Sure, but what if someone's mind is set up about something? Or if someone is reluctant to accepting new ideas? This is where new generations learning from the beginning are much more flexible.

yes, but a lot of the stubbornness comes with time, once that person has enough time i think they'd start to change out of necessity.

Lukas is right. Take a look at the Samurai, long after the point where they were supposed to fade away they persisted in their existance out of pure stubbornness, until finally a civil war erupted and they were wiped out.

Hypothetically speaking, if humanity achieved immortality it would probably slow down if not halt society's progress entirely.

EDIT: One thousand posts.

Gratz

I've heard before that basically any emotion can be boiled down to some sort of fear. Your saying society's push for science and technology is based on our fear of death?

Thats also another interesting topic, should people live thier entire life for themselves to get the most out of the short time we have on the planet, or should you spend precious time researching knowing that a lot of your goals will never be finished in your lifetime.

I think any immortality would have to be genetically induced, so that all cells can continuously regenerate.

That said I feel life itself has been degenerating while evolving in technological areas.
The first life forms on this planet were less material and more energetic, and thought was the creative force instead of actions as it is today.
At least according to some, which for some reason I agree with.

Maybe in order to become colonisers of the universe we must again regenerate and be able to become pure thought, which would enable the covering of the vast distances throughout our universe.
Just a thought.

Most breakthrough discoveries in maths are done by people between 20 and 40, since your intellectual power is greatest during these years (e.g. the ability to concentrate deeply ceases when you grow older). So I see the failure to learn something new as the worst complication - which then again plays a role in the stuff you guys said about people rejecting new ideals.

The loss of ability to concentrate deeply would surely relate to the aging process. So if we "fix" aging, perhaps this would be a non-issue? Besides, I imagine the 20-40 situation is less to do with ability to concentrate and more to do with the idea that if you get to 40 and you still haven't made a breakthrough, perhaps you were just never equipped to make one.

Jibb

True.

i also agree with jibb. the idea of immortality (for me) ceases the process of aging, therefore also ceases all of the complications. granted this is all theory and if we ever do get that far, we'll see how it all pans out, but it is an interesting thing to think about.

You (whoever I'm refering at with this) could try eating only 100 kcal per day and tell us how it works out...