This seems an appropriate weekend to be musing about life, death, rebirth, and so on.
On that note: On Friday, I wrote about the possibility of bringing a lost loved one back to life by creating a computer simulacrum of that purpose, and concluded that it's just not possible. But it got me thinking about the whole concept of leveraging technology to, in one way or another, lengthen your lifespan - maybe even by abandoning your physical body or placing it in a robot shell.
It's a common theme in science fiction; I've dabbled in it myself.
Previously on RedState: New Tech Promises to Bring Loved Ones Back to Life - Catch: It Can't
There has been a lot of talk among science types about the extension of human lifespans via medical means, which is something I’ve written about before. It’s something I find interesting and would cheerfully agree to – I could easily live 1,000 years and never run out of bucket-list items, as long as I could live out that 1,000 years in a young, healthy body - or even the one I have now, which is aging but still pretty capable.
I'd hate to end up like old Tithonus, who fell in love with the Greek goddess Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Since Eos was a goddess and Tithonus a mortal, Eos asked Zeus to make him immortal - but forgot to ask for eternal youth. As a result, poor, old Tithonus aged, and aged, and aged, until he would no longer speak or move. Eos couldn't stand to watch her beloved in that state, so she turned him into a cicada - and you know how long they live.
So immortality, or even long life, could come with a few catches. If you're living, but in a frail, crippled body, what good is that?
Not all such plans involve the physical body, though. There are also the folks who like to gas about the Singularity. That is, in its more optimistic form, a merging of human and artificial intelligence. In its less optimistic form, it is the destruction of human individuality by humanity’s incorporation into some all-encompassing AI. The idea wears a lot of faces. The ultimate expression of that latter path, of course, would mean the possibility of “uploading” your brain into a "virtual world" space, in a sort of rebirth as a computer program. That, unlikely as I think the prospect is, would rate a big fat “hell no.” Even if there was the possibility of being put in a robot body, that's a non-starter, and here's why.
See, I could live 1,000 years in my physical body. And I suppose I could learn to see the appeal of some kind of virtual reality, on the condition that I could unplug whenever I wanted. But there are two problems, as I see it, with the “brain upload” scenario:
First: It wouldn’t be me. What that set of data on some file server somewhere would be, is a computer simulation of me. It might be a good one, but it wouldn’t be me. I’d be dead. Gone. And as I don’t ascribe to Descartes’ concept of duality (or even if I did), I don’t see how any metaphysical “me” could somehow be uploaded. And let’s be honest, this wouldn’t be an “upload” at all. It would just be a file copy, a backup, so to speak. Not a person. Not a human, with continuity. No self. Not me.
Second: There’s so much about the physical world that just can’t be replicated. I could live 1,000 years easily if circumstances were right, but if it meant not being able to hold my wife’s hand or see her smile, it wouldn’t be worth it; frankly, I'd rather not. There are physical aspects of the world, of our lives, and our experiences, that I don’t believe can be duplicated. If, somehow, that metaphysical “me” made the jump to a virtual space, I’d know it was fake. If I'm to live, I want to do it where I can feel the sun on my face, hear the birds singing, play with my grandkids and, in time, great-grandkids, and all the other little things that make life - real life - worthwhile.
See Related: Republican Attorneys General Rip Biden Executive Order to Promote 'Equity' in Artificial Intelligence
Even WaPo Admits Google's AI Bots Are an Absolute Disaster
While I can imagine living 1,000 years and would love to have the chance to do it, I accept the fact that it almost certainly won’t be possible in my lifetime. And that’s okay. My life to date has been great, with a great family and a happy marriage to a woman I love, and you can’t really ask for much more. I’ve already been to lots of places and done lots of things – for one, I spent a good portion of my youth running around with a pack and a rifle doing all kinds of screwy things, and for another, I spent most of my middle age globe-hopping as a corporate consultant. All in all, I’ve had a hell of a good time. If I’m only to be allotted the traditional three-score and ten, well, then that’s likewise okay.
After all, going to the showers is part of the game, too. One should accept that with a certain grace. Rebirth and immortality in the physical or virtual worlds just aren't in the cards for us. Treasure every moment you have, because when it comes to life, it's one to a customer.
And, of course, we all know what is best in life.
