Greetings good citizen, we continue our journey into the future with a brief overview of aging and how after decades of increasing longevity, we are now watching it slip into reverse...due to poverty.
Healthcare has made some steady advances but you won't get them if you're not rich. This contrasts rather sharply with our predecessors who predicted that by this point in the game you'd be able to choose a cyborg to live in once your physical body started to deteriorate. (and probably as soon as it became apparent all your friends had already 'upgraded'.)
The disturbing rise in dementia has taken this avenue of life extension off the table, which is a shame for those who remain mentally sharp well into their 'golden years'.
Not well publicized and not really part of the old time Futurist mindset is the idea of nano-bots (not in yesterday's discussion of robotics in general, again because this is a recent innovation still in it's infancy.)
Like the notion that robots would be able to cater to your every whim, their invisible counterparts have been imagined as working more like 'magic'...and is some cases performing repairs on the body without being instructed to.
Again, we writers take the 'contrary' path with such miracles and (not in my book) my 'short story' on the topic delved into the, er, 'mercenary nature' of tiny, obedient machines that used 'whatever was at hand' to fabricate their latest instruction.
Yup, the 'dream' is all you'd have to do is clap your hands, speak your instructions clearly, and the nanobots would make the object of your desires appear before you.
For EVERYBODY to have this work, the number of tiny, self-replicating machines would have to be enormous...left unsaid is the matter used to complete the request would also have to come from somewhere. So when the scientist tasked with containing and eliminating the now dangerous phenomenon of too many nanobots serving too many people looked into his sparkling clean toilet bowl and tried to remember when the last time HE cleaned it was...he was troubled indeed.
But I digress.
The 'concept' I was attempting to share here is how nanobots COULD BE used to 'pick up the slack' of your bodies internal maintenance functions, thus extending your life and enhancing your mental acuity...something our overlords wouldn't like very much and a really poor excuse not to do it.
And, at this early stage of the technology, nanobots are 'one trick ponies', they do what they're built to do and nothing more. More importantly, that's ALL they do and to date, they aren't sophisticated enough to listen to, never mind carry out your 'every whim.'
Some of you may find it exciting that research into the human genome (our internal operating instructions) have opened up some amazing possibilities. You may have noticed the most prevalent products coming out of code research are 'life extending' preparations.
Theoretically, if you could defeat the body's 'self-destruct' mechanism, you'd remain young & fit...permanently.
Again, when we start dancing around the topic of 'immortality' it sort of messes with your brain. As a writer this is the essence of my second novel. A breakthrough takes an eighty year old man back to the body of his twenty-year old self and all that entails.
Naturally he's old enough to know better but Mother Nature has put the 'little head' back in charge...if you want to read how this turns out you can buy 'Edge of Eternity' from Amazon.com and again, kindle users can pick it up for .99 cents.
One thing I'll share about my, er, protagonist is he's richer than Crosius, which is why he was able to 'independently fund' reasearch into defeating the death hormone and extending his life.
The conflict here is; once you have the secret of immortality, who do you share it with?
Juxtapose that with the fleeting nature of secrets and we have information that could be used to duplicate the formula is stolen and the chase is on!
Is a whole planet enough for a single immortal? It is doubtful two could occupy the same planet for long...and that opinion has nothing to do with the planet's ability to provide to the needs of two such entities.
Yeah, 'forever' sort of re-arranges your priorities and makes you look at things 'differently'.
If we accept that the 'pillars of civilization' are Equality, Justice and Liberty, immortality certainly makes this a combustable mixture and is incompatible with civilization.
How ironic that humans are 'social' creatures...people may drive you nuts but a lack of them produces the same results...
So, in conclusion, as poverty grows you lifespan decreases. If you're fortunate enough to be rich things are somewhat rosier...and if you're not, not so much.
Equality is an ideal we must strive for if we are to survive as a species.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
Healthcare has made some steady advances but you won't get them if you're not rich. This contrasts rather sharply with our predecessors who predicted that by this point in the game you'd be able to choose a cyborg to live in once your physical body started to deteriorate. (and probably as soon as it became apparent all your friends had already 'upgraded'.)
The disturbing rise in dementia has taken this avenue of life extension off the table, which is a shame for those who remain mentally sharp well into their 'golden years'.
Not well publicized and not really part of the old time Futurist mindset is the idea of nano-bots (not in yesterday's discussion of robotics in general, again because this is a recent innovation still in it's infancy.)
Like the notion that robots would be able to cater to your every whim, their invisible counterparts have been imagined as working more like 'magic'...and is some cases performing repairs on the body without being instructed to.
Again, we writers take the 'contrary' path with such miracles and (not in my book) my 'short story' on the topic delved into the, er, 'mercenary nature' of tiny, obedient machines that used 'whatever was at hand' to fabricate their latest instruction.
Yup, the 'dream' is all you'd have to do is clap your hands, speak your instructions clearly, and the nanobots would make the object of your desires appear before you.
For EVERYBODY to have this work, the number of tiny, self-replicating machines would have to be enormous...left unsaid is the matter used to complete the request would also have to come from somewhere. So when the scientist tasked with containing and eliminating the now dangerous phenomenon of too many nanobots serving too many people looked into his sparkling clean toilet bowl and tried to remember when the last time HE cleaned it was...he was troubled indeed.
But I digress.
The 'concept' I was attempting to share here is how nanobots COULD BE used to 'pick up the slack' of your bodies internal maintenance functions, thus extending your life and enhancing your mental acuity...something our overlords wouldn't like very much and a really poor excuse not to do it.
And, at this early stage of the technology, nanobots are 'one trick ponies', they do what they're built to do and nothing more. More importantly, that's ALL they do and to date, they aren't sophisticated enough to listen to, never mind carry out your 'every whim.'
Some of you may find it exciting that research into the human genome (our internal operating instructions) have opened up some amazing possibilities. You may have noticed the most prevalent products coming out of code research are 'life extending' preparations.
Theoretically, if you could defeat the body's 'self-destruct' mechanism, you'd remain young & fit...permanently.
Again, when we start dancing around the topic of 'immortality' it sort of messes with your brain. As a writer this is the essence of my second novel. A breakthrough takes an eighty year old man back to the body of his twenty-year old self and all that entails.
Naturally he's old enough to know better but Mother Nature has put the 'little head' back in charge...if you want to read how this turns out you can buy 'Edge of Eternity' from Amazon.com and again, kindle users can pick it up for .99 cents.
One thing I'll share about my, er, protagonist is he's richer than Crosius, which is why he was able to 'independently fund' reasearch into defeating the death hormone and extending his life.
The conflict here is; once you have the secret of immortality, who do you share it with?
Juxtapose that with the fleeting nature of secrets and we have information that could be used to duplicate the formula is stolen and the chase is on!
Is a whole planet enough for a single immortal? It is doubtful two could occupy the same planet for long...and that opinion has nothing to do with the planet's ability to provide to the needs of two such entities.
Yeah, 'forever' sort of re-arranges your priorities and makes you look at things 'differently'.
If we accept that the 'pillars of civilization' are Equality, Justice and Liberty, immortality certainly makes this a combustable mixture and is incompatible with civilization.
How ironic that humans are 'social' creatures...people may drive you nuts but a lack of them produces the same results...
So, in conclusion, as poverty grows you lifespan decreases. If you're fortunate enough to be rich things are somewhat rosier...and if you're not, not so much.
Equality is an ideal we must strive for if we are to survive as a species.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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