An Attempt To Achieve Immortality

What if i told you that during your lifetime, the world will change more than it did in the entire history of mankind combined.

The first tools created by humans dates back to roughly 5,000,000 years ago. 4,000,000 years later and humanity discovered fire. In between not much was happening. Hunt. Eat. Sleep. Reproduce.

The first settlements, the wheel, the use of iron, the first written language, all happened in the last 10,000 years. And only in the previous century or so has the electricity been adopted worldwide.

It is undisputed that the pace of scientific advancement is accelerating

If you were to teleport someone from the year 500 to 1 millennium later, they wouldn’t notice much of a difference. Sure, the language sounds weird. But nothing mind blowing. Now try teleporting someone from 200 years to now. They’d assume they’d landed on a different planet. Full of moving paintings and horseless chariots.

Continuing the same trend of discoveries we shall in the near future reach a point called a Technological Singularity.

This represents the moment in which the intellectual capacity of Artificial Intelligence surpasses that of a human brain. And that will turn everything upside down. It is important to mention that this might very well happen during your lifetime.

So, what will happen to Humanity during and after this point of no return. Lets find out.

Once the Artificial intelligence reaches the level of Human intelligence, it will only be a matter of months or even days before it’s intellectual capacity surpasses of the entire human race.

All because of ‘Exponential Improvements’. Check the graph below.

As argued by Stephen Hawking, this super intelligent A.I. possess the greatest threat to human existence. In trying to contain what almost will certainly not work. Imagine if a 2 year old tries to stop you from going outside of your house. That’s how an A.I. would see humans.

But should humans even try to stop the A.I.

If Humanity doesn’t poss a threat, the Artificial Intelligence won’t bother harming it, depending on it’s moral compass. It might even decide to help the Humans. And this is where the good part starts.

Imagine an Incorruptible and Correct ruler who will always do what is Right. No more pointless war. No more poverty. Justice will prevail.

The Exponential increase of intelligence will also allow for advancements in the field of Nanotechnology. Swarms of nanobots could be inserted into the human body that could aid with the prevention of most of the human diseases.

Cancer and circulatory issues being few of the many.

Theoretically cells can also be manipulated by nano bots so they never die, resulting in Immortality. Another important area which will be improved upon is ‘Gene Editing’. Careful manipulations. First off, all the genetic disorders will be wiped out. The next thing to come would be Genetic improvements such as ‘Higher Intelligence’, ‘Better Health’.

But they would of course create additional problems, such as, the world being divided between simple and genetically improved humans.

Expect class wars. But the Gene editing period could come to an end as quickly as it appeared. That i because of a technology called ‘Mind Uploading’. If computers become sufficiently capable, they could scan the human brain and replicate it into digital form. And from this point on the possibilities become endless. No more need for physical bodies. All of the human consciousness would be living in some sort of Internet. No more hunger. No more physical suffering.

No more Biological death

But what about Mental Health ?

Certain Mental illness are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. The human mind is connected to the body and all it’s sensory organs. If we convert to the ‘Digital’ world, there might be a chance that everyone will become Insane.

The concept of time itself might be lost as a digital mind can perceive reality a million times faster than a biological brain. And that could lead to some horrible results. Like being imprisoned for millions of years. Even an Eternity. Without the possibility of dying. But on the bright side the digital beings can have a free reign over their perception of reality.

Think of a game but completely immersive, where only your imagination is the limit. Your most desired fantasy will become your subjective reality. Everything that we take for granted now will be gone. No more organized society, no cities, no food, no nothing.

Most likely the future civilization will build a Dyson’s sphere around the sun to collect the energy used to power the planet sized computer that hosts all the consciousnesses. This could also explain the apparent lack of aliens in the Universe and also the Bootes void – Possibly a level 3 civilization.

Post Singularity World

In this post singularity world, where no suffering, and only control over one’s imagination will exist. What will be the Meaning of Life ? Now one has many answers.

Family, accomplishments, God, knowledge.

What about when everything you can wish for can become true. Will that be enough to satisfy your desire for the meaning of life. Or will it make you crave for even more. Maybe people will numb themselves with never ending pleasure. Or if they find that their life has no meaning maybe they’ll end it once and for all.

Previously published at https://shujahasan.com/achieving-immortality/