25 replies to this topic

[FutureOfToday]

You can live forever, but you can't say that you "have lived forever" because living forever is something that can never come to an end. Infinity is a difficult concept to get your head round.

[Raklian]

What is the difference between the three - forever, eternal, and infinity?

[FutureOfToday]

Forever is a never-ending span of time. Eternal is something that lasts forever. Infinity is anything that has no limits.

[WithoutCoincidence]

So forever is an infinite span of time, and eternal is something that lasts forever, aka, an infinite span of time. Gotcha. 

[Troodon]

There is an enormous difference between living "forever" and living for a "really, really long time". This is another reason I believe we will never see a human, or any entity for that matter, live forever. Even the universe has its demise. On top of that, the amount of information needed to store an eternity's worth of data is, in fact, infinite. So, even if someone miraculously manages to outlive the universe, they would be an entirely different person. Their identity would change so drastically over time causes them to really be more of a near-sentient computer program than a conscious being. Data would need to be erased to make room for an infinite amount more of information. A good restatement of this question would be, "when should humans become biologically immortal?" or "when, if possible, should humans become capable of transferring themselves to a digital state without destroying their original consciousness?" The answer to both of these questions, with current technological trends, should be sometime in the next two centuries. The answer to both of these questions weighted in with political, economic, social, AND technological trends would point more towards a time in the next three or four centuries.

I agree with you that there is a huge difference between living forever and simply living for a really, really long time. I do think that humans will eventually be able to live for millions -- maybe even billions -- of years. However, no human will ever be able to live forever. Nothing lasts forever. But I do think that your prediction of it happening within the next 3 to 4 centuries is very pessimistic, though. I would say sometime in the mid-22nd century (2150s–2170s).

[Frizz]

I selected 2200-2300, it may happen sooner, it may not.