[extropy-chat] The Inevitability of Universal Immortality in a Finite Universe
ben
benboc at lineone.net
Sun Dec 5 16:43:26 UTC 2004
Mark Walker wrote:
<Longevity Catastrophe!>
This assumes several things that aren't necessarily true.
For instance:
A) material resources would not apply the brakes on expansion
B) the long-lived population would be exactly the same in every other
way to the rest of the population, and hence compete in the same
ecological niche
C) these long-lived, biological people would live indefinitely, instead
of succumbing to the statistical probability of dying of accidents etc.
(Estimates of the half-lives of immortal biological people vary, but a
commonly quoted figure is 1000 years)
D) these long-lived humans will not want to escape the half-life problem
by becoming less biological, and thus moving to a different ecological
niche - ultimately removing themselves from the biological realm
entirely. It's quite possible that a population of billions or tens of
billions might be able to live in a device the size of a small fridge
(they'd have to learn to scrunch their arms and legs up /really
tightly/, though)
I'm sure there must be others.
ben
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