so ive long considered the concept of immortality. what would happen when we've either been able to keep ourselves alive by fixing any aging/disease, or by transferring "consciousness" into machine. what are your thoughts? how far away is it?

with the latest discoveries concerining telomeres it seems that soon it'll be only a matter of ethics.

consider this http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1963637,00.html

If we were to achieve immortality by stopping aging and disease, murder and death by tragic accidents would be even more of a big deal. I mean, they're both already terrible enough as a shortening of a finite life. Imagine if they were the cessation of an otherwise infinite life.

Jibb

that's true, Jibb. but in my opinion, several more serious problems emerge:

-Earth overpopulation (a stimulus to colonize the universe outside?)
-unpredictable brain reaction on vast amounts of information, collected during infinite(or excessively long) lifespan. What's the upper limit for amount of memories, or speed of learning(even if brain was being trained appropriately during lifetime)?
-huge skill and knowledge inequality between generations(probably can be fixed by 'injecting' a set of predefined facts to speed up learning and adaptation), growing generation gap.

what do you think about those?

I'd like to hear some viewpoints on the ethics part as well.

That is really something ive never considered. along with that imagine how it would alter the concept of the concept of "legendary" and "celebrity".

id also imagine that by this time pretty much everything would be monitored and recorded. imagine the impact that would have on decision making and politics. You could elect aged politicians without fear of impending death or the aging affecting capabilities, and you would have details on a long record of their personality.

now that's what i haven't thought about

i suppose that most celebrities will be forgotten once the 'fashion' changes, and rediscovered when public's attention will be drawn to them again for some reason (new masterpiece, another fashion cycle, whatever)

well that and imagine living in the shadow of your former self... or having a past so long that any time you try to make a change people have an enormous record of who youve always been.

plastic surgery and some underground document-changing organisations would come in handy

anyway, i guess most people will get bored with life in 2-3 hunderds of years and deside to leave.

What, like suicide? Imagine there were services in place to facilitate the peaceful "departure" of those who've had enough as long as they can prove they've lived x amount of years.

John, are you looking for ideas for the setting of a game?

Jibb