We Must Cure Aging | Hacker News Reader

We Must Cure Aging

himthe.dev

If there is one future tech I hope we never reach it's this. The downside risks are even worse than runaway super intelligence.

why's that?

Infinite life, finite resources, comes immediately to mind.

Not aging does not mean infinite life. Not only can you end it whenever you want, but you can still have accidents or win a Darwin Award.

Also, longer lifespans open up space exploration and so much more. Anyway, I don't know if I want infinite life, but I definitely want us to beat aging, it sucks from every possible point.

The people that will be accessing this technology are not the people you want to have access to this technology.

Read Isaac Asimov's The Last Answer: https://www.highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/

Why do people use The Last Answer by Isaac Asiimov to justify that dying is ok? If anything I find it a great reason to not like the idea of an afterlife.

But living as a human, you can do so much more than just thinking.

What’s the real difference between life and afterlife? Death is what gives life its shape. It defines, sharpens, and focuses it. Humans need finitude to act with purpose. Without death, we’d end up with centuries-old adolescents — infinite time, no urgency, and no reason to actually live. And frankly, that sounds worse than dying.

Maybe you're right. After all, I haven't lived countless centuries, so I have no idea what it's like. But I believe life gives life meaning, and we can agree to disagree on that.

Still, curing aging doesn't mean defeating death. There's infinite ways it can end for you, and aging is just one of them (not a great one, in my opinion).

My take is that current lifespans are way too short, and at the very least people should be able to halt their aging. And when they want to go, they should be allowed to.

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