Live forever? Interested?

Originally posted by sonhouse
There has been estimates that if we could live forever, our brains would fill up with memories, no more capacity to remember, after only a couple thousand years, much less even a million. Billion? Pretty much out of the question.

Interesting thought but I found this interesting too:

"If we could keep the brain intellectually stimulated and free from disease, it could keep working indefinitely. “‘The brain,’ declares molecular biologist James Watson, co-discoverer of the physical structure of DNA, ‘is the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe.’” A book by neuroscientist Gerald Edelman explains that a section of the brain the size of a match head “contains about a billion connections that can combine in ways which can only be described as hyperastronomical—on the order of ten followed by millions of zeros.”

“In every head is a formidable powerhouse, a compact, efficient organ whose capacity seems to expand further towards infinity the more we learn of it.”—TONY BUZAN AND TERENCE DIXON, SCIENCE WRITERS.
HOW much can the human brain learn? That question continues to fascinate and baffle researchers. In The Brain Book, Peter Russell writes: “The more that is learned about the human brain, the more its capacities and potentials are found to go far beyond earlier speculations.”
In regard to memory, for instance, our brain has an enormous capacity. “Memory is not like a container that gradually fills up,” says Russell, “it is more like a tree growing hooks onto which the memories are hung. Everything you remember is another set of hooks on which more new memories can be attached. So the capacity of memory keeps on growing.


"The brain weighs some three pounds [1.4 kg], and it comprises 10 billion to 100 billion neurons, no two of which, it is said, are exactly alike. Each neuron can communicate with up to 200,000 other neurons, making the number of different circuits, or pathways, in the brain astronomical. And as if that were not enough, “each neuron is a sophisticated computer” in itself, says Scientific American.
The brain is bathed in a chemical soup, which influences the way neurons behave. And the brain has a much higher level of complexity than even the most powerful computer. “In every head,” write Tony Buzan and Terence Dixon, “is a formidable powerhouse, a compact, efficient organ whose capacity seems to expand further towards infinity the more we learn of it.” Quoting Professor Pyotr Anokhin, they add: “No man yet exists who can use all the potential of his brain. This is why we don’t accept any pessimistic estimates of the limits of the human brain. It is unlimited.”

Originally posted by galveston75
So if one would not grow old including ones family and deal with all those issues and there were no crime or anyone that would harm you in anyway, no wars, no government to rule over you, all the food one could ever need, etc, etc, would this make the couple here that said probably not, still not interested?

That answers some of the questions, but not all. Where would we all live? This planet is not going to be around forever. Where would we go?

Originally posted by JS357
In the event that this were the situation, it would not be appreciated. Death gives vitality to life. Take away death, and the vitality is absent.

Well I don't know about the vitality part. To me seeing a new born baby, a sunset, a whale breaching on the ocean is vitality.
From what I've ever experianced death is a terrible thing to see. It is about the hardest thing a human can ever go thru to have someone they love die.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
That answers some of the questions, but not all. Where would we all live? This planet is not going to be around forever. Where would we go?

Thanks for you comments. Well I'm obviously looking at this from a Biblical viewpoint and I'm putting my faith in God in handling this situation your'e asking about. So the Bible does not say what would happen once the earth pretty much filled up with a comfortable amout of humans.
So one could imagine to no end what God would do solve this problem. The Bible says the "earth belongs to man but the heavens belong to God".
So we may not understand exactly what that means but that may or may not mean we could eventually populate other planets.
We just don't know but the Bible also says that sometime in the future "new scrolls will be opened" and that may explain this issue as well as many other questions we all have about us as humans and the universe and God's plans.
Sounds very, very interesting to me.

Originally posted by galveston75
I have no problems with opinions. I have problems when ones say their opinions are truth and fact.

"I have no problems with opinions. I have problems when ones say their opinions are truth and fact."

It's easier (IMHO) to assume we are hearing only opinions here, unless the speaker says that he is speaking truth. Perhaps anyone who does not wish to subscribe to this approach WRT his own statements, should say so.

Originally posted by galveston75
Thanks for you comments. Well I'm obviously looking at this from a Biblical viewpoint and I'm putting my faith in God in handling this situation your'e asking about. So the Bible does not say what would happen once the earth pretty much filled up with a comfortable amout of humans.
So one could imagine to no end what God would do solve this problem. Th ...[text shortened]... t us as humans and the universe and God's plans.
Sounds very, very interesting to me.

The human population of Earth is way more than comfortable right now. 7 billion people and we are already using up more than half the resources of the planet. So we max out at 14 billion people and all the planet's resources are used up. No more oil, etc., no more clean fresh water. Massive starvation ensues.

This does not have a good ending. Your god should have come down long ago before the situation was as dreadful as it is now. A billion people in China, more in India. 1/3 of a billion in the US. We are almost at the breaking point right now. What do we do when we run out of copper, for instance? We are running out pretty quickly right now. That is only one metal in short supply.

Originally posted by galveston75
Well I don't know about the vitality part. To me seeing a new born baby, a sunset, a whale breaching on the ocean is vitality.
From what I've ever experianced death is a terrible thing to see. It is about the hardest thing a human can ever go thru to have someone they love die.

I don't expect to persuade you to think otherwise. But (IMO) it is the difficulties you describe about death, and the joy of a newborn life, that motivate so much of life and give it value. I can't think of many human efforts that do are not intended to honor this value -- although some human efforts may become perverted.

Originally posted by galveston75
Thanks for you comments. Well I'm obviously looking at this from a Biblical viewpoint and I'm putting my faith in God in handling this situation your'e asking about. So the Bible does not say what would happen once the earth pretty much filled up with a comfortable amout of humans.
So one could imagine to no end what God would do solve this problem. Th ...[text shortened]... t us as humans and the universe and God's plans.
Sounds very, very interesting to me.

What I'm saying is not that the earth will get overcrowded, but will be destroyed when the sun eventually begins to expand. We will all have to go somewhere else, or die.

But you seem to be saying that we can't really answer the critical questions about what eternal life would be like. We have to take it on faith that any potential difficulties would be anticipated and thwarted. That's not going to work for me.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
What I'm saying is not that the earth will get overcrowded, but will be destroyed when the sun eventually begins to expand. We will all have to go somewhere else, or die.

But you seem to be saying that we can't really answer the critical questions about what eternal life would be like. We have to take it on faith that any potential difficulties would be anticipated and thwarted. That's not going to work for me.

I think you've put your finger on the key issue in this thread.

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” -- Aristotle

Whether we agree with this or not, there is a point to it.

By saying the option suggested by Gman would not work out, and declining the option on that basis, you are in fact following the principle of choosing what you think will be the happiest (or least unhappy) outcome.

This more or less validates the underlying principle, that we will always choose what we think will be the happy ending. If we think the happiest available ending lasts forever, we will choose that ending. If we think the happiest available ending doesn't last forever, we will choose that ending.

Originally posted by sonhouse
The human population of Earth is way more than comfortable right now. 7 billion people and we are already using up more than half the resources of the planet. So we max out at 14 billion people and all the planet's resources are used up. No more oil, etc., no more clean fresh water. Massive starvation ensues.

This does not have a good ending. Your god s ...[text shortened]... instance? We are running out pretty quickly right now. That is only one metal in short supply.

I agree with those statements. We are not doing a good job in takling care of this planet.
But God says in the future he will step in and correct this and do away with ones who are "ruining the earth."
But I just saw a NATGEO magazine 1/11 on population and if you were to put all the 7 million or so people on earth it would only take up the space of the greater LA area. That is shoulder to shoulder of course but that is putting it into perspective.
I've also heard that if one average sized country in Africa would produce the food that it is capable of really doing, it would feed the entire continent.
So there is a complete mismanagment of the planet at this time.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
What I'm saying is not that the earth will get overcrowded, but will be destroyed when the sun eventually begins to expand. We will all have to go somewhere else, or die.

But you seem to be saying that we can't really answer the critical questions about what eternal life would be like. We have to take it on faith that any potential difficulties would be anticipated and thwarted. That's not going to work for me.

Again from a biblical viewpoint God says "the earth will stand to times indefinite " and that would indicate he would not let the sun ever do what we think it will do. I personally have faith in his promise.

Originally posted by sonhouse
There has been estimates that if we could live forever, our brains would fill up with memories, no more capacity to remember, after only a couple thousand years, much less even a million. Billion? Pretty much out of the question.

I don't think that would be a problem at all, because we are always forgetting things. We could just overwrite old memories with new. God has already provided for this. Or in your case, evolution will provide for it.

Originally posted by galveston75
Again from a biblical viewpoint God says "the earth will stand to times indefinite " and that would indicate he would not let the sun ever do what we think it will do. I personally have faith in his promise.

So what's God going to do about our Sun running out of energy?

Originally posted by Proper Knob
So what's God going to do about our Sun running out of energy?

Well the Bible says God and his power or "abundent energy" created all things and that would include all the planets and suns in the rest of the universe. If he could create them, he could replenish and keep anything going as he sees the need to do. I know you don't believe that but that's the spiritual viewpoint.

Originally posted by sonhouse
There has been estimates that if we could live forever, our brains would fill up with memories, no more capacity to remember, after only a couple thousand years, much less even a million. Billion? Pretty much out of the question.

subspace storage. plenty of room.