scientific advancements to cure aging and disease will come enhancements in intelligence. And as our sphere of knowledge and intelligence expands so too the area of unknown surrounding it. A thousand years won't even begin to scratch the surface - so much to learn, to do, to accomplish, to live.
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