I am not afraid to die, indeed, I am looking forward to it. That is not to imply that I seek it, I simply do not find the thought as intimidating or relishable as others do.
Immortality?
- Thread starter UnknownGunslinger
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I'm sorry I don't think that's true.Jadak said:
Just because it will be possible, does not mean that we will necessarily - Scientific progress does not flow linearly, and has been hindered before in history.
Often!
China in the 15th Century already had a printing press, schools and universities, Zheng He's fleets were exploring the globe and all in all China was the most progressive and the least ignorant society on the planet! That is until a bolt of lightning hit the newly finished Forbidden City during the opening ceremony in 1421 and Emperor Zhu Di interpreted the lightning as a sign from the gods that the people had become too dependent on technology and were not paying enough attention to tradition or to the deities!
The Chinese burned libraries, dismantled their fleets, stopped exploring the globe, and essentially shut themselves off from the outside world resulting in a downward spiral that lasted for centuries.
Japan too, later in history shunned progress by giving up the gun in the 17th century, until they did they were better at working steel than any Western country, and their weapons were also more accurate.
The reason? The rich warrior classes - The Samurai, opposed the advances of the technology because of the way it affected the traditional ways of life and the established social structure.
There are dozen more such instances in the written records of societies who didn't follow the linear progress of technological advancements that we've been so lucky to have for such a long period of time.
For instance the Arabs during the age of Islamic expansion were perhaps the worlds most tolerant and advance civilisation. They achieved tremendous medical, mathematical, astronomical and engineering progress over all other nations at the time. It's thanks to their schools and Universities that the Classical texts of the ancient Mediterranean world were preserved at a time when Europe was steeped in the Dark Age.
And yet look at the Arab nations of today and you'll barely find any heritage surviving from that amazing and progressive age!
My point is that just because it's possible, does not mean that we will, by default!
Although many people are prone to think in those terms, because of our most recent history it is important to remember others have chosen not to follow the paths of technology. Our own societies are in no ways sufficiently different as to be an exception.
It's why I believe talking about it is important even long prior to the fulfilment of such technologies.
The choice is always ours, there is no written law out there hanging above our heads dictating that if it's possible we will ultimately do it.
And it's a highly pessimistic view of yours to think that in our democratic societies we are so powerless as to have no impact on future technological advances
... this is good news. i'm not acting like this is something that occur in my lifespan, but if we do find a way to make people immortal- sign me up.
