Okay. Someone posted a graphic yesterday on the effects of overpopulation. The Earth is only so big. And it is at least fairly well agreed that our planet is already over-populated.

So this leads to my next question.

If our species does indeed acquire the ability to prolong life like this, what other things should be considered?

Only allowing one household to have one child?

There are already places in this world were they do that.

Exactly.

Gonna quote Aubrey on this 1 then give my own opinion



Well I think technology could help us cope with such a population increase, Women will have the option to actually wait untill later on to give birth tho, She wont be restricted to a certain amount of time.

Technology, Well I mean first of all you can look up at the sky, as you know there is definitly a lot of room up there!

next, using carbon nanotubes and better materials we would actually be able to built, Cities within Cities. Meaning, Buildings that are miles high

Carbon Nanotubes - 100x Stronger than steel and 1/6th the weight, Will possibly be used in Space elevator if it get built.

Now these carbon Nanotubes are damn strong and believe me, They could withstand a lot!. So we will built very very very tall buildings and they will be very wide. You might be able to fit the whole of say, LONDON into that 1 building.

With nanotech and biotech revolution we wont need all that farm land because we will be able to manufacture anythign and grow where ever we like.

We still do have plenty of space to fill on earth, believe it or not... our cities are tiny compared to the available land we still have.

But inevitibly, we have to move beyond earth, It might be the only way to ensure the survival of human species regardless of how long we live

People will still die of course, through accidents

Okay, first of all. Someone will have to move away from Earth. We've established that much.

Who? What if the majority would rather live here on their home planet and not want to go into space? I can think of several reasons right now. Although I would love to travel into space, I don't think I'd ever want to make it...or any other world my home. I have a home.



This is not really the debate, but there is absolutely no way to ensure the survival of the human species. Our sun will expand and die. Whether we are still on this planet doesn't matter. Because as our sun dies, our galaxies and others will also die. There is absolutely no way to ensure the survival of the human race.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4319293.stm

"Scientists believe they are very close to finding a miracle cure for heart disease. "

See, not just use painkillers, but CURE... people wont need to be on 20 tablets a day and a bad lifestyle

yeah of course space exploration isnt for everyone.

I am sure that we will solve a population problem and we will see it coming over the years, It wont be just some explosion of new people... it will be gradual and we will have the neccessery technology and plans to handle it.

Like that chart I showed, Developing nations are the problem right now, Developed countries birth rates are lower than death rates and we have a higher life expectancy now... people are not having more kids, they are waiting

Okay. Next question.

You want to prolong life. How long?

Untill I feel like I dont want to live anymore, I couldnt really put a number on it...

But If ever got tired of life I would simply be asked to put into a sleeping state for a few hundred years or so if that would be an option...

I wouldnt just want death, Although its inevitible... I want to live aslong as this Universe allows me to.

I will change myself in anyway possible way that will enable me to live longer.

Whether it be through genetic engineering, replacing parts of my body such as using Carbon Nanotubes to make my bones stronger, enable me to lift 10 tons and jump over buildings...

I may have Implants for memory ( aslong as I stay myself) and greater intelligence.

I might use Genetic engineering to make me stronger, more intelligent and have a super immune system.

Basicly becoming superhuman.. or more than human, something different.. But I would still keep my human apperance

Basicly becoming Posthuman

http://entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,1...1-22809,00.html

new article you might be interested in reading.. havnt read it all myself yet

stayin’ alive
March 06, 2005

Okay, so we're down to this:

1. You live as long as you want to. Anyone can.

2. The Earth only has so much space, but we colonize space itself. Not as comfortable as the green grass and water here on the home that was made for us, but some people will have to deal with it. I guess we go by seniority? "I've been here longer, kid. Go somewhere else. I was on this planet first."

3. Women have the choice have having children "later" in life. Like...later on when the population is even more dense.

So here is the real matter. You're going to have to make some choices. And tough ones.

You want to live as long as you want to and defy nature. All cool. But if you want that right, then everyone else should have that right as well. Which, from what I read...you would agree to. Tell me if I'm wrong on that one, though.

There are really only three places that humanity can go besides Earth. The Moon, Mars, or on a station in space, none of which are the Earth or anything close to it. None of which could even be made to look like the Earth within the next 10,000 years.

So now you've got to make a decision. Because obviously, your goal for longevity will be met long before we find somewhere else to live. Of course we can build "UP" but who wants to stay "UP" their entire lives? Don't you think your great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great- grandchildren will say to you, "Grandpa, what is it like to feel grass?"

Here's your decision. You want to prolong your life. You have no choice but to limit procreation. Otherwise......any way you possibly look at it....we've got a population problem.

You can see this, can't you?

So now we get into the heart of the matter. What right have you to prolong your life, and deny others of it?

All people should have the right to life so it should be available to all.

There is no difference between saving lives and extending lives. So we cant just deny old people cures because they are old.

Well with Genetic engineering and Nanotechnology we could actually overcome problems such as what you mentioned. There are some great research going on already.

I dont know if you actaully seen any my posts on the actual rate of Technological change?

I'll quickly go through them:




An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense "intuitive linear" view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate)"



Now back to the future: it's widely misunderstood. Our forebears expected the future to be pretty much like their present, which had been pretty much like their past. Although exponential trends did exist a thousand years ago, they were at that very early stage where an exponential trend is so flat that it looks like no trend at all. So their lack of expectations was largely fulfilled. Today, in accordance with the common wisdom, everyone expects continuous technological progress and the social repercussions that follow. But the future will be far more surprising than most observers realize: few have truly internalized the implications of the fact that the rate of change itself is accelerating

These trends are real and are happening, because we live in a linear world we dont see them right now, as the exponential grow increases we will start to take notice of how quick change is actually happening. It could be very exposiv... meaning things could change overnight, hard to believe eh?

Nanotechnology promises to litrually make everything extremely cheap, Im assuming you have read a lot about nanotechnology but its about manipulating atoms. If a Nano assembler is ever built then we could build things atom by atom and re-arrage them... As you know depending on how you re-arrange the atoms results in what you get. So Food would not be a problem. Imagin something like Star treks little device, where they ask for something and the it appears a few seconds later. Simular to that!

So If full blown nanotechnology were ever to develop, Money would actually become useless.

Space applications are already being researched to use Nanotechnology and its going to be a very important technology... With nanotech space could be colonized extremely rapidly...

heres a Nanofactory http://www.foresight.org/NanoRev/nanofactory.html

You could create whatever you want, You could create a whole MILITARY overnight, Create starships in a few hours... Sound like science fiction?

well there are real debates on how disruptive this technology will be and yes its coming and being researched... it also doesnt break any physical laws and has been simulated. If it could be built... which it will when nanotech matures, then there will be massive change, thigns could get very bad or very good.

You just simply feed it the raw materials and it will build you whatever you want. whether it be, food, water, car, spaceship, a house... I dont know, whatever you can bring up in your imagination.

nanotech is expected to be a trillion dollar market by 2012 and its expected to be bigger than every industrial revolution put together

So we could actually build these facilities for people and Colonization of planets could also happen quite quickly with this sort of technology

All I know is that if some respected medical facility had a way for me to extend my life to 1000 years in good health, that I would mentally agree to it faster than I could say "let's do it"

Here is a place where Cryonics can be performed for much cheaper than anywhere else in the world.

http://www.cryonics.org/

If you have any dying members of family or friends, its worth remembering that there is this option available so dont be scared to let people know!

It can be funded through life insurance, costing around $110 a year

I think id probably want to be buried because being frozen and then waking up to an entirely new world, knowing no one, not having a job, it would all be kinda scary i think

Well if you dont like the future, you could always kill yourself ? heh

and If we have the technology to bring someone back after freezing them, Im pretty certain some of your relatives and friends will still be around

did you ever think that some people like land, doing this would take away the beuty of the planet, we shouldnt do that to the land, wide open spaces are needed, plus like MedicTJ said "your decendants would ask stuff like "grandpa,what does the ground feel like? look like?"

and to medicTJ about Mars, look up Terraforming, dont know how long it would take, but sounds cool.

Well we will build little cities under the water and cities within cities. Buildings that could accomdiate over 250,000 people or more. They will be extemely tall because of the technology we will have.

Now that we are building the space elevator. We should be able to move faster in colonization of space and as you can imagine, space is big.

take a read of this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4515711.stm

It will be very similar to this kind of experience and here is a few quotes

"During that time, something occurred that I had a sense of, it's a sort of lost time-and-space thing," she says"

"For me it was crystal clear, it was like waking up from a night's sleep, clicking your fingers and being fully there," she says. "

"I was happy in myself pre-injury, but post-injury, it's like an alien landing on a planet without a map to show your way around"

Obviously it wouldn't be exactly the same. but something similar I expect.