What do think of life and death?

Except a shadow disappears when there is no light source and death doesn't.

Death concerns me a great deal. We have effectively no power over it, so it seems anything is possible. We could wake up in a new place as transitionally as waking up from a particularily lucid dream, only to have all of the details of our "after life" flow back as with waking from a dream in life. Or it could be nothing. Or something else.

One thing I'm certain of. I'd prefer it if any dominant diety in existence who's in charge of what's next not be a total sadist and inflict anybody with the popular impression of Hell. If it were finite, maybe it'd be alright, but even then I'm not sure. I prefer the ultimate end be the divine equivalent of "end program, save all data". Anything less and I'd feel... off about the whole thing.

... I wonder what it means when I'm incapable of thinking of the universe in anything except computer terms. Is this the future of philosophy?

I wonder if there'll ever be a way for people to come back from the dead with their memories intact.

I doubt it. The hard disk sorta rots.

@Oscredwin

That's probably true. That doesn't mean that the types of things that could potentially distinguish me in the "not dead" direction aren't worth pursuing. Cryonics, anyone?

I agree whole heartedly. Diet, exercise, sufficient medical exams, genetic testing to check for disorders, cryonics, and safe living. All apply to just me. Everything else I do helps everyone.

I suppose a hypothetical Omega Point being could revive you. Yes, you, not just a copy. Kind of comes with being virtually all-knowing/powerful.

But that's speculative.

You can get away with all sorts if the universe allows even limited Time Travel.

But apart from that, even tricking your biology into never aging should be possible, eventually.

In the meantime, it's already possible for humanity to render its environment uninhabitable, if not wipe itself out in one fell swoop.

Obviously it is preferable to be alive in the majority of cases, but if every single person in the world spontaneously dropped dead tomorrow then it wouldn't be a bad thing. Conversely, if half the people in the world suddenly died at random, over the course of a week, it would be cause for concern.

I like the former, the latter not so much.

That said, the universe as it is now does not seem to allow true immortality in any shape or form. Stopping biological aging processes is theoretically possible, of course, as long as you have a source of usable energy somewhere, and it is worth pursuing - but that would not be even a pale imitation of the real thing.

Even an immanent "deity" like, say, a computronium AI the size of the visible universe would not, I think, be anywhere close to being able to achieve that, since such an entity would still be constrained by the rules which govern the physical world: only some kind of trascendent entity, supremely free and capable of molding the very essence of reality to its will, would be able to do something like that.

^^^^Do you mean "Omega Point" in the de Chardin sense of the word, or in the lame "cosmic superintelligence" sense?

edited 5th Apr '11 8:58:21 AM by Carciofus

Sometimes, to make myself laugh, I like to think that we're all dead and this is Hell.

So what happens when we die?

I dunno, we move to another "earth-like" state to endure a new facet of hell? Like an infernal reincarnation?

Like I said, I just do this to make myself laugh. It's no firm foundation of beliefs.

I really believe quite differently than this.

Fair enough, thought I'd inquire just in case.

5xInfinite complexity 'in the de Chardin sense of the word' would probably lead to some virtually omnipotent being(s). But that's just a guess on my part.

Here at least. But if you want to be more technical, max possible complexity of this universe it is then.

Plus, everything is infinite. Seriously, you can cut a distance in half exponentially which would make everything infinite. Yes, I know about the Plank limit, I'm being speculative again. And I'm probably talking about a higher set of infinity.

edited 5th Apr '11 1:10:30 PM by Ekuran

Not entirely sure infinite complexity is really a coherent concept, since there's a fundamental limit on (thermodynamic) information per volume, IIRC.

edited 5th Apr '11 1:00:06 PM by Yej

I don't know, my ability to enjoy an apple pie is quite unfitting for a place called Hell.

^^ de Chardin's Omega Point is basically the Second Coming of Christ as a superintelligence incarnated in all the matter of the universe, or something like that, except that it is also the driving force behind the evolution of consciousness - he was not the most understandable of the authors, to say the least. But he had interesting ideas.

edited 5th Apr '11 1:10:18 PM by Carciofus

Oh, right. The only context I've heard the term "omega point" is as a name for the period of ever-increasing energies in the Big Crunch.

Sakura is that you?

edited 5th Apr '11 2:07:37 PM by MajorTom

If we are making a wish list, does anybody else think that aging reversal, Turritopsis style, would be even cooler than potentially infinite longevity?

Think about it: you live your life, then - just when you were starting to become old, bitter and tired - you start aging backwards, going through maturity, adolescence and childhood again, but in reverse, slowly losing your memories but retaining the fundamental aspects of your personality. Then the game starts again from the beginning, and again, and again.

On one hand, you would have to learn how to poop a theoretically infinite number of times; but on the other, you would have the opportunity to learn and experience the world from many different angles, and of course to relearn and re-evaluate from an entirely fresh perspective the knowledge that the previous "yous" left written or recorded for you.

edited 5th Apr '11 2:27:25 PM by Carciofus

I dunno, could backfire if you forget about wanting to relive everything. Would you be the same person if you foerget about whole decades of living?

EDIT: Okay saw ur edit. Still might work out roughly as well as trying to raise a child to be just like u. Except it's by proxy.

edited 5th Apr '11 2:52:00 PM by Ratix

I think I would be. My memories are not a part of me, I think, not any more than the contents of my notebooks are. So I would not have any problems which such an arrangement - whereas, for example, I would have a problem with identity preservation in the case of mind backups or mind uploading.

And, well, it would be pretty fun to explore how different a person I would become when raised in different circumstances.

^^^ And if the process were attainable in humans while retaining memories and personality?