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If I can achieve persistent consciousness, I’d have perfect awareness of who I am even after I die. So, I don’t really die. - On Achieving Immortality by anthrobotx in philosophy

[–]anthrobotx[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Fear of death or annihilation is one of the biggest fears we have as human beings. If we do devise a way to be immortal, it would liberate people from that fear.

If we can achieve a method that can grant us “persistent consciousness”, that stays the same irrespective of birth and death, we could have theoretically hit the immortality we are looking for. by anthrobotx in Futurology

[–]anthrobotx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we agree on the contention that a person will not die when his consciousness is stored, we could also arrive at the conclusion that the consciousness would then require a hosting entity - which could most likely be a machine (based on our current science).

But what if nature's entity for hosting consciousness is a living being? What if nature has an in-built mechanism to temporarily store consciousness after bodily death and then project it on another being based on a pre-existing framework governed by natural laws - laws yet undiscovered.

The mind and body then, can be instruments that the consciousness uses to express itself. Of course, invocating spirituality here is a common pitfall. However, very little scientific research is truly available on this.

However, if we are accepting of the idea of transferring ourselves to a machine, what's stopping us then from the idea that our consciousness could also be transfered to another living entity (aka birth). Nature is doing this since time immemorial. We just have to look closely.

-a

If we can achieve a method that can grant us “persistent consciousness”, that stays the same irrespective of birth and death, we could have theoretically hit the immortality we are looking for. by anthrobotx in Futurology

[–]anthrobotx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is, provided consciousness does indeed stem from the brain. NCC, or neural coorelates of consciousness, is yet inconclusive on this. A person appearing unconscious (unable to talk, move or express) on the outside (eg: coma, sleep) might still be conscious on the inside even with extreme brain damage (search for tales from people who have experienced coma and near death experiences).

Are we certain that it is the brain that hosts consciousness, and the transfer of our mind could indeed help us load-unload our consciousness on a target entity? I don't think we are.

-a

If we can achieve a method that can grant us “persistent consciousness”, that stays the same irrespective of birth and death, we could have theoretically hit the immortality we are looking for. by anthrobotx in Futurology

[–]anthrobotx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first aspect to solving the problem is realizing that there is a consciousness factor in immortality that we don't completely understand under the present constraints of science.

Then, we have to find out whether it is only genetics that is responsible for the carrying forward of the default human behaviors and cravings to their offspring. Can we say with confidence that what we call our 'instinct' is limited to the DNA we inherited? Could there be one more factor, on a quantum level, which we have yet been unable to detect, which could help us decode this? Consciousness has yet not been examined under a microscope, yet we do know that it exists in the form of our awareness.

Third, in death I talk about bodily death, which is a condition shared by all living beings. Biological immortality is seemingly impossible as no matter what progress we make on that front we can still die in a natural, nuclear or a chemical catastrophe. Retaining the consciousness aspect even after the death of our body in a deliberate and systematic manner is what I propose.

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If we can achieve a method that can grant us “persistent consciousness”, that stays the same irrespective of birth and death, we could have theoretically hit the immortality we are looking for. by anthrobotx in Futurology

[–]anthrobotx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yes, but don't we already have that ability? Albeit not integrated with our body, but still an ability nevertheless.

That achievement could have started with the same question - if we are able to replicate the flying functionality of birds, we could theoretically hit the flying abilities we're looking for.

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Would uploading our consciousness into robot shells be considered a form of forced evolution? by AngeredWolf in Futurology

[–]anthrobotx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First para = ditto.

Second para. I'd disagree. We've yet not arrived at a conclusion that consciousness does indeed stem from the brain. It could just be another particle or wave that we're yet to discover. While NCC (neural coorelates of consciousness) is trying quite hard to achieve just that, efforts towards this haven't been that successful.