[Crisn]

Philosophical question for all of you, how does one obtain immortality?
How does one live eternally? What must you do, what path must you take, what must you accomplish, what elixir must you drink? answer these questions when you have truly know you have obtained immortality.

[Dark_Clown]

there are only 3 ways which keeps u in the memory of ppl for ever
first would be wat ppl like hitler or Stalin did... just kill a few million ppl
2nd would be the jesus style... make ur own religion or 3rd invite something wat everyone needs

[Asuka]

Answer according to Current knowledge: It is impossible to live "Forever," since all life eventually comes to an end. If you change live to "be remembered" or "exist," you run into the same problem. Memories will fade, and records and history books can be easily replaced by forgeries (with small details, such as a name or a photo) or lost forever. Additionally, because any record of a person will be inherently one-sided and biased, the "essence" of a person cannot be captured. Therefore, Eternity will be forever out of our reach. However, going by the same logic, it is possible to exist or be remembered for a very long time.

[myth0logy]

Immortality means unable to die. That is quite impossible to achieve. Everything that is alive can die, be it from a bullet through a vital organ or killing off the organism's only food source.

Living forever, on the other hand, is actually feasible. Slowing, stopping or reversing the effects of aging and wear and tear on the body are being developed and refined. Modern medicine is allowing people to live longer and stay healthier. yesterday's age 40 is this year's age 55 in terms of general health and life expectancy. Within another 100 years, I'm fairly sure old age as a cause of death is going to be outclassed (bad metaphore, I know) by accidental deaths, and murder being in the top 5.

[HomicidalWolf]

Immortality is simply impossible and it will most likely never be possible, but if someone was to discover how to make an elixer for immortality, that potion would probably only protect give the drinker immortality to time(death by age or deteriorated organs), but not from other deaths like bullets, sharp object like forks and knives, disease, etc...

[Crisn]

There are many ways to achieve immortality. When I say these names, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Caesar, Martin Luther. King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, what comes to mind? You immediately think of their achievements, their goals, their ideals, their lasting fame. In a way they are immortal, immortality does not mean "unable to die", it means endless existence. Correct me if im wrong, but these people seem to live on in all of us. "He is gone, but not forgotten." "his infamy shall live throughout the ages"

[devrait]

No one's live forever...
immortal just like a blessing and curse.. double edged sword... seeing someone you love death one after one.. that's one freaking thing for me..

[VooDooLord]

I agree.

I think that true immortality is more of an idea than an actual physical characteristic. Immortality can only be attained by making your memory last or by etching your self into history.

[HomicidalWolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crisn

There are many ways to achieve immortality. When I say these names, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Caesar, Martin Luther. King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, what comes to mind? You immediately think of their achievements, their goals, their ideals, their lasting fame. In a way they are immortal, immortality does not mean "unable to die", it means endless existence. Correct me if im wrong, but these people seem to live on in all of us. "He is gone, but not forgotten." "his infamy shall live throughout the ages"

Yeah I see your point, but even their legacies are not immortal, I mean history can be erased and/or forgotten.

[Crisn]

Quote: Originally Posted by HomicidalWolf

Yeah I see your point, but even their legacies are not immortal, I mean history can be erased and/or forgotten.

Yes but they have achieved what others have desperately tried and failed. Their achievements are paramount to all others which let them stand out in history. The reason we still remember Alexander, Caesar, Leonidas and the 300 spartans, Atilla the Hun, Hitler is because their stories are repeated over and over. True Scholars of history willl never let such things be forgotten. As a measure to either prevent or remind the future of what is at stake.

[Macho Moron]

That's why I love sc-fi. You learn many interesting theories from it.

The best chance of immortality we can get is by using nano (or pico, or even smaller) technologies and advanced medicine.

First of all, the only organ that can't be changed without "death" is brain, the rest are (or will be) replaceable. So someone stabbed your heart... your insurance will pay and you will get a new one. Any organ can be changed like this, so you might even archieve immortality by doing "neccesary" repairs... like once in 20 years. It pretty much reminds maintenance of a new car - change tires after n miles, change brakes after n more, etc. Obviously, this technology would be for rich only... unless we cloned needed organs.

Where do nano-technologies step in? Well, with some small machines running through your veins you could actually help your organizm to do stuff. They might also tell you about problems, report your help to some computer (useful if you were attacked or something), do some patching and so on. In case of emergency (like heartstroke) they could supply your brain with oxygen and other neccesary things, thus pretty much leaving you alive till help arrives.

The problem is with brain. Obviously, information from it could be extracted and recorded into some other brain, but wouldn't it be death anyway? If not, a person could have some "backups" and pretty much live forever. You got buried under a mudslide? Your lawyer would just have to send a copy of your backup and "order" a new body. Unless something destroyed our mother Earth, you could live pretty damn long.

If brain can't be replaced... with such "upgrades" you would still live MUCH longer than any person nowadays. You would not be immortal... but pretty close, right?

[Frankincense]

i once watched a documentary about head transplant... it's very creepy. for more information look at wikipedia.

about brain transplant AKA whole body transplant. i think it's possible, even heart transplant was impossible before, but it won't happen in the near, or even far, future. but if your soul need a new vessel, maybe some forbidden ninjutsu technique could help...

says, IMO, preventing aging process may be easier than give the brain a new host, maybe the genetic engineers will be able to modify the gene which control our aging... or something. i don't know. it's not my area.

still, immortality is closest to impossible. immortality means life for eternity, an amount of time so long that it makes the age of the universe negligible. but look on the bright side, we still have billion of years to think of a way to, and pray that God will help us, escape from this universe. after that, who knows.

one last thing, for he who seeks to achieve immortality, his head could use some help of a screwdriver. immortality is the most ultimate curse that a single human being could bear. the longer you have that, the bigger your regret will become.

[Crisn]

If you want to talk about organ transplants, look up this new idea, "decellularization". What they do is take an organ of pig, (which its' anatomy is closely resembles human anatomy), bleach out the cells and left with this tranparent matrix that looks like the organ, then take a cell of a host such as a human, and let it proliferate into the "ghost" organ. within 2 weeks, the organ will be functional. They already did this with a rats heart but they are hoping to use this technique if it can be used, so that any people waiting for heart transplants will be able to receive it without having wait or the drawbacks. I dont want to explain in full detail. This is for all my science lovers to research :)

[multy]

I dunno about immortality... I've learned some methods on how some people are able to live until 150 years or more... and none of them is enjoyable.

Immortality... of essence (soul) or is it of form (physical)?

The nearest possibility to obtain immortality of form... is by controlling the death of cells. By letting cells to continue to regenerate... eventually one can obtain an immortal body.

It is logical... however, this means that we somehow have to be able to control cancer. Cancer is a cell that is always regenerating and multiplying... unknown to death. The product is a young undeveloped cell which is defective. IF the cancer can be controlled and maintained to produce a functional cell... then we can have a regenerative body like Piccolo or Cell from DBZ.

Try asking Haibara Ai or Miyano Shiho for her aptx 4869... maybe we can learn something. That is assuming you can get past her "cool guy" bodyguard and not getting killed by MIB after succeeding.

Another way is through genetic clones... however... what is created... is not you. It LOOKS like you... but not your own self. I know some movies that clone someone in order to maintain a fresh supply of organs for himself... this is bullshit... unless a clone is perfectly maintained to have the same experience with the original (growing up, life experience, etc) then the success rate for this theory will plummet.

As for immortality of essence... since I believe in god and the immortality of souls.... so I don't really think on how to preserve it.

Yet again, even C.C desires death...

[xibo]

hmm? >.>

artificial intelligence is immortal, at least when it comes to "natural" death, as living beings ability to regenerate its nonvital damage is shifted to robotic ai s ability to self-exchanging electronics.

as for living beings, they can become immortal by making a pactio with demons.

@multy: clones may be genetically equal but they doNOT have to look identical

@crisn: btw martin luther is ALOT more popular then martin luther king