"In the man-machine symbiosis, it’s the man who must adjust; the machines can’t" - Alan Perlis
Since the 18th century, man is obsessed with the idea of immortality which seems to be possible after 3 centuries. Be it Frankenstein or the Holy Grail. It has been a constant struggle to pursue the things that might give or add some extra years to human life. Think to yourself why you would pay a handsome amount of money to stay fit or eat only organic food to be healthy or adopt a vegan diet so that your metabolism will not always work out fast. We all are possessed by the thought of living forever. I remember a saying that I read a few years back “everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die” ask this to yourself and you’ll be shocked to know the answer.
Let me ask you one question, have you ever thought of staying alive for eternity? Yes of course. The time travel is ruled out as there is no dominant proof in the present. Apart from a few hoaxes of people coming across time travellers, the general populations haven’t had frequent déjà vu feelings which are the sign of fluctuations in the time fabric.
But, there is always a but, it is said when artificial intelligence will reach singularity the possibilities of humans for mortality will be numerous. Not just living forever it will be possible for humanity to stay as long as they want. It is predicted that mankind will reach a technological singularity by 2040, it doesn’t matter what the exact time would be for now. Technological singularity means a time period when machines will surpass the humans in every field, the machines will know everything better than humans; it is the time when the machines will replicate humans and human behaviour. With the recent advancement in the field of artificial intelligence, I personally believe that the transfer of our consensus to a machine is or will be possible. For now, the challenges that are faced in this particular phenomenon is the ability or the algorithm that humans have to deal with emotions. Emotions have always been complicated. Great thinkers like Plato and Aristotle have tried to jot it down on paper but as there was no solid scientific reasoning to how humans have emotions the theories are just if, but and then. Maybe it could be the topic of another blog.
Life is worth living if we have memories to live for. Imagine getting immortality at the cost of wiping off your entire memory, it doesn't seem to be fair. Thus, the key to immortality is hidden in the memories that we create. a few years back there was a hypothesis that could replicate your happy memories and relive the moments that have passed. When it comes to living forever I think this experiment would be the key to sustain our thoughts not in mortal life form but in computers and memory sticks. The memories that we have would determine our personality and based on that with the help of complex machine learning algorithms we can create an entity that could behave or replicate our thought process, once that is achieved, with neurobiological applications we can connect the machines and our mind to equally coexist and thus attend the phase of being immortal. Moreover, this entity can be transferred into a biological form what we call as the human body, but a different one, one which is young and healthy. the machines can become a bridge to connect the 2 life forms together. All this is possible only when we achieve technological singularity in the near future.
Summing it up, I would say it's apt that humans will eventually become immortal, the question is when and how. Till then we need to make as many cherished memories to live for and also take good care of ourselves.
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