Blogpost 2: Is there a way to be Immortal?

Immortality. What comes to your mind when you hear the word immortality? Living forever, not dying. Some of us want that even me, I like to be with my family forever. What if there is a way that you can be immortal? Would you do that?

When I was researching about the myths of immortality, there is an article that caught my attention which is entitled “Latest Research on Immortality: Is it Myth or Reality?” by Elena Moiseenko. This article wasn't anything about the myth of immortality at all. It is about how we are getting closer to discovering the secret of immortality.

The article first stated about the time when people are trying to find the Fountain of Youth so that they can look young and stay healthy forever. It said that people effort to extend human lives and fight aging since 3500 BC. Many people had been searching for the Fountain of Youth like Ponce de Leon, who discovered Florida and Alexander the Great, a king of Macedon, because they believe that the Fountain of Youth would provide eternal life.

In the 20^th century, a lot of inventions and discoveries that changed the human life like phones, television, cars, computer, Internet, etc. Now, in the 21^st century, the age of the latest technologies, and one of these a few scientific approaches to immortality that is quite interesting yet shocking at the same time.

She mentioned two theories of immortality.

Immortality Theory #1: Cybernetic Immortality

This theory is about the young Russian billionaire, Dmitry Itskov, whose dream is to achieve cybernetic immortality for humans by 2045. This has been featured on Discovery News channel and also in ABC News.

He assigned dozen of scientists who will work on his immortality project in which they will create avatars to transfer human personality into artificial body. Together with his team created a 4 step plan on how to achieve eternal life by 2045.

Step 1: It will include creating a robotic copy of a human body which can be controlled by a computer interface from 2015 to 2020.

Step 2: In 2020, a specially designed avatar will be created to transplant personality into by the end of the project.

Step 3: The scientists will be working on creating an avatar that will contain an artificial brain from 2030 to 2035.

Step 4: It will start in 2040 and end in 2045 a hologram-like avatar will have a human brain.

The cybernetic immortality is based on utilizing cutting-edge technologies in android robotics, nanotechnology and neuroscience for “building a bright future for mankind”.

This idea is not new to people. We already have some movies about cyborgs. Maybe people will not be thrilled to become a new cyber human being-walking hologram with brain- it will have much higher survival abilities of extreme conditions such as radiations, cold, heat, lack of oxygen, etc.

We are already a low level of cyborgs. We are using controlled technologies for almost everything these days from doing maths and to explore the edges of the Universe, from utilizing microscopes to using pacemakers.

Only time will tell if this project will be successful or not. But now, Elena think that this is just another fiction movie for her.

Immortality Theory #2: Reprogramming Our Bodies

Scientist named Ray Kurtzweil believes that immortality will be possible 20 years from now that we will be able to reprogram our bodies the way that we can reverse aging and with the help of nanotechnology, we will be able to live forever. His theory is based on the latest discoveries of nanotechnology and a better understanding how the human body works. Also, on the facts that medical and computer technology have been accelerating at an incredible rate and it will be possible to replace human body parts.

It was explained that human blood cells will be replaced by nanobots in which will work thousand times effectively. Getting replaced of the vital organs will be just a minor surgery for humans and having bionic hearts and other organs will give them an opportunity to do things that we think is impossible. Holograms will give all the necessary information we needed.

She doesn't know if humankind wants to go through this or just eat some healthy foods to prolong our life.

I have also read some article related to Cybernetic Immortality. It is entitled "Cybernetic immortality. Fantasy or scientific problem?" by D.I Dubrovsky. He answered the question and he said that is a scientific problem. Why? He has many reasons for that. One of them is that it does not contradict the principles with science. Also artificial body requires creating a self-organizing system of a non-biological type. It transforms the nature of the human being, human consciousness, and an earthly civilization. 

One thing is clear: Humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.