"Pro-Humanist FREELOVER" <prohumanist@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:9-2dnaSwMK2G6L7VnZ2dnUVZ_jKdnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> - - -
>
> The odds of a pleasant immortality?
>
> 0
>
> or
>
> 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
>
> or
>
> a bit higher, but not as high as 1 (certain)
>
> or
>
> 1 (certain, claimed by religious faiths for
> those who believe in the 'right' God, or
> Gods, in the 'right' way, though some say
> that's based on faith and are unwilling to
> use the word 'certain') and 0 or near 0
> for those who don't, although some of the
> religious believe most will miss out on
> the pleasant immortality, and will suffer
> forever in an unpleasant or torturous
> immortality).
>
> Most believe that to have a chance near
> or at 1, you must believe in the 'right'
> God in the 'right' way. Even many dis-
> believers believe that religion (in Pas-
> cal's Wager style) is the only way to
> have any hope for a pleasant immor-
> tality, however illegitimate or futile
> that hope is perceived to be.
>
> I shall endeavor to locate some infor-
> mation on that, hope, by non-Muslims,
> non-Christians, non-Hindus, non-Bud-
> dhists, non-(insert all other religions
> here), and whether or not it's justified,
> in the coming days.
>
> - - -
> Pleasant Immortality?
> http://tinyurl.com/4446j3
> - - -
>
> - - -
>
> Immortality
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality
>
> Excerpts [with insert, not part of original
> article, added in brackets]:
>
> ...
>
> Mind uploading is the concept of transference
> of consciousness from a human brain to an
> alternative media providing the same function-
> ality. Assuming the process to be possible and
> repeatable, this would provide immortality to
> the consciousness, as predicted by futurists
> such as Ray Kurzweil.
>
> [insert -- immortality so long as the ability to
> continue was physically possible, and so long
> as the physical existence wasn't eliminated,
> and that is by no means certain regarding the
> particular space-time continuum we exist in
> or regarding the physical reality of the partic-
> ular planet we happen to live on (or near) at
> the present time. -- end insert]
>
> ...
>
> Technological immortality
>
> Technological immortality is the prospect for
> much longer life spans made possible by scienti-
> fic advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnol-
> ogy, emergency room procedures, genetics, bio-
> logical engineering, regenerative medicine,
> microbiology, and others.
>
> ...
>
> Mind-to-computer uploading
>
> One interesting possibility involves uploading
> the personality and memories via direct mind-
> computer interface.
>
> Some extropian futurists propose that, thanks
> to exponentially growing computing power,
> it will someday be possible to upload human
> consciousness onto a computer system, and
> live indefinitely in a virtual environment.
>
> This could be accomplished via advanced cyber-
> netics, where computer hardware would initially
> be installed in the brain to help sort memory or
> accelerate thought processes.
>
> Gradually more and more components would
> be added until the person's entire brain functions
> were handled by artificial devices, without any
> sharp transitions that would lead to some identity
> issues mentioned below. At this point, the human
> body would become only an accessory and the
> mind could be transferred to any sufficiently
> powerful computer.
>
> A person in this state would then be essentially
> immortal, short of cataclysmic destruction of
> the entire civilization and their computers.
>
> However, some argue that it is impossible to
> truly move one's consciousness from one body
> to another; it could be duplicated, but the orig-
> inal would still exist, creating two independent
> consciousnesses. Uploading is still only a hypo-
> thesis and has no scientific backing or proof
> that it is possible.
>
> Quantum immortality
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_immortality
>
> Quantum immortality is the name for the specu-
> lation that the Everett many-worlds interpretation
> of quantum mechanics implies that a conscious
> being cannot cease to be. The idea is highly con-
> troversial.
>
> Biological immortality
>
> Biological immortality is an absence of aging.
>
> ...
>
> Biologically immortal organisms can still die by
> being physically destroyed.
>
> Cyborgization
>
> Transforming a human into a cyborg can include
> brain implants or extracting a human mind and
> placing it in a robotic life-sup****t system.
>
> Even replacing biological organs with robotic
> ones could increase life span (ie pace makers) and
> depending on the definition many technological
> upgrades to the body, like genetic modifications
> or the addition of nanobots would qualify an
> individual as a cyborg.
>
> Such modifications would make one impervious
> to aging and disease and theoretically immortal
> unless killed or destroyed.
>
> Mystical and religious pursuits
> of physical immortality
>
> [see article for details]
>
> Religious traditions
>
> [see article for details]
>
> Fiction
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality
>
> Immortal beings and species abound in fiction, espe-
> cially fantasy fiction.
>
> - - -
>
> The following book, regarding the possi-
> bility of extending life-spans to as far as
> possible, projects that science may, at
> some point, offer humans the possibility
> of having such a long life that even -if-
> it had to end, it would have been such a
> lengthy endeavor that it could be thought
> of as removing the high risk of a short-
> term existence.
>
> Immortality, not really sure what that is
> referring to in the title, as no matter how
> long the 'enhanced' human would live,
> the risks of death would remain (unless
> some type of multiple incor****ations or
> restorative incorpation of the previously
> singularly defined human was arrived at),
> and the non-immortality of our particular
> space-time continuum appears to be an
> insoluble problem.
>
> However, with life spans dramatically
> expanded, with brain power the likes of
> which never have been seen, perhaps even
> that problem could eventually be solved.
>
> All this assumes, of course, that science
> will continue to advance and that humans
> won't become extinct -or- revert back to
> a primitive state of existence prior to hav-
> ing the op****tunity to create the following:
>
> Immortality:: How Science Is Extending
> Your Life Span--and Changing The World
> http://tinyurl.com/56sz5a
>
> - - -
>
> Albert Einstein:
>
> "Immortality? There are two kinds.
> The first lives in the imagination
> of the people, and is thus an illusion.
> There is a relative immortality which
> may conserve the memory of an indi-
> vidual for some generations.
>
> But there is only one true immortality,
> on a cosmic scale, and that is the im-
> mortality of the cosmos itself. There
> is no other."
>
> - - - end excerpt - - -
>
> Einstein, recognizing the possibilities
> of naturalistic infinity, nevertheless
> viewed the individual desire/hope for
> immortality as reflecting an "illusion".
>
> Not sure if Einstein's view represented
>
> o a mathematical concordance with
> the possibility being so low as to be
> practically impossible,
>
> or
>
> o viewed any and all hope for immortality,
> even a naturalistic hope, as an illusion
> that could best be explained by both gen-
> etic and memetic influences (the concept
> of memes, not present in Einstein's day,
> but certainly, he knew that a person's
> environment and upbringing and culture
> heavily impacts his perception of reality),
>
> or
>
> o if he simply rejected any theory that
> existence could be part of a continuum
> or part of a naturalistic multiple dimen-
> sion or part of multiple time-space con-
> tinuums,
>
> or
>
> o if his comment was simply a rejection
> of religious propositions regarding
> immortality.
>
> - - -
>
> Interesting article on some of the history
> of the philosophy of immortality, and
> how that was tied into religious views
> for a long period in western thought,
> with the 'soul' generally used as a lever-
> age point for all immortality philosophy
> in days gone by:
>
> - - -
> Dictionary of the History of Ideas
>
> Death and Immortality
> http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-76
> - - -
>
> Excerpt:
>
> ...
>
> William James noted that on this subject there are
> two kinds of people, "those whom we find indulging
> to their hearts' content in the prospects of immortality,
> and... those who experience the greatest difficulty
> in making such a notion seem real to themselves at
> all. These latter persons are tied to their senses...
> and feel a sort of intellectual loyalty to what they call
> hard facts" (The Will to Believe [1897], p. 40).
>
> But today, even among the first kind, we find rather a
> hope of immortality than a firm belief in it.
>
> Several causes of the erosion of the immortalist's
> position have been suggested, among them the general
> decline of religious beliefs, the refutation of "proofs"
> of immortality by materialist philosophers, and scien-
> tific data showing the dependence of mental phenom-
> ena on the brain. Another reason could well be that
> many may not really care about it. If this is so, it would
> signify a radical change in attitudes not only toward
> death but also toward life.
>
> ...
>
> - - - end excerpt - - -
>
> Comment: The above does not address naturalistic
> immortality, and I suspect that the notion that "many
> may not really care about it" does not reflect the
> truth of the matter, that being that most humans
> continue to object to death (unless the pain of
> living has become intolerable) and to desire a
> pleasant immortality, however unlikely that may
> be.
>
> I do concede, however, that many disbelievers
> have given up on hope, and can't help but wonder
> if that's a reaction to having been taught, from a
> very young age in most instances, that disbelief
> (in God) and lack of hope go hand-in-hand, or
> from being taught that the only way to get immor-
> tality is to believe in the 'right' god in the 'right'
> way.
>
> - - -
>
> ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤ - ¤
>
> ~~~
> Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
> http://fire.prohosting.com/prohuman
> (Freethinking Realist Exploring
> Expressive Liberty, Openness,
> Verity, Enlightenment, & Rationality)
> ~~~
>
>
Picture, if you will...an eternity with a group of bickering,
squabbling
christian women that don't like ***.......now go ahead and puke.....
Spd
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