What if they did? What if death becomes optional?
I am not sure if I buy into what some of my transhumanist friends posit...that eventually, technology will advance to the point where we can all choose when and if we want to die. I have friends (very educated, down-to-earth friends) who honestly believe that they will some day have the option of having their minds uploaded somewhere and having their individual, personal consciousness persist indefinitely.
It's entirely possible that these folks have read too much science fiction, but what if they're right? What if the cycles of death/rebirth no longer applied to us?
I hope this doesn't divert from the topic too much.
As much as I wish that was true for my loved ones, I do NOT wish it true for humanity. I think it would be a detriment.
Yes, there are people who never stagnate, who always think, who would be a benefit to humanity for as long as they could keep thinking. But .. 99%+ of us are not that. Which is not to say that we're worthless or anything along those lines - we're anything but! But .. that's an AWFUL lot of people that would be existing in some form. That's a LOT of people that HAVE stagnated, that don't have any reason to push, to create, to *do* - they'd just *be*.
Survival wouldn't even be a motivation, because we'd be eternal in our computer brains ....
No, I really do believe that death IS an integral part of life. Without it, we lose a lot of our impetus to do things, because we are eternal. There's no reason to *do*.
I could be wrong, but right now, I don't see that as an advantage. I see it as a loss.
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