???????? № 10 – Immortality

What if we could cure aging?

What if we could extend our lifespans indefinitely, living for hundreds of years? While this may still sound like science fiction, just how fictional is de-aging as a science?

Immortal is the new 50.

As humans, we’ve always been fascinated by the idea of immortality. The concept of “forever” has been explored in literature, movies, as well as in scientific research. But how (un)achievable is it really, and what are the implications?

1. The bio, the meta and the prophecy

Let's start by discussing the limitations of achieving immortality through the resources within the universe.

Currently, humans have forever been following the cyclical structure of birth-life-death. While birth and life have somewhat been defined in a scientific or spiritual sense, death still represents a mystery for most of us.

Death gives life its urgency and makes us appreciate the moments we have on earth. Without death, life loses its meaning and purpose. We would become complacent and take our existence for granted. Death also allows for new generations to come into being, bringing fresh perspectives and ideas to the world. Death is our biological limitation.

Furthermore, we have the limitation of choice. The choice is meta towards the universe, and the immortality offered by these choices is meta in itself, causality-defying kind of immortality which we can never hope to make ourselves, limited as we are to the known resources within it. The options here are a restricted sense of a biological immortality versus a tiny chance at a meta-immortality forever. Anyone who assigns infinite value to living forever should consider the first option, as its meta guarantee should be more important that anything you could achieve after the second’s blessing expires.

In my own observations, I came across a constant stream of thinking that is most probablyy not owned by the regulations of sanity. This led to the revelation that believing there is no conscious stimulation post-death anytime within eternity and especially within an infinite amount of universes is nonsensical. Even if, say one would be born in a world without a creator of a simulator, eventually, one would still return in a universe with one. This idea could potentially extend to a quantum immortality theory.

Yes, it does play a lot into the idea of reincarnation, but all religions have some sort of eternal life belief.?

Religious perspectives on immortality are also worth considering. For example, many Christians believe in eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. His sacrifice defeated death and sin once and for all, and based on that prophecy, everyone will one day attain immortality. This belief offers a different kind of immortality than what science can provide – one that is based on spiritual rather than physical existence.

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The pursuit of immortality raises important questions about what it means to be human and what kind of future we want to create for ourselves. As we continue to explore these themes through science and philosophy, we must also consider the ethical implications of our actions and strive to create a world that values life in all its forms – whether it be biological or digital – while embracing our mortality as an essential part of what makes us human.

2. The cure for curing aging

From targeting folded proteins to genetic engineering to stem cell research, there are many promising scientific approaches to curing aging. But with these potential benefits come ethical considerations and unintended consequences, as well as many metaphysical questions of its implications for society as a whole, such as:

Who would have access to these treatments? Would they be affordable for everyone or only for the wealthy? Could curing aging lead to overpopulation and resource depletion?

To put aging into a very simple definition, it’s similar to making a copy of a copy of a copy on a Xerox machine, but the copies are your cells getting more deteriorated every time they divide and the older ones get replaced. Eventually, one of them forgets to perish, thus becoming a cancer cell and kills you, or your body fills up with zombie cells that have outlived their usefulness but you body failed to flush them out. The removal of senescent cells and and allowing existing cells to regenerate themselves without replication errors would be an ideal scenario that could “fix” the aging process.

Starting from the top, what percentage of billionaires are currently invested in curing aging?

Privately, most of them. Publicly, about 10%.

Would the pursuit of immortality create an even greater divide between the haves and the have-nots? I don’t think so personally. Curing aging isn’t just an ego boost for the 1%, and to think the market would pass up the opportunity to maximize the number of available consumers is simply a poor understanding of basic economics. The rest of its effects (overpopulation and resource depletion) I’ve covered in a previous MEMO on AI’s benefits to mass abundance.

Where do we stand now in the process?

One promising area of research is focused on mitigating the effects of aging by targeting folded proteins. This technology has the potential to mitigate and even reverse most, if not all, aging-related problems. I strongly suspect that this technology will become the core of age reversal treatments. Yes, age reversal. Not only can folded proteins be developed to clear plaques from the brain or induce apoptosis in cancer cells or even restore telomere, folded proteins can be developed (in time) which can rewrite DNA and reconstruct cells throughout the entire body. Age reversal, gender change, becoming partially reptilian or growing organic structures for a specific purpose such as connecting brains with supercomputers.

It's a hugely complex and broad field which is currently very poorly understood not only by the masses, but scientists as well. I believe that the vaccine push has been little more than a fundraiser for development of this technology. Big pharma can afford it now.

To add further, while the full range of capabilities of folded protein technology may not be immediately realized, meaningful advances are currently being made. Technology derived from vaccines has already been expanded to enable immunotherapy treatment of certain cancers. These treatments are much more affordable and faster to develop in a form tailored to an individual's immune system. We’re still in the early days, but expect to see further advances emerging slowly at first and then more rapidly.

Another example is CRISPR, which allows scientists to edit genes with unprecedented precision. While this technology has the potential to cure genetic diseases and improve human health, it also raises ethical questions about whether we should be playing God with our own biology. However, my money is definitely on folded proteins.

Working on the solutions to aging has flow-on effects which result in outputs to broader health ailments, increasing quality of life in old age, even in today’s timeline.

3. The tragedy of human greed

The tragedy is that we could achieve biological immortality, and never destroy ourselves with cybernetics and transhumanism. We could each live for hundreds of years in perfect utopian happiness, and eventually die from trauma or war. But we're too greedy; we always have to push for more.

Our desire for more drives us to push for indestructibility and cybernetic enhancements that could lead us down a path towards techno singularity. In this scenario, our souls would be reduced to a personality matrix in some space-computer ticking out calculations at 3 degrees kelvin in deep space. We would be simulating life and reliving past lives until eventually being subverted into simulating an actual hell where billions of souls are tortured eternally.

Moreover, the option of cybernetic implants leads to taking over your consciousness anyways which develops into non-existence within cyber-bio-organisms sending signals around the clouds in a self-perpetuating program running on an eternal loop. No ghost in that machine, just a machine. The number of minds being overwritten instantly and eternally will not be insignificant. Essentially under this scenario, transhumanism is death if you’re lucky, and eternal torture if you’re not. Has death actually been demystified now with this theory?

I think humanity as a whole has better chances at increasing our chances of survival as a whole within our solar system. With technology already in development, we can literally star-lift helium out of the Sun and prevent it from ever turning into a Red Giant. Humans will be able to extend the Sun’s life by a trillion years or more, if they wish to. Will we still be around by then, either as a civilization fiercely anti-AI, or taken over by a pro-AI civilization returning from one of the many star systems we have colonized by then, that’s for the future to decide.

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In conclusion, while the idea of immortality may be alluring, it comes at a great cost. The limitations of achieving immortality through the resources within the universe and the potential consequences of pursuing it should give us pause. Death gives life its meaning and purpose, and without it, we risk losing sight of what truly matters in life.

As humans, we should focus on making the most of our time on this earth by living with purpose, compassion, and gratitude. We should strive to leave a positive impact on those around us and future generations. In doing so, we can create a legacy that will live on long after we are gone.

Forever yours,

-m-