Why Christians Should Support Radical Life Extension

[Kanra Jest]

It's just a pointless need for immortality. Life extension is understandable, but living forever and ever in a rusty physical vessel in this fractured world is not quite my cup of tea.

I wouldn't mind being a ghost, though.

 

[Thalassa]

No I don't think there's anything in Christian theology that defends pathological narcissism.

 

[Thalassa]

Radically extending life is just at as wrong as radically ending life early.

We have completely lost our sense of what it means to be human so I don't know why we would waste time trying to radically extend and change somethin we know little about as it is.

Well you know and that whole part about having eternal life through Christ, not through man made tinkering that would glorify some individuals over others, and it would very much be incompatible too with overpopulation.

I like science but I'm pretty much over the secular humanists.

 

[Thalassa]

"It has always been this way, therefore is should always remain this way" is not a very convincing argument. Who cares what our natural lifespan is when we can artificially extend it?

See the problem with this sort of thinking is that you're ironically narrow minded and short sighted, though accusing others of the same thing. Let me explain, from a scientific rather than a religious perspective.


Abusing science without ethics to blindly serve the wants of particular humans has been shown to have gross, destructive consequences on the entire earth, multiple eco-systems, and other humans. As well as animal extinction and suffering. When you tinker with something like this you're setting the entire world off balance, there is no such thing as an action without consequences, especially in large numbers, it affects the whole.

Scientists cannot just be self centered little children who want everything they can imagine, not weighing the overall consequences, or taking steps to off set the damage they incur. This might have been acceptable 60 years ago, but with what we know now, it's the height of narcissism.

 

[á´…eparted]

See the problem with this sort of thinking is that you're ironically narrow minded and short sighted, though accusing others of the same thing. Let me explain, from a scientific rather than a religious perspective.


Abusing science without ethics to blindly serve the wants of particular humans has been shown to have gross, destructive consequences on the entire earth, multiple eco-systems, and other humans. As well as animal extinction and suffering. When you tinker with something like this you're setting the entire world off balance, there is no such thing as an action without consequences, especially in large numbers, it affects the whole.

Scientists cannot just be self centered little children who want everything they can imagine, not weighing the overall consequences, or taking steps to off set the damage they incur. This might have been acceptable 60 years ago, but with what we know now, it's the height of narcissism.

Scientists are not self centered little children. Seeing you speak of all kinds of groups in these hateful histronic extreme manners is extraordinarly irritating. I'd honestly argue it borders on hate speech. As said previously, it also distracts from your points because you won't speak of things in a tempered manner. It simply isn't fair. This really is just hateful. If there is one thing I really don't well tolerate, is people attacking science, but now you're attacking scientists? I mean, come on.

This isn't science abuse. You're making the assumption that humans truly aren't capable of being even handed or rational with anything. A good parallel here would be the nuclear bomb. People realized how dangerous it could be if it got out of hand. The result? The world has eased back and it hasn't been used as a weapon for a very, very long time.

Extending life would not nearly be as severe in immediate conseqeunces. There is a great amount of discovery that can and will be learned along the way that will greatly increase the quality of life for generations to come. You have to remember science is not all about the end result, it's about what is learned along the way. Do you really think life extension would spiral out of control? That's rhetorical as you clearly do, but that simply doesn't reflect reality. The world would realize the potential problem before it got out of hand because it would be so slow.

There is really very little to fear, and your ethical concerns are genuinely misplaced.

 

[Thalassa]

Would will still value having children the same? Instead of our offspring indirectly continuing our legacies we could simply continue it ourselves.

This is something to think about. I mean, look at something as seemingly innocuous as vaccinations. We pretty much have vaccines to thank for millions of starving people in the third world. Without vaccines, let's face it, there'd be a lot less of us.

Are there things we can do to address this? Sure, we could stop farming live stock at outrageous rates, eat less meat, promote vegetarianism, and have more water and food. ..but people don't want to do that.


They don't want to stop driving their cars to lessen air pollution or global warming either.

Secular humanism has ravaged the earth. In my early 20s, I thought it was the answer. Now I see it actually leads to a human self absorption, so vile, that in turn it will likely mean the end of human existence.

So when people start extending their lives, then what? Are we supposed to allow certain wealthy individuals to take even more resources for themselves, indefinitely?

Of course they won't value their children as much. They already don't. Look at the people who have kids now who won't even make changes to leave a more hospitible planet for their children.

For every comfort, there's a consequence. If people refuse to act accordingly and change to avoid or lessen the consequence, then it becomes a murder-suicide.

 

[á´…eparted]

This is something to think about. I mean, look at something as seemingly innocuous as vaccinations. We pretty much have vaccines to thank for millions of starving people in the third world. Without vaccines, let's face it, there'd be a lot less of us.

So do you think vaccines are bad then? Should they have never been created? Or limited in some manner?

 

[Habba]

This is something to think about. I mean, look at something as seemingly innocuous as vaccinations. We pretty much have vaccines to thank for millions of starving people in the third world. Without vaccines, let's face it, there'd be a lot less of us.

Vaccination actually prevents poverty, creates stability and allows society to progress, see Poverty Reduction. We have millions of starving people, but we used to have a lot more. Take some time to study before you self-rationalize your opinions.

Are there things we can do to address this? Sure, we could stop farming live stock at outrageous rates, eat less meat, promote vegetarianism, and have more water and food. ..but people don't want to do that. They don't want to stop driving their cars to lessen air pollution or global warming either.

Yes they do. Do you not recall when the Ozone layer was being threatened? It was discovered by scientists, who were alarmed to inform others. Through universal agreements, several hazardous subtances were banned and ozone layer's health was being constantly monitored. The campaign seems to be successful and the ozone layer is recovering.

Elon Musk wanted to create an electric car to fight the pollution of combustion engines. Now we have Tesla, which is almost affordable to the midclass in western countries.

With better understanding of the world, we can save and preserve earth. And that's what we are trying to do.

Secular humanism has ravaged the earth. In my early 20s, I thought it was the answer. Now I see it actually leads to a human self absorption, so vile, that in turn it will likely mean the end of human existence.

Fundamentalism is the plague that ravages earth. The lack of doubt and foolish certainty. That's definitely not secular humanism. It's constantly re-evaluating itself through science. It is full of doubt and uncertainty, thus ever trying to improve its

So when people start extending their lives, then what? Are we supposed to allow certain wealthy individuals to take even more resources for themselves, indefinitely?

It is always a problem when powerful people are in better position to empower themselves. It was no different in middle ages when only wealthy people were able to read and write. But science has found answers to these problems time and time again (printing press, internet, etc.).

Of course they won't value their children as much. They already don't. Look at the people who have kids now who won't even make changes to leave a more hospitible planet for their children.

As a parent I find that offensive. If I compare myself to my parents, I can say for sure that I have much smaller carbon footprint.

• We only have one modern car, as opposed to two old cars my parents had. (Modern cars have a much smaller carbon footprint.)
• Our electricty comes 100% from renewable sources (we are paying little extra for that).
• We recycle more (glass, metal, paper, cardboard).
• We are much more concerned about the enviromental issues and other global phenomen (thanks to the internet).

As for the transhumanism, I can't wait it to happen. Well, actually it has already happen in forms of eyeglasses, hearing aids, pacemakers, artificial joints and synthesized medicine. We I hear we are not too far from 3d printed tissue and organs. There has already been succesful tests on machine aided telepathy and cybernetic limbs. We've seen an olympic level athlete with artificial legs.

To quote a cylon:

"I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to — I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more, I could experience so much more, but I’m trapped in this absurd body."​

I'm constantly lookin for new movies with transhumanistic themes and I just can't get enough (Ex Machina was pretty nice, Transcendence not as much).