It’s important to note that achieving immortality or even significantly extending the human lifespan, is still an area of active research and remains a topic of debate among scientists and ethicists. While some scientists are exploring various ways to increase human lifespan, none of the methods have been proven to provide immortality.
The concept of immortality has been a topic of interest for humans throughout history, with many ancient myths and legends featuring stories of gods and other immortal beings. In some cultures, it was believed that one’s soul could live on after death, while others believed in reincarnation or achieving immortality through various spiritual practices.
In more recent times, scientists and thinkers such as Sir Francis Bacon and Benjamin Franklin theorized that science may eventually provide a way to increase human lifespan. The idea of using technology to achieve immortality has been explored in science fiction for many years, with popular shows like Star Trek and Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy imagining advanced technologies that could extend human lifespan or even grant immortality.
“What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can’t move, with no hope of rescue. Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, consider how lucky you are that it won’t be troubling you much longer.”
― Douglas Adams, The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts
The three most likely solutions to reaching immortality all involve a lot of scientific progress. They are transcendence, cyborgization, and gene therapy.
Transcendence, or living within a computer space, is a concept often explored in science fiction. While some researchers are exploring ways to upload human consciousness into a computer, this remains a theoretical possibility, and the technology to achieve this is still far from being developed.
Cyborgization, or replacing non-necessary organs with mechanical ones, is already being used to improve human health and prolong lifespan. For example, pacemakers and artificial hearts are used to keep the heart functioning properly, while artificial limbs can help individuals with amputations regain mobility. However, completely replacing human organs with mechanical ones is not currently a feasible or desirable option for achieving immortality.
Gene therapy, which involves altering the Yamanaka factors to renew cells to their original state, is a promising area of research for extending the human lifespan. Yamanaka factors are proteins that can reprogram adult cells back into a more youthful, pluripotent state. By manipulating these factors, scientists hope to rejuvenate cells and tissues to combat age-related diseases. However, gene therapy is still in the experimental stage, and it is unclear if it will ever lead to immortality.
Overall, achieving immortality remains a distant possibility, and it’s important to approach this topic with caution and skepticism. Scientists are making progress in extending the human lifespan and improving health, but immortality is still a concept relegated to the realm of science fiction.
Transcendence
Transcendence, in the context of artificial intelligence, refers to the hypothetical future state where an AI system surpasses human intelligence and becomes capable of recursive self-improvement, leading to an exponential increase in its capabilities. This is frightening and promising. Transcendence is sometimes associated with the concept of technological singularity, a hypothetical point in the future where technological progress accelerates so rapidly that it becomes difficult for humans to predict or control. At the point of reaching technological singularity, it is possible that imperfections that make us human become irrelevant as they are corrected and therefore humanity or its parts are lost or displaced.
The scientific rationale for transcendence is based on the assumption that intelligence is a matter of information processing and that, in principle, an AI system with sufficient computational power and algorithmic sophistication could replicate and surpass human intelligence. This idea is supported by the exponential growth of computing power over time, as described by Moore’s Law, and the development of increasingly sophisticated machine learning and artificial neural networks that can learn and perform tasks traditionally thought to require human intelligence.
Human or living matter intelligence is complex. It is complicated, there are multiple sources of intelligence, instincts or instinctive behavior, response to stimuli for learning, fears of shapes (such as snakes), fears of the dark, and heights that can all be attributed to deep-rooted associations. Replicating or even getting to the bottom of the hierarchy of responses is difficult.
Transcribing the activity of the approximately 86 billion neurons in the human brain to find meaning in ones and zeros, or in binary, would be an incredibly difficult task, as the brain is a highly complex and dynamic system with many unknowns. While there has been significant progress in brain mapping and connectomics research, there is still much we do not understand about how the brain works and how its activity gives rise to consciousness and thought.
Quantum computing to the rescue?
Quantum computing, with its ability to perform calculations using quantum bits (qubits) that can be in multiple states at once, has the potential to significantly speed up certain types of computations and simulations, including those related to brain activity and neural networks. However, it is not yet clear how quantum computing could be used to transcribe and replicate the activity of the human brain or to achieve transcendence in AI systems or something in between.
Overall, while the idea of transcendence and technological singularity is a topic of much speculation and debate, there is still much we do not know about the brain and the potential limits of artificial intelligence. Further research and development are needed to better understand these complex systems and their potential implications for the future of humanity.
Cyborgization
Cyborgization is a partly realistic but mostly theoretical process of replacing organs with their mechanical/digital equivalents leaving only the brain and sensory nervous system in their original state.
Different organs age at different rates due to various factors such as genetics, environmental exposures, and the level of metabolic activity. For example, the brain and liver have relatively slow rates of aging compared to the skin and pancreas, which are subject to more frequent exposure to external stresses and have higher rates of cellular turnover.
Replacing organs with mechanical equivalents, or organ transplantation, is a well-established medical procedure that has been used successfully for decades. In cases where an organ has failed or is malfunctioning, transplantation can restore function and extend the patient’s lifespan. However, there are limitations to this approach, including the availability of donor organs, the risk of rejection, and the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy in some cases.
Recent advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have opened up new possibilities for the development of artificial or bioengineered organs that can be tailored to an individual’s specific needs and reduce the risk of rejection. For example, scientists have successfully grown functional heart tissue from stem cells and 3D-printed functional liver tissue. However, there are still many challenges to be addressed before such technologies can be widely used in clinical practice, including ensuring long-term functionality, preventing immune rejection, and addressing ethical concerns.
There is a limit to what a human body can accept in terms of artificial organs, as the immune system can recognize and reject foreign tissue or materials. However, advances in biocompatible materials and immunosuppressive therapy have expanded the range of materials and designs that can be used in artificial organs, including artificial lungs, hearts, and other organs. Additionally, some researchers are exploring the possibility of using gene editing or other techniques to modify the body’s immune response and reduce the risk of rejection.
Overall, while there are still many challenges to be addressed, the development of artificial and bioengineered organs holds great promise for improving the health and longevity of individuals with organ failure or other conditions. However, it is important to continue to explore and address the potential risks and limitations of these technologies, as well as ethical considerations related to their use.
Gene therapy
Immortality through gene therapy is a distant possibility, probably the most likely to be possible in the near future.
Genes are segments of DNA that carry the instructions for the development, function, and maintenance of all living organisms. While every cell in the human body contains the same set of genes, not all genes are active in every cell. The expression of genes can be regulated by epigenetic modifications, which are chemical changes to the DNA molecule that do not alter the DNA sequence but can affect gene expression.
Epigenetic modifications can include the addition or removal of chemical groups to the DNA molecule or to the proteins around which the DNA is wound, and can be influenced by a variety of factors including environmental exposures, lifestyle choices, and age. These modifications can result in differences in gene expression patterns between different cell types or tissues, leading to the diversity of functions and structures in the human body.
Gene therapy is an experimental technique that aims to treat or prevent disease by altering the expression or function of genes. One approach to gene therapy involves the use of Yamanaka factors, a set of genes that can reprogram adult cells into an embryonic-like state. This approach, known as induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, has shown promise in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering by allowing scientists to generate patient-specific stem cells for use in transplantation or disease modeling.
While the use of gene therapy and iPSC technology holds great promise for treating a wide range of diseases and conditions, it is important to note that these approaches do not necessarily lead to immortality. Aging and mortality are complex processes that involve many factors, including genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, and there is no single “cure” for aging or death.
Furthermore, while Yamanaka factors can restore cells to an embryonic-like state, the long-term safety and efficacy of this approach for human therapy have not been fully established. There is also the risk of unintended consequences, such as the potential for reprogrammed cells to form tumors or other abnormalities.
While genes are the same in all cells of the body, differences in epigenetics can result in varied gene expression patterns between different cell types. Gene therapy using Yamanaka factors holds promise for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, but it is not a cure for aging or mortality, and there are still many challenges and risks associated with this approach that need to be addressed.