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For an immortalist idea which is technologically achievable in the short term--
As a medical issue, it would be far easier to keep just a brain alive than a whole body. Brain chemistry is simpler than body chemistry and there are no moving parts...
Imagine a brain in a tank being fed the much simpler subset of nutrients that the brain requires--such a brain would have a prospective lifetime far greater than that same brain being supported by a body that is rapidly failing due to degenerative disease. I read where they kept a chicken heart alive (and beating) for 50 years under just such conditions, and a heart definitaly does have moving parts. Such a brain could be kept alive indefinitely with current stem cell technology.
But who wants to live forever if that means eternal sensory deprivation?
So now imagine that brain is hooked up via bio-mechanical synapses into a computer network. These hookups occur at the base of the spinal column as well as the occular, auditory, and olfactory nerves. These nerve hookups are connected to a "virtual body", a 3-d computer representation of the normal human body, existing within a virtual 3D environment (think "Matrix.")
To manipulate that "body" within the 'Matrix' you would do as you've always done--to move the arm of that 'virtual body' you simply do what you do now to raise your arm. You send a complex of signals from your brain, down the spinal column, and your body obeys.
Well this would be no different--you send a complex of signals from your brain down to the bio-mechanical synapse, and the virtual body obeys.
The environment within which this 'virtual body' exists could be , in the short term, as complex as the environment we currently inhabit. In the long term that environment could become much more complex.
Imagine a world where 'magic words' work, where the very laws of reality might change by passing through a doorway.
Such individuals would still be able to work, vote, earn money, etc. but thier physical needs would be minimal. If they want to go four-wheeling, for example, they could do so without any environmental impact. No tire tracks even. It would all take place within the 3D matrix provided by the net.
These people could have a diverse lifestyle within a growing 'virtual environment' which would include all the things we take for granted, and then some. They could have friends, lovers, goals, asperations, interactions as well as confrontations and conflicts. In short, they could have very full lives within an entirely virtual environment.
And they would concievably live forever.
As a medical issue, it would be far easier to keep just a brain alive than a whole body. Brain chemistry is simpler than body chemistry and there are no moving parts...
Imagine a brain in a tank being fed the much simpler subset of nutrients that the brain requires--such a brain would have a prospective lifetime far greater than that same brain being supported by a body that is rapidly failing due to degenerative disease. I read where they kept a chicken heart alive (and beating) for 50 years under just such conditions, and a heart definitaly does have moving parts. Such a brain could be kept alive indefinitely with current stem cell technology.
But who wants to live forever if that means eternal sensory deprivation?
So now imagine that brain is hooked up via bio-mechanical synapses into a computer network. These hookups occur at the base of the spinal column as well as the occular, auditory, and olfactory nerves. These nerve hookups are connected to a "virtual body", a 3-d computer representation of the normal human body, existing within a virtual 3D environment (think "Matrix.")
To manipulate that "body" within the 'Matrix' you would do as you've always done--to move the arm of that 'virtual body' you simply do what you do now to raise your arm. You send a complex of signals from your brain, down the spinal column, and your body obeys.
Well this would be no different--you send a complex of signals from your brain down to the bio-mechanical synapse, and the virtual body obeys.
The environment within which this 'virtual body' exists could be , in the short term, as complex as the environment we currently inhabit. In the long term that environment could become much more complex.
Imagine a world where 'magic words' work, where the very laws of reality might change by passing through a doorway.
Such individuals would still be able to work, vote, earn money, etc. but thier physical needs would be minimal. If they want to go four-wheeling, for example, they could do so without any environmental impact. No tire tracks even. It would all take place within the 3D matrix provided by the net.
These people could have a diverse lifestyle within a growing 'virtual environment' which would include all the things we take for granted, and then some. They could have friends, lovers, goals, asperations, interactions as well as confrontations and conflicts. In short, they could have very full lives within an entirely virtual environment.
And they would concievably live forever.
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Oregon
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Re: Virtual Bodies
Fri, March 25, 2005 - 10:20 AMSweet conception...good reading..thanks. -
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Re: Virtual Bodies
Mon, March 28, 2005 - 5:00 PM" Sweet conception...good reading..thanks."
Thank you.
Some more thoughts, which have occured to me since I posted--
The Virtual body could look like anything you wanted. Ever been curious what it would be like to be the 'opposite' gender but not soooo curious that you are willing to undergo an operation to find out? Me too.
In a virtual body you just change a 'preference' setting and it's done. Try it out for five minutes, five hours, or five days (whatever) and then change back (if you want.)
If you are a sex addict this might not be for you. Why? Because the V.B. would never get tired, and male or female, anytime you want to 'get it up' the body is ready. Doesn't matter if this is the 10th or 100th time today--the body is equally ready if the mind is.
Food addicts might want to be equally wary. The stomoch never gets full unless you want it to, and eating has nothing to do with weight gain. Plus the food you will "eat" will not have been put together by cooks (or even 'chefs') but by creative programmers who were working on a level that assumes they have full access to your 'taste buds.'
A pizza-maker wouldn't be turning out dozens of pizzas a day, but would be spending long hours working on the best possible pizza they can come up with. Why? Because it's software, and as such it can be coppied. Instead of making a new pizza for every costumer, they would be trying to make a few FANTASTIC pizzas and then copy them and resell them to everyone.
And for the best of the best, word would get out. Their pizzas might be more expensive than the others but, buy once--eat forever. This is software--every time you open the pizza box it is full, steaming hot, and fresh.
Then there are the yogic possibilities. Not your standard yoga, I admit, but you could call up a 3D representation of your nervious system in real time...it would just be a matter of accessing data already necessarily present for the normal functioning of the Virtual Body--and learn to feel and send signals to one nerve at a time.
And you wouldn't have to learn this all on your own--there would be classes, tutorial programs, etc...
Pretty soon the programers of 'Virtual Bodies' would come out with a version designed to take advantage of the increased nervous accuity produced by such practices. Since the V.B. provides our 'interface' to the virtual world, a body that is more 'finely tuned' to the mind (and a mind capable of that degree of 'fine tuning') would be a distinct advantage in the competitive world that would develop.
Of course all this might (and could) take alot of time. For beings with indefinite lifespans a few hundred years wouldn't mean much, but I suspect it would all happen faster than I am imagining. If it happens at all... -
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Re: Virtual Bodies
Wed, March 30, 2005 - 1:48 PMAt some stage in our evolution we won't even need the wetware anymore. Silicon hardware will run a reverse-engineered simulation of our brain at lightning speed.
You will be able to choose how often you go out into the world via robotic hardware. I assume that for many, this will become a bore after awhile.
-Brian
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Re: Virtual Bodies
Sun, June 12, 2005 - 8:20 AMYou are talking about something that is already in operation. It is called "The World."
Consider reading "Revolutionary Psychology" sometime --
www.gnosticweb.com/index.php
The free Astral Travel and Searching Within courses will be beneficial as well.
Take care,
Denny -
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Re: Virtual Bodies
Fri, October 7, 2005 - 8:53 PMNot at all the same thing... not even close. For it to even be close to the same thing it would have to be at least potentially real vs. completely imaginary...
Sorry.
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Re: Virtual Bodies
Sat, October 15, 2005 - 5:30 PMHAHAHAHAHAHA. Good riposte.
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