Kurzgesagt – Why Age? Should We End Aging Forever? - General

-snip ovb merged threads-

If you lived forever why would you do anything? What motivation would you have, what reason would there be, there'd be no purpose to anything because everyone would do everything at some point, art would lose meaning, food would be pointless, nothing would matter.

[QUOTE=J$ Psychotic;52801715]I disagree with this video. It starts with the presumption that death is misery. Maybe for the ones left behind, but I'm pretty sure the person who dies doesn't feel bad after they die. Or anything, for that matter.[/QUOTE] That's not the point. Would you agree to die right know if you knew that it would be painless?

I believe that being able to stop aging would be good. However, if we also keep reproducing at the same rate there's won't be much of Earth to enjoy.

[QUOTE=Broguts;52801741]If you lived forever why would you do anything? What motivation would you have, what reason would there be, there'd be no purpose to anything because everyone would do everything at some point, art would lose meaning, food would be pointless, nothing would matter.[/QUOTE] That makes no sense. Just because you live forever doesn't mean everything loses its meaning. Assuming you haven't watched GCP Grey's video on the topic, he says it well: the phrase "death gives life meaning" is bollocks. Would you let a loved one live through their whole life with so many physical diseases until death just to be able to say "there, you've been given meaning through pain and suffering, and ultimately, death"? I doubt it. As for your argument, well, one could argue every piece of art, every piece of music, has already been invented. Everything "new" is just a variation of something that already exists.

[QUOTE=J$ Psychotic;52801715]I disagree with this video. It starts with the presumption that death is misery. Maybe for the ones left behind, but I'm pretty sure the person who dies doesn't feel bad after they die. Or anything, for that matter.[/QUOTE] Sounds like shit to me

If there was a way to get immortality, available to the masses, there would need to be a massive shift in both human thinking. Overpopulation would be a big issue, entire systems would collapse, lots of shit would go haywire. I would love to be immortal, but it would turn the human race upside down in pretty much every way. Not to say that would be a reason against it, but people would have to be eased into it over long periods of time, I feel. Not to mention all the lobbying against it.

[QUOTE=Naught;52801840]If there was a way to get immortality, available to the masses, there would need to be a massive shift in both human thinking. Overpopulation would be a big issue, entire systems would collapse, lots of shit would go haywire. I would love to be immortal, but it would turn the human race upside down in pretty much every way. Not to say that would be a reason against it, but people would have to be eased into it over long periods of time, I feel. Not to mention all the lobbying against it.[/QUOTE] Birthrates are already adapting to progresses in living standards, that's why couples in the Western world have <2 children each whereas African families are more numerous. Most of the Western world has a declining population. I don't think it's far fetched that customs would adapt should immortality become possible. Not to mention it would probably not be available to most of the population for a long time.

I hope they give you something to do for 900 year sentences. Like, learn to paint or something.

[QUOTE=_Axel;52801746]That's not the point. Would you agree to die right know if you knew that it would be painless?[/QUOTE] Well obviously not now, but who knows what my mind will be like in 400 or even 80 years. Even assuming I won't age, I would surely be very tired and maybe bored.

[QUOTE=WhyNott;52802104]Well obviously not now, but who knows what my mind will be like in 400 or even 80 years. Even assuming I won't age, I would surely be very tired and maybe bored.[/QUOTE] With how the world would change in that time I doubt it, fuck, technological advances alone would keep me entertained, plus, it's not like you can experience everything in 80, even 400 years.

[QUOTE=WhyNott;52802104]Well obviously not now, but who knows what my mind will be like in 400 or even 80 years. Even assuming I won't age, I would surely be very tired and maybe bored.[/QUOTE] I mean if you keep up with the curve you certainly wouldn't be, you'd be able to enjoy every hobby you want at your leisure, get into anything you want ,learn anything you want, not to mention all the advancements. Imagine being someone living in the 40's who would experience the internet and all its wonders, and be at the age where he'd be able to enjoy everything related to it and not be some old codger who doesn't even know how to double click properly

I think you both overestimate how entertaining technical progress can be to somebody. If you are totally into that then maybe the advancements in science and learning about new things would keep you wanting to live, but an equal if not bigger part of live is social life, new experiences, discovering yourself, etc. After a couple lifetimes, everything would have just seemed the same because youve seen it before.

[QUOTE=WhyNott;52802300]I think you both overestimate how entertaining technical progress can be to somebody. If you are totally into that then maybe the advancements in science and learning about new things would keep you wanting to live, but an equal if not bigger part of live is social life, new experiences, discovering yourself, etc. After a couple lifetimes, everything would have just seemed the same because youve seen it before.[/QUOTE] I feel like I'd be stuck alive because I would be unsure if I'd truly seen it all. Sure, at some point it'll [I]feel[/I] like everything is the same, but what if some time in the future something dramatic happens and life is completely different again? I think I would be too afraid to miss out and I would keep staying alive because of that. That's how I feel. :shock:

[QUOTE=_Axel;52801746]That's not the point. Would you agree to die right know if you knew that it would be painless?[/QUOTE] Yes Pull the trigger Piglet

Honestly just hope I live long enough to see medicine drastically lengthening our natural lives so they can just hook me up to a hyper-realistic VR sim where I'm the god of my own universe. Life goals right there

Removing aging from everyone would cause so much problems for the world that I don't think it would be worth it. We're barely handling the state of enjoyable living at the moment. Too much of the world functions on the fact that people eventually die. You can't treat it like another disease because it affects everyone. I suppose hypothetically if this was possible, they wouldn't be handing it out to everyone as it would be too profitable not to charge obscene amounts for something that affects everyone. Alright tell me how I'm wrong.

I moved a bunch of posts from the CGP Grey video thread to this one because this one came first and they're basically the same. We don't need both.

[QUOTE=Natrox;52801749]I believe that being able to stop aging would be good. However, if we also keep reproducing at the same rate there's won't be much of Earth to enjoy.[/QUOTE] Developed countries reproduce at an ever decreasing rate as time goes on. Look at Japan currently - that's the direction [i]every[/i] developed country is heading right now. Not only that, how long till we colonize Mars? We have plenty of space when it comes to the future.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;52803008]Developed countries reproduce at an ever decreasing rate as time goes on. Look at Japan currently - that's the direction [i]every[/i] developed country is heading right now. Not only that, how long till we colonize Mars? We have plenty of space when it comes to the future.[/QUOTE] I mean, if everyone were to be immortal and also reproduce at the same rate. The world would get overpopulated after several generations.

Imagine how much one could learn if they were to live several hundred years. Assuming no unforeseen aging processes happen to the consciousness, and that you could be as sharp as a 30 year old for hundreds of years

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;52803008]Developed countries reproduce at an ever decreasing rate as time goes on. Look at Japan currently - that's the direction [i]every[/i] developed country is heading right now. Not only that, how long till we colonize Mars? We have plenty of space when it comes to the future.[/QUOTE] Space was never really the problem in the first place. You can fit everyone into a relatively small place technically, like with the density of Houston the entire human race still wouldn't even take up the entire US. It's mostly resources. Though we are getting much better at that too, at least in certain ways.

[QUOTE=Natrox;52803070]I mean, if everyone were to be immortal and also reproduce at the same rate. The world would get overpopulated after several generations.[/QUOTE] Not really? We have more people coming in than going out anyway. We also have a surplus of food. Not to mention the logistics problem of getting [i]everyone[/i] on Earth immortality. I guarantee you while countries like the US or Japan might have it, large portions of Africa will not. Also, you're assumption of stagnant birth rates makes this 'what if unicorns were real' territory of a nonsensical statement. Yes, all human life would be destroyed if nitrogen decided to spontaneously combust across the earth, but we don't plan for that now do we? [editline]20th October 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=thelurker1234;52803076]Space was never really the problem in the first place. You can fit everyone into a relatively small place technically, like with the density of Houston the entire human race still wouldn't even take up the entire US. It's mostly resources. Though we are getting much better at that too, at least in certain ways.[/QUOTE] It's not even about resources either, it's about economics. We have a food surplus. We have tons of space. We can generate all the energy we want sustainably if we wanted - but some countries are poorer than others, and strong economies require robust profits in the energy sector, which things like oil provide. The only resource problem I can imagine would be water. Food and energy really aren't the worst problem, we have tons of ways to fix that (and we produce more than enough already), but clean freshwater is hard to come by for many, many areas and moving it long distances is extremely expensive.

[QUOTE=Hogie bear;52802682]Removing aging from everyone would cause so much problems for the world that I don't think it would be worth it. We're barely handling the state of enjoyable living at the moment. Too much of the world functions on the fact that people eventually die. You can't treat it like another disease because it affects everyone. I suppose hypothetically if this was possible, they wouldn't be handing it out to everyone as it would be too profitable not to charge obscene amounts for something that affects everyone.[/QUOTE] Ah, I have the perfect solution to that. Only remove aging from an elite minority of the population, with possibly other genetic enhancements too like increased intelligence, cunning and charisma, so they can act as our supreme leaders and commanders, while rest of the population will largely function as the bulk of their army.

[QUOTE=Ott;52801933]I hope they give you something to do for 900 year sentences. Like, learn to paint or something.[/QUOTE] Seriously, I wonder what greatly extended life would to to prison sentences and prisons in general?

I think that if life-extension/anti-aging tech gets to the point where we could 'halt' aging or become nearly immortal, that would honestly coincide perfectly with our advancements in spaceflight as of late (i.e. SpaceX and so on) since having people live longer or nigh-indefinitely would be a massive factor in terms of both colonization of other worlds/orbits and deep space exploration.

cut my brain out of my skull, upload my consciousness to the net, and burn my organic form in front of my sensors. fuck this shitty bioform i want to be a robot

[QUOTE=153x;52803075]Imagine how much one could learn if they were to live several hundred years. Assuming no unforeseen aging processes happen to the consciousness, and that you could be as sharp as a 30 year old for hundreds of years[/QUOTE] And then imagine how much of that time you could spend procrastinating your learning and instead shitpost on the internet

If everyone else wants to rot away and die, then they should be free to do so. But if I have to rot away and die because some other people are afraid or sad, then I hope that they experience all of the worst of it.

[QUOTE=_Axel;52801746]That's not the point. Would you agree to die right know if you knew that it would be painless?[/QUOTE] Agree? No. But death just kind of happens. Requiring immortality to make the best of what you have seems silly to me.