IF BILLIONAIRES ARE THINKING ABOUT IT, SO COULD YOU

The quest to transcend death has been a perennial aspiration of humankind. We unearth mummies and marvel at the grave goods provided for their afterlife, a testament to eternal hopes.

According to Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Venki Ramakrishnan, today’s endeavors to conquer mortality might be viewed with similar incredulity by future generations. He argues that some of the contemporary attempts to evade death might be somewhat fantastical and potentially futile.

Just as in ancient civilisations, elites spearhead these ventures. Here are three schools of thought along with their prominent backers. What would be your preferred flavor of immortality?

Cryopreservation: Freezing bodies or brains at low temperatures for future revival. Backers: Peter Thiel, Ray Kurzweil, Sam Altman.

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Immortality: Using AI to replicate human consciousness and achieve digital immortality by uploading minds to computers. Backers: Dmitry Itskov, Ray Kurzweil.

Transhumanism: Augmenting human capabilities through technology to transcend biological limitations. Backers: Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Ray Kurzweil.

No need to hurry - these technologies, if ever realized, are far from accessible. Until then, mankind's ambitions might outpace capabilities. Yet, for the eternal optimists among us, it is heartening to see "the impossible" being scientifically pursued.

By the way, Ramakrishnan is sceptical of all three approaches: He questions the feasibility of cryopreservation due to technical and biological hurdles. He doubts the prospect of fully replicating human consciousness and attaining digital immortality through AI, given the complexities of consciousness and identity. And he raises ethical and practical concerns regarding the integration of biological and technological components in transhumanism.

Stay tuned for our next post, where we will share the research fields that Ramakrishnan actually believes hold genuine promise in overcoming “the problem of death.”

Original Post on Linkedin.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ageless-societies_immortality-cryopreservation-ai-activity-7224982049445527554-EKJE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop