Re: Acceptance of death

From: Samantha Atkins (sjatkins@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Dec 02 2004 - 16:06:11 MST


On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 09:52:06 -0800 (PST), Martin Striz
<metastriz@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I believe that at the current rate of biomedical research, we will not obtain
> the developments that we need for radical longevity within our lifetimes (being
> born in 1978, I am programmed to die no later than 2100, no matter what
> lifestyle choices I make).

Check out Kurzweil's latest book, "Fantastic Voyage", to get beyond
this attitude. It is quite likely that if you survive a couple of
more decades in reasonable health that medical technology will enable
you to survive to the next big jump-off point around 2050. From that
point there is no more aging or death from diseases as we know them
today. As pointed out in this book, your lifestyle choices in terms
of fitness, what you eat and so on have a large effect on whether you
survive those couple of decades and in what sort of health. Not
making the right choices could easily result in a life threatening
unnecessary serious illness. It also has a large effect on the
quality of your life every day.

I only recently changed various icky parts of my diet (more to go) and
started working out every day. I can't believe the difference it
makes in energy, alertness, focus, libido and so on. It would have
been of great benefit to me to have started this years ago.

> The only way that we'll be able to accelerate this
> process is through new molecular techniques (most likely nanotechnology) and
> more robust abilities to integrate concepts and solve problems
> (supertintelligence).

This is certainly not the only way to extend our lives and health.

> My only chance rests on a break in the acceleration
> rate. That's why I donate to SIAI.
>

This is not your "only chance" and if this is the only chance you
avail yourself of you will be doing yourself a serious disservice.

- samantha



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