The Future of Human Longevity

I've often thought about human longevity from our current paradigm of existing healthcare capabilities, scientific understanding and technological advancement. But I'm coming to see that view is fundamentally wrong.

Human longevity has got less to do with the constraints of our biological/material being and more to do with our ability to capture, store and disseminate our consciousness, genetics, memories and life experiences. When our DNA and genome sequence can be merged with artificial intelligence and uploaded into an 'Intelligence Cloud' it can be transported to new material beings.

In other words, it's possible to envision a time where our personality, intelligence, and thoughts can be downloaded to a biological or non-biological being that enables us to live forever.

It's easy to dismiss multi-planetary colonisation on places like Mars, If you're only considering how that's even possible given our current biological form. Of course in that paradigm, it seems like a pipe dream. But again, that thinking is still very limited.

What's more likely is creating a biological being on Mars — one that is more suited and adapted to those conditions. Once that's been created, we can then download our captured consciousness into that new biological being.

This all makes the concept of immortality so much more real. If we can capture our personality, intelligent being and genome in a digital form and transfer that between different biological or even machine forms then I can see how I, my children or at worst my grandchildren, will be able to live forever.

When you move past the biological constraints we've experienced throughout history, there aren't many arguments that hold up against immortality. Certainly, if you're pro-life that is. If you don't believe life should continue past 100 years, then you might be happy switching yourself off at some point.

But for as long as we can continue to grow, learn and have new experiences then I can't see how immortality would be undesirable. New frontiers to embark on continuously. More opportunities to grow and develop. That's unless I get stuck in a wormhole in space and time somewhere…

Sure, as life goes on we can get tired — physically, spiritually and emotionally. Although what if we lived in a world where that didn't happen, from a biological standpoint. What if you had the same energy at 200 years old as you did at 20 years old. How would that change your perspective on life and death?

If this were all true, would you want to live forever (infinite possibility) or feel life is better lived knowing that an end date is inevitable (constrained potential)?