Can Nanotech Cure Death?

[Subtle Demise]

I'd like to extend my life this way, but I probably would die before I could afford it anyway lol

 

[FAST6191]

but I probably would die before I could afford it anyway lol

That is a fun thing to consider, especially as I doubt we will get a kind of post scarcity civilisation going on before then.

I don't know what form the tech will take either, and given the... damn near universal applicability of the resulting thing I don't know what there would be to gain by gating it via patents and like for only the rich -- 99% paying $2K gets you more than the 1% paying 20k. Similarly the incentive to do black market versions of it are insanely high as well -- if I will spend a few hundred hours now pulling a game apart you can bet I will take months off to crack the nanotech or help someone with the machinery if it is a biological approach. I can't imagine the resulting thing is going to be too terribly person specific, at least not with what could be done with contemporarily common equipment.
That is also to say nothing of other countries -- China already does a nice line in illicit drugs and do you really think they would not get in on this? Similarly if borders are largely porous as it is and that is for substances the general public has been conditioned to look down upon what hope have you here?
Clinical trials would also be hard -- if word leaks, and I can't really envisage it not leaking, then every spy on the planet is probably going to be mobilised for this one.
For said trials a favourite video contemplating things

basically just handwaves it and says similar things to compassionate grounds would probably be enacted for said trial period -- if 50 something million die per year ( http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates/ ) then for the 3-8 year trial you would arguably have a kind of body count that Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Napoleon and Idi Amin combined would have to pause and take note of.

We could go another way -- pregnancy + childbirth + at least a decade and often more like two of school and childcare is an incredibly expensive hobby. Volunteer for a vasectomy or equivalent and it becomes far cheaper sort of thing, push your retirement for longer and same. Most such treatments will also go some way to reversing the effects of ageing as well in the longer term, stemming in the shorted, and that is a hideous drain on healthcare, be it government funded or private. Anybody then doing a cursory balancing of books would push it like they push preventative medicine today -- if your decades experienced workforce has the general health of 20-40 year olds then you bet people would be clamouring to keep them (if replacement costs when considering efficiency losses in 2014 was estimated to be some £30k http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/recruitment/it-costs-over-30k-to-replace-a-staff-member/50677 then that is another pool that opens up).

 

[SG854]

China’s 1 child policy will now be worldwide but a no child policy instead. Illegal to have babies?

They increase crop yield / solve food shortages and solve the overpopulation problem? Sounds like win-win to me.

Vertical farming yo, no soil and 95% less water.

Nanobots can also be used to clean polution in the ocean. And clean the smell from your farts.

I’m thinking about marriages. Till death do us part. Are people willing to marry knowing they will be with them forever? I guess they can always get divorce like everyone does. No one stays married for too long nowadays.

I can imagine some crazy religious nutcase going around killing people thinking they are sending them to heaven and saving them from their “mistake” of choosing to live forever.

Well at least people can now fulfill the long 100+ yr prison sentences. 100+ yrs of guarding that booty.

 

[SG854]

I'd like to extend my life this way, but I probably would die before I could afford it anyway lol

In the video I linked they talk about it being expensive and not work really good when it first comes out. Just like all technology in the past.

Like Cell phones were bulky, didn’t make calls very good, couldn’t do what smart phones do nowadays, and were a lot more expensive when they first came out. But they got cheaper and work a lot better. You can now get one for less then $100.

Same with nanotech. Only rich people will afford it when it comes out and not work very good, but it will get cheaper and better, and be as easy as going to your doctors and getting the Flu shot.

 

[spinal_cord]

Yup, lets all live forever! There's already far too many people on the planet to start with, now lets stop them from dying. Longer life will only lead to even wider spread poverty and poorer living conditions.

 

[Searinox]

Yup, lets all live forever! There's already far too many people on the planet to start with, now lets stop them from dying. Longer life will only lead to even wider spread poverty and poorer living conditions.

Eventually someone will come along and wipe out the universe's population with the snap of the fingers.

 

[Edgarska]

Can it? No
Could it? Maybe.
Will it? Probably not.

 

[KingVamp]

I'm reminded of the immortal jellyfish.

Some significant life extensions might happen in the future. Less sure about forever tho.

My money is on stem cells.

Why not both?

Yup, lets all live forever! There's already far too many people on the planet to start with, now lets stop them from dying. Longer life will only lead to even wider spread poverty and poorer living conditions.

Well, even if this did happened "soon", you and everyone else wouldn't be forced to take it. Honestly, probably couldn't. At least not for now. I'm sure people in the future would just be given life extensions, if not already there, after birth.

As for overpopulation, things such as artificial islands and space colonization will also increasingly become a thing in the future. I'm pretty sure well off people are waiting longer to have kids, if any, anyway.

 

[linuxares]

I mean, in theory it's totally possible. Since one of the most common reason why we pass is a organ failure. If nanotech/nanorobots can repair us faster than we break. We should be able to have a prolong life.

Death is according to me a disease that can be cured/prolonged. I for one would like to live forever since I want to see how far Humanity can go.

 

[CancerKiller]

Relax! - Nanotech cannot make us Immortal, but I can - We Human can become Immortal in less than a month and live for thousands of years - I got the Key to Immortality - Staying Absolutely Healthy All The Time, for Infinite Health = Immortality (8,500 years guaranteed) - Everybody can become Immune To Any Diseases - By doing my Discovery (just an exercise for a minute a day), that cures and prevents any Diseases, known on Earth, even Aging and Radiation Disease, for every cell of our bodies is shielded 100% from any external/internal (genetic) detrimental impact - I will describe my Discovery to everyone, who sends me an E-check for one million US Dollars (money can be negotiated) - In less than a month everybody will become Infinitely Healthy, Radiation-Proof and Immortal - Like the Gods who created us humans.

 

[Arcanuskun]

Humans shouldn't live for a long periods of time as this will create scarcity for natural resources. Look what overpopulation has done in the last century. Climate change, etc. What we really need is a culling. Though technological advancement is great as we are progressing with science but (near) immortality had little to no benefits to the future. It can only cause wars, famine, etc.

 

[sarkwalvein]

No, thanks. I need to die. Dying is a very relevant part of life.

 

[cherryduck]

My family has a genetic heart condition so I'm hoping to live long enough to see a cure.

In terms of mind uploading as some have mentioned, you realise the uploaded mind would be a copy? The current you, reading this, will have their subjective experience end if the body dies so it doesn't really count as immortality to me, it just means there would be a digital copy of me out there.

Of course if we do manage to prolong life or even "cure" death, overpopulation is going to get even worse which will lead to wars over dwindling resources and potentially a mass extinction event if we fuck the environment up enough. We'll need to populate other planets if humanity is to continue and you can bet we'll bring all our prejudices and conflicts with us.

 

[linuxares]

Humans shouldn't live for a long periods of time as this will create scarcity for natural resources. Look what overpopulation has done in the last century. Climate change, etc. What we really need is a culling. Though technological advancement is great as we are progressing with science but (near) immortality had little to no benefits to the future. It can only cause wars, famine, etc.

That's why we should colonize the solarsystem!

 

[sarkwalvein]

In terms of mind uploading as some have mentioned, you realise the uploaded mind would be a copy? The current you, reading this, will have their subjective experience end if the body dies so it doesn't really count as immortality to me, it just means there would be a digital copy of me out there.

That would rise a question about "what are you"?
What is the thing about you that makes you you?
Are you the same person from say 1 hour ago?
Or are you now a modified copy of that one?
What are you really? Just a complicated piece of software running in a complex biological computer, a software complex enough to gain some degree of self awareness, and a feel for information that we call consciousness, but just software anyway. What makes you say that this self-modifying software (as in synapse strength and connection reprogramming) isn't just a copy of the version in the past, slightly modified? Is that still you?

 

[SG854]

I'm reminded of the immortal jellyfish.

Some significant life extensions might happen in the future. Less sure about forever tho.

Why not both?


Well, even if this did happened "soon", you and everyone else wouldn't be forced to take it. Honestly, probably couldn't. At least not for now. I'm sure people in the future would just be given life extensions, if not already there, after birth.

As for overpopulation, things such as artificial islands and space colonization will also increasingly become a thing in the future. I'm pretty sure well off people are waiting longer to have kids, if any, anyway.

Or some type of Atlantis city. I’m sure we can invent tech for that. If we can reach to type 1 civilization and have control of all of our planets recources and control weather than better. Increase survivability.

I’m sure they’ll be barriers prolonging nanotech. Religious people. Having to get approved by the FDA for medical use which can take yrs. I can see this slowing down release.

Yup, lets all live forever! There's already far too many people on the planet to start with, now lets stop them from dying. Longer life will only lead to even wider spread poverty and poorer living conditions.

Vertical farming can help with the food problem.

It's all conjecture. This is like the people who said we'd all be in flying cars by 2015.

It's fun to talk about, but there's certainly no indication that tech that doesn't even exist yet/possibly never will exist can change the world/life/death so extensively.

It’s not, This technology already does exists. And they are already testing it on cancer to see if it’ll be safe on humans. Curing cancer can extend many people’s lives.

https://www.nih.gov/research-traini...e-early-detection-treatment-colorectal-cancer

 

[cherryduck]

That would rise a question about "what are you"?
What is the thing about you that makes you you?
Are you the same person from say 1 hour ago?
Or are you now a modified copy of that one?
What are you really? Just a complicated piece of software running in a complex biological computer, a software complex enough to gain some degree of self awareness, and a feel for information that we call consciousness, but just software anyway. What makes you say that this self-modifying software (as in synapse strength and connection reprogramming) isn't just a copy of the version in the past, slightly modified? Is that still you?

There are some interesting philosophical questions about what makes me, me, sure. But my experience of say a destructive mind uploading would be, from the point of view of the entity typing this out, that I go in for the mind upload and then...nothing. End credits. There would then be a copy of me which would pick up where this version of me left off, and that copy would have all my memories and experiences. It's subjective experience would be of having lived my life and then gone in for the mind upload and now being "in the cloud". But the bit that really matters to this version of me writing this sentence is that my experience would end, and I would be dead.

 

[KingVamp]

In terms of mind uploading as some have mentioned, you realise the uploaded mind would be a copy? The current you, reading this, will have their subjective experience end if the body dies so it doesn't really count as immortality to me, it just means there would be a digital copy of me out there.

I mean, since we are talking about really far futurist stuff, actual uploading and not just making copies could very well be a thing.

There are some interesting philosophical questions about what makes me, me, sure. But my experience of say a destructive mind uploading would be, from the point of view of the entity typing this out, that I go in for the mind upload and then...nothing. End credits. There would then be a copy of me which would pick up where this version of me left off, and that copy would have all my memories and experiences. It's subjective experience would be of having lived my life and then gone in for the mind upload and now being "in the cloud". But the bit that really matters to this version of me writing this sentence is that my experience would end, and I would be dead.

You are assuming there will be an "End credits" and not a continuous process.

 

[spinal_cord]

Vertical farming can help with the food problem.

It's not just a food problem, we currently have plenty of food to go around, food is a political issue.
Overcrowding leads to reduced quality of every part of living, from job shortages to stupidly small houses, not to mention traffic and parking etc. There simply isn't the space on the planet to put everyone without completely destroying our vital natural resources.

 

[KingVamp]

It's not just a food problem, we currently have plenty of food to go around, food is a political issue.
Overcrowding leads to reduced quality of every part of living, from job shortages to stupidly small houses, not to mention traffic and parking etc. There simply isn't the space on the planet to put everyone without completely destroying our vital natural resources.

Forgot to mention. As for job shortages, as more jobs become autonomous, would be less need for people to work anyway.