107-507: Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess ' biological immortality ' due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit . Some scientists, futurists and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immortality may be achievable in
214-510: A futurist and transhumanist , stated in his book The Singularity Is Near that he believes that advanced medical nanorobotics could completely remedy the effects of aging by 2030. According to Richard Feynman , it was his former graduate student and collaborator Albert Hibbs who originally suggested to him (circa 1959) the idea of a medical use for Feynman's theoretical micromachines (see biological machine ). Hibbs suggested that certain repair machines might one day be reduced in size to
321-476: A "cap" at the end of DNA, are thought to be the cause of cell aging. Every time a cell divides the telomere becomes a bit shorter; when it is finally worn down, the cell is unable to split and dies. Telomerase is an enzyme which rebuilds the telomeres in stem cells and cancer cells, allowing them to replicate an infinite number of times. No definitive work has yet demonstrated that telomerase can be used in human somatic cells to prevent healthy tissues from aging. On
428-516: A broader way to refer to any radical changes in society brought about by new technology (such as molecular nanotechnology ), although Vinge and other writers specifically state that without superintelligence, such changes would not qualify as a true singularity. In 1965, I. J. Good wrote that it is more probable than not that an ultra-intelligent machine would be built in the twentieth century. In 1993, Vinge predicted greater-than-human intelligence between 2005 and 2030. In 1996, Yudkowsky predicted
535-436: A computer system, and exist indefinitely in a virtual environment. This could be accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer hardware would initially be installed in the brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes. Components would be added gradually until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, avoiding sharp transitions that would lead to issues of identity , thus running
642-837: A confidence of 50% that human-level AI would be developed by 2040–2050. Prominent technologists and academics dispute the plausibility of a technological singularity, including Paul Allen , Jeff Hawkins , John Holland , Jaron Lanier , Steven Pinker , Theodore Modis , and Gordon Moore , whose law is often cited in support of the concept. Most proposed methods for creating superhuman or transhuman minds fall into one of two categories: intelligence amplification of human brains and artificial intelligence. The many speculated ways to augment human intelligence include bioengineering , genetic engineering , nootropic drugs, AI assistants, direct brain–computer interfaces and mind uploading . These multiple possible paths to an intelligence explosion, all of which will presumably be pursued, makes
749-438: A continuous physical life is to be maintained. This aversion to trauma risk to the brain would naturally result in significant behavioral changes that would render physical immortality undesirable for some people. Organisms otherwise unaffected by these causes of death would still face the problem of obtaining sustenance (whether from currently available agricultural processes or from hypothetical future technological processes) in
856-466: A copy of the original mind, and not the conscious mind of the living entity associated in such a transfer. Without a simultaneous upload of consciousness, the original living entity remains mortal, thus not achieving true immortality. Research on neural correlates of consciousness is yet inconclusive on this issue. Whatever the route to mind upload, persons in this state could then be considered essentially immortal, short of loss or traumatic destruction of
963-610: A cyborg. Some people believe that such modifications would make one impervious to aging and disease and theoretically immortal unless killed or destroyed. As late as 1952, the editorial staff of the Syntopicon found in their compilation of the Great Books of the Western World , that "The philosophical issue concerning immortality cannot be separated from issues concerning the existence and nature of man's soul." Thus,
1070-416: A future physical resurrection ), proclaims an amalgamated view of resurrected believers where both the physical and the spiritual are rebuilt in the likeness of post-resurrection Christ, who "will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body" (ESV). This thought mirrors Paul's depiction of believers having been "buried therefore with him [that is, Christ] by baptism into death" (ESV). N.T. Wright ,
1177-469: A gradual ascent to the singularity, rather than Vinge's rapidly self-improving superhuman intelligence. Oft-cited dangers include those commonly associated with molecular nanotechnology and genetic engineering . These threats are major issues for both singularity advocates and critics, and were the subject of Bill Joy 's April 2000 Wired magazine article " Why The Future Doesn't Need Us ". Some intelligence technologies, like "seed AI", may also have
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#17327655195581284-561: A grain of salt: perhaps differences in memory of recent and distant events could create an illusion of accelerating change where none exists. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen argued the opposite of accelerating returns, the complexity brake; the more progress science makes towards understanding intelligence, the more difficult it becomes to make additional progress. A study of the number of patents shows that human creativity does not show accelerating returns, but in fact, as suggested by Joseph Tainter in his The Collapse of Complex Societies ,
1391-591: A human. Stanislaw Ulam reported in 1958 an earlier discussion with von Neumann "centered on the accelerating progress of technology and changes in human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue". Subsequent authors have echoed this viewpoint. The concept and the term "singularity" were popularized by Vernor Vinge – first in 1983 (in an article that claimed that once humans create intelligences greater than their own, there will be
1498-400: A law of diminishing returns . The number of patents per thousand peaked in the period from 1850 to 1900, and has been declining since. The growth of complexity eventually becomes self-limiting, and leads to a widespread "general systems collapse". Hofstadter (2006) raises concern that Ray Kurzweil is not sufficiently scientifically rigorous, that an exponential tendency of technology is not
1605-656: A living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul. In the New Testament, the Greek word traditionally translated "soul" ( ψυχή ) has substantially the same meaning as the Hebrew, without reference to an immortal soul. "Soul" may refer either to the whole person, the self, as in "three thousand souls " were converted in Acts 2:41 (see Acts 3:23 ). The Hebrew Bible speaks about Sheol (שאול), originally
1712-402: A nanorobotics theorist, suggests tiny medical nanorobots could be created to go through human bloodstreams, find dangerous things like cancer cells and bacteria, and destroy them. Freitas anticipates that gene-therapies and nanotechnology will eventually make the human body effectively self-sustainable and capable of living indefinitely in empty space, short of severe brain trauma. This supports
1819-484: A new creation" , he said. Christian apocrypha include immortal human figures such as Cartaphilus who were cursed with physical immortality for various transgressions against Christ during the Passion. The medieval Waldensians believed in the immortality of the soul. Leaders of sects such as John Asgill and John Wroe taught followers that physical immortality was possible. Many Patristic writers have connected
1926-495: A pattern of exponential growth , following what he calls the " law of accelerating returns ". Whenever technology approaches a barrier, Kurzweil writes, new technologies will surmount it. He predicts paradigm shifts will become increasingly common, leading to "technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history". Kurzweil believes that the singularity will occur by approximately 2045. His predictions differ from Vinge's in that he predicts
2033-570: A recursively self-improving set of algorithms. First, the goal structure of the AI might self-modify, potentially causing the AI to optimise for something other than what was originally intended. Secondly, AIs could compete for the same scarce resources humankind uses to survive. While not actively malicious, AIs would promote the goals of their programming, not necessarily broader human goals, and thus might crowd out humans. Carl Shulman and Anders Sandberg suggest that algorithm improvements may be
2140-401: A scientific law like one of physics, and that exponential curves have no "knees". Nonetheless, he did not rule out the singularity in principle in the distant future and in the light of ChatGPT and other recent advancements has revised his opinion significantly towards dramatic technological change in the near future. Jaron Lanier denies that the singularity is inevitable: "I do not think
2247-630: A singularity in 2021. In 2005, Kurzweil predicted human-level AI around 2029, and the singularity in 2045; and reaffirmed these predictions in 2024 in The Singularity is Nearer . In 1988, Hans Moravec predicted that if the rate of improvement continues, the computing capabilities for human-level AI would be available in supercomputers before 2010. In 1998, Moravec predicted human-level AI by 2040, and intelligence far beyond human by 2050. Four polls of AI researchers, conducted in 2012 and 2013 by Nick Bostrom and Vincent C. Müller , suggested
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#17327655195582354-452: A singularity more likely. Robin Hanson expressed skepticism of human intelligence augmentation, writing that once the "low-hanging fruit" of easy methods for increasing human intelligence have been exhausted, further improvements will become increasingly difficult. Despite all of the speculated ways for amplifying human intelligence, non-human artificial intelligence (specifically seed AI)
2461-451: A solution to each of these causes, a program de Grey calls engineered negligible senescence . There is also a huge body of knowledge indicating that change is characterized by the loss of molecular fidelity. Disease is theoretically surmountable by technology. In short, it is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism, something the body should not typically have to deal with its natural make up. Human understanding of genetics
2568-462: A subject of research and debate. Programmed cell death and the telomere "end replication problem" are found even in the earliest and simplest of organisms. This may be a tradeoff between selecting for cancer and selecting for aging. Modern theories on the evolution of aging include the following: Individual organisms ordinarily age and die, while the germlines which connect successive generations are potentially immortal. The basis for this difference
2675-718: A subjective year would pass in 30 physical seconds. Such a difference in information processing speed could drive the singularity. Technology forecasters and researchers disagree regarding when, or whether, human intelligence will likely be surpassed. Some argue that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will probably result in general reasoning systems that bypass human cognitive limitations. Others believe that humans will evolve or directly modify their biology so as to achieve radically greater intelligence. A number of futures studies focus on scenarios that combine these possibilities, suggesting that humans are likely to interface with computers , or upload their minds to computers , in
2782-653: A synonym of the grave – the repository of the dead or the cessation of existence, until the resurrection of the dead . This doctrine of resurrection is mentioned explicitly only in Daniel 12:1–4 although it may be implied in several other texts. New theories arose concerning Sheol during the intertestamental period . The views about immortality in Judaism is perhaps best exemplified by the various references to this in Second Temple period . The concept of resurrection of
2889-517: A technological and social transition similar in some sense to "the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole", ) and later in his 1993 essay The Coming Technological Singularity , (in which he wrote that it would signal the end of the human era, as the new superintelligence would continue to upgrade itself and would advance technologically at an incomprehensible rate). He wrote that he would be surprised if it occurred before 2005 or after 2030. Another significant contributor to wider circulation of
2996-485: A theologian and former Bishop of Durham , has said many people forget the physical aspect of what Jesus promised. He told Time : "Jesus' resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return . Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead , who will 'awake', be embodied and participate in the renewal. Wright says John Polkinghorne , a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: 'God will download our software onto his hardware until
3103-496: A true intelligence or merely something similar to intelligence is irrelevant if the net result is the same. Psychologist Steven Pinker stated in 2008: "There is not the slightest reason to believe in a coming singularity. The fact that you can visualize a future in your imagination is not evidence that it is likely or even possible. Look at domed cities, jet-pack commuting, underwater cities, mile-high buildings, and nuclear-powered automobiles—all staples of futuristic fantasies when I
3210-434: A way that enables substantial intelligence amplification. The book The Age of Em by Robin Hanson describes a hypothetical future scenario in which human brains are scanned and digitized, creating "uploads" or digital versions of human consciousness. In this future, the development of these uploads may precede or coincide with the emergence of superintelligent artificial intelligence. Some writers use "the singularity" in
3317-415: Is a fundamental problem in biology. The Russian biologist and historian Zhores A. Medvedev considered that the accuracy of genome replicative and other synthetic systems alone cannot explain the immortality of germlines . Rather Medvedev thought that known features of the biochemistry and genetics of sexual reproduction indicate the presence of unique information maintenance and restoration processes at
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3424-522: Is a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life, such as a computer. Pursuit of physical immortality before the advent of modern science included alchemists , who sought to create the Philosopher's Stone , and various cultures' legends such as the Fountain of Youth or
3531-406: Is also a state that the gods at times offer humans. In Christianity , the conviction that God may offer physical immortality with the resurrection of the flesh at the end of time has traditionally been at the center of its beliefs. What form an unending human life would take, or whether an immaterial soul exists and possesses immortality, has been a major point of focus of religion, as well as
3638-516: Is developed, it could run serially on very fast hardware, and the abundance of cheap hardware would make AI research less constrained. An abundance of accumulated hardware that can be unleashed once the software figures out how to use it has been called "computing overhang". Some critics, like philosopher Hubert Dreyfus and philosopher John Searle , assert that computers or machines cannot achieve human intelligence . Others, like physicist Stephen Hawking , object that whether machines can achieve
3745-528: Is gardens, beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom, they say, 'Why, this is what we were fed with before,' for they are given things in similitude; and they have therein companions pure (and holy); and they abide therein forever." In contrast, the kafir hold the contradictory notion that they abide in Jahannam perpetually. Angels in Islam are reckoned as immortals from
3852-459: Is given a long life but not immortality or there is more than a little argument stated about the demise of khidr ; however, it is the matter of debate, and there is a fabrication point that goes around the Khidr drank from the fountain of Life , which is thoroughly invalid. Jesus in Islam was summoned to the sky by Allah's sanction to preserve him from the cross and endow him with long life until
3959-433: Is indeed possible for a creature to be biologically immortal , these are animals which are physiologically very different from humans, and it is not known if something comparable will ever be possible for humans. Immortality in religion refers usually to either the belief in physical immortality or a more spiritual afterlife . In traditions such as ancient Egyptian beliefs, Mesopotamian beliefs and ancient Greek beliefs,
4066-731: Is leading to cures and treatments for a myriad of previously incurable diseases. The mechanisms by which other diseases do damage are becoming better understood. Sophisticated methods of detecting diseases early are being developed. Preventative medicine is becoming better understood. Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's may soon be curable with the use of stem cells . Breakthroughs in cell biology and telomere research are leading to treatments for cancer. Vaccines are being researched for AIDS and tuberculosis . Genes associated with type 1 diabetes and certain types of cancer have been discovered, allowing for new therapies to be developed. Artificial devices attached directly to
4173-442: Is predicted by Moore's Law and the forecasted improvements in hardware, and is comparatively similar to previous technological advances. But Schulman and Sandberg argue that software will present more complex challenges than simply operating on hardware capable of running at human intelligence levels or beyond. A 2017 email survey of authors with publications at the 2015 NeurIPS and ICML machine learning conferences asked about
4280-440: Is referred to as Seed AI because if an AI were created with engineering capabilities that matched or surpassed those of its human creators, it would have the potential to autonomously improve its own software and hardware to design an even more capable machine, which could repeat the process in turn. This recursive self-improvement could accelerate, potentially allowing enormous qualitative change before any upper limits imposed by
4387-403: Is the most popular option among the hypotheses that would advance the singularity. The possibility of an intelligence explosion depends on three factors. The first accelerating factor is the new intelligence enhancements made possible by each previous improvement. Contrariwise, as the intelligences become more advanced, further advances will become more and more complicated, possibly outweighing
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4494-419: Is warranted in exploiting this property, as exactly this same unbounded growth is a crucial step in enabling cancerous growth. If an organism can replicate its body cells faster, then it would theoretically stop aging. Embryonic stem cells express telomerase, which allows them to divide repeatedly and form the individual. In adults, telomerase is highly expressed in cells that need to divide regularly (e.g., in
4601-473: Is where computing power approaches infinity in a finite amount of time. In this version, once AIs are performing the research to improve themselves, speed doubles e.g. after 2 years, then 1 year, then 6 months, then 3 months, then 1.5 months, etc., where the infinite sum of the doubling periods is 4 years. Unless prevented by physical limits of computation and time quantization, this process would literally achieve infinite computing power in 4 years, properly earning
4708-694: The Dead Sea scrolls texts. Both Josephus and the New Testament record that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife , but the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees . The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not. According to Josephus , who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only
4815-520: The Peaches of Immortality inspiring attempts at discovering an elixir of life . Modern scientific trends, such as cryonics , digital immortality , breakthroughs in rejuvenation , or predictions of an impending technological singularity , to achieve genuine human physical immortality, must still overcome all causes of death to succeed. There are three main causes of death: natural aging , disease , and injury . Such issues can be resolved with
4922-461: The human brain , as well as taking up a lot less space. The exponential growth in computing technology suggested by Moore's law is commonly cited as a reason to expect a singularity in the relatively near future, and a number of authors have proposed generalizations of Moore's law. Computer scientist and futurist Hans Moravec proposed in a 1998 book that the exponential growth curve could be extended back through earlier computing technologies prior to
5029-518: The integrated circuit . Ray Kurzweil postulates a law of accelerating returns in which the speed of technological change (and more generally, all evolutionary processes) increases exponentially, generalizing Moore's law in the same manner as Moravec's proposal, and also including material technology (especially as applied to nanotechnology ), medical technology and others. Between 1986 and 2007, machines' application-specific capacity to compute information per capita roughly doubled every 14 months;
5136-583: The nervous system may restore sight to the blind. Drugs are being developed to treat a myriad of other diseases and ailments. Physical trauma would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, as an otherwise immortal person would still be subject to unforeseen accidents or catastrophes. The speed and quality of paramedic response remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma. A body that could automatically repair itself from severe trauma, such as speculated uses for nanotechnology , would mitigate this factor. The brain cannot be risked to trauma if
5243-719: The Fall , although this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition". Christians who profess the Nicene Creed believe that every dead person (whether they believed in Christ or not) will be resurrected from the dead at the Second Coming ; this belief is known as universal resurrection . Paul the Apostle , in following his past life as a Pharisee (a Jewish social movement that held to
5350-531: The Internet, DNA, the transistor, or nuclear energy – had been observed in the previous twenty years while five of them would have been expected according to the exponential trend advocated by the proponents of the technological singularity. AI researcher Jürgen Schmidhuber stated that the frequency of subjectively "notable events" appears to be approaching a 21st-century singularity, but cautioned readers to take such plots of subjective events with
5457-506: The advanced industrial societies are already markedly longer than those of the past because of better nutrition, availability of health care, standard of living and bio-medical scientific advances. Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term. An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination of human cloning , cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension. Robert Freitas ,
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#17327655195585564-431: The advantage of increased intelligence. Each improvement should generate at least one more improvement, on average, for movement towards singularity to continue. Finally, the laws of physics may eventually prevent further improvement. There are two logically independent, but mutually reinforcing, causes of intelligence improvements: increases in the speed of computation, and improvements to the algorithms used. The former
5671-580: The advent of the Dajjal . Dajjal is, additionally, given a long life. Jesus Christ dispatches the Dajjal as he stays after 40 days, one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and the rest of his days like normal days. The Qur'an states that it is the ultimate fate of all life, including humans , to die eventually. كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ (Every soul will taste death) The traditional concept of an immaterial and immortal soul distinct from
5778-515: The amount or proportion of telomerase in the body, a naturally forming enzyme that helps maintain the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes , could prevent cells from dying and so may ultimately lead to extended, healthier lifespans. A team of researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Centre ( Madrid ) tested the hypothesis on mice. It was found that those mice which were " genetically engineered to produce 10 times
5885-542: The basic intelligence of the human brain, which has not, according to Paul R. Ehrlich , changed significantly for millennia. However, with the increasing power of computers and other technologies, it might eventually be possible to build a machine that is significantly more intelligent than humans. If a superhuman intelligence were to be invented—either through the amplification of human intelligence or through artificial intelligence—it would, in theory, vastly improve over human problem-solving and inventive skills. Such an AI
5992-687: The body was not found in Judaism before the Babylonian exile , but developed as a result of interaction with Persian and Hellenistic philosophies . Accordingly, the Hebrew word nephesh , although translated as "soul" in some older English-language Bibles, actually has a meaning closer to "living being". Nephesh was rendered in the Septuagint as ψυχή ( psūchê ), the Greek word for 'soul'. The only Hebrew word traditionally translated "soul" ( nephesh ) in English language Bibles refers to
6099-411: The chance that "the intelligence explosion argument is broadly correct". Of the respondents, 12% said it was "quite likely", 17% said it was "likely", 21% said it was "about even", 24% said it was "unlikely" and 26% said it was "quite unlikely". Both for human and artificial intelligence, hardware improvements increase the rate of future hardware improvements. An analogy to Moore's Law suggests that if
6206-452: The changes that human intelligence brought: humans changed the world thousands of times more rapidly than evolution had done, and in totally different ways. Similarly, the evolution of life was a massive departure and acceleration from the previous geological rates of change, and improved intelligence could cause change to be as different again. There are substantial dangers associated with an intelligence explosion singularity originating from
6313-449: The concept in terms of the technological creation of super intelligence, arguing that it is difficult or impossible for present-day humans to predict what human beings' lives would be like in a post-singularity world. The related concept "speed superintelligence" describes an AI that can function like a human mind, only much faster. For example, with a million-fold increase in the speed of information processing relative to that of humans,
6420-459: The death of a certain individual, it will be arbitrated consistent with its beliefs as well as actions and will embark on the ever-lasting place where they will abate. The Muslim who holds the five pillars of Islam will make an entrance into the Jannah , where they will inhabit eternally. Al-Baqarah (2:25): "But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that their portion
6527-454: The design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an 'intelligence explosion', and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make, provided that the machine is docile enough to tell us how to keep it under control. One version of intelligence explosion
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#17327655195586634-491: The different stages of gametogenesis . In particular, Medvedev considered that the most important opportunities for information maintenance of germ cells are created by recombination during meiosis and DNA repair ; he saw these as processes within the germ cells that were capable of restoring the integrity of DNA and chromosomes from the types of damage that cause irreversible aging in somatic cells . Chemical Neurological Some scientists believe that boosting
6741-424: The entire structure in a computer. What level of detail such scans and simulations would need to achieve to emulate awareness, and whether the scanning process would destroy the brain, is still to be determined. It is suggested that achieving immortality through this mechanism would require specific consideration to be given to the role of consciousness in the functions of the mind . An uploaded mind would only be
6848-431: The existence of biologically immortal species demonstrates, there is no thermodynamic necessity for senescence: a defining feature of life is that it takes in free energy from the environment and unloads its entropy as waste. Living systems can even build themselves up from seed, and routinely repair themselves. Aging is therefore presumed to be a byproduct of evolution , but why mortality should be selected for remains
6955-418: The face of changing availability of suitable resources as environmental conditions change. After avoiding aging, disease, and trauma, death through resource limitation is still possible, such as hypoxia or starvation . If there is no limitation on the degree of gradual mitigation of risk then it is possible that the cumulative probability of death over an infinite horizon is less than certainty , even when
7062-448: The first doubling of speed took 18 months, the second would take 18 subjective months; or 9 external months, whereafter, four months, two months, and so on towards a speed singularity. Some upper limit on speed may eventually be reached. Jeff Hawkins has stated that a self-improving computer system would inevitably run into upper limits on computing power: "in the end there are limits to how big and fast computers can run. We would end up in
7169-417: The first few decades of the 21st century with the help of certain technologies such as mind uploading ( digital immortality ). Other advocates believe that life extension is a more achievable goal in the short term, with immortality awaiting further research breakthroughs. The absence of aging would provide humans with biological immortality, but not invulnerability to death by disease or injury . Whether
7276-445: The first known person to use the concept of a "singularity" in the technological context. Alan Turing , often regarded as the father of modern computer science, laid a crucial foundation for the contemporary discourse on the technological singularity. His pivotal 1950 paper, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," introduces the idea of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to or indistinguishable from that of
7383-440: The future after cures to the patients' diseases have been discovered and aging is reversible . Modern cryonics procedures use a process called vitrification which creates a glass-like state rather than freezing as the body is brought to low temperatures. This process reduces the risk of ice crystals damaging the cell-structure, which would be especially detrimental to cell structures in the brain, as their minute adjustment evokes
7490-464: The immortal gods consequently were considered to have physical bodies. In Mesopotamian and Greek religion, the gods also made certain men and women physically immortal, whereas in Christianity, many believe that all true believers will be resurrected to physical immortality. Similar beliefs that physical immortality is possible are held by Rastafarians or Rebirthers . Physical immortality
7597-482: The immortal rational soul to the image of God found in Genesis 1:26. Among them is Athanasius of Alexandria and Clement of Alexandria, who say that the immortal rational soul itself is the image of God. Even Early Christian Liturgies exhibit this connection between the immortal rational soul and the creation of humanity in the image of God. Islamic beliefs bears the concept of spiritual immortality within it; following
7704-408: The immune system), whereas most somatic cells express it only at very low levels in a cell-cycle dependent manner. Technological immortality is the prospect for much longer life spans made possible by scientific advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics, biological engineering , regenerative medicine , microbiology , and others. Contemporary life spans in
7811-438: The improved hardware, or to program factories appropriately. An AI rewriting its own source code could do so while contained in an AI box . Second, as with Vernor Vinge 's conception of the singularity, it is much harder to predict the outcome. While speed increases seem to be only a quantitative difference from human intelligence, actual algorithm improvements would be qualitatively different. Eliezer Yudkowsky compares it to
7918-461: The incentive to invest in the technologies that would be required to bring about the Singularity. Job displacement is increasingly no longer limited to those types of work traditionally considered to be "routine". Theodore Modis and Jonathan Huebner argue that the rate of technological innovation has not only ceased to rise, but is actually now declining. Evidence for this decline is that
8025-417: The individual's mind. One idea that has been advanced involves uploading an individual's habits and memories via direct mind-computer interface . The individual's memory may be loaded to a computer or to a new organic body. Extropian futurists like Moravec and Kurzweil have proposed that, thanks to exponentially growing computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human consciousness onto
8132-402: The laws of physics or theoretical computation set in. It is speculated that over many iterations, such an AI would far surpass human cognitive abilities . I. J. Good speculated that superhuman intelligence might bring about an intelligence explosion: Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since
8239-421: The limiting factor for a singularity; while hardware efficiency tends to improve at a steady pace, software innovations are more unpredictable and may be bottlenecked by serial, cumulative research. They suggest that in the case of a software-limited singularity, intelligence explosion would actually become more likely than with a hardware-limited singularity, because in the software-limited case, once human-level AI
8346-447: The machines that maintained them. Transforming a human into a cyborg can include brain implants or extracting a human processing unit and placing it in a robotic life-support system. Even replacing biological organs with robotic ones could increase life span (e.g. 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
8453-557: The most popular version of the singularity hypothesis, I. J. Good 's intelligence explosion model of 1965, an upgradable intelligent agent could eventually enter a positive feedback loop of self-improvement cycles, each successive; and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing a rapid increase ("explosion") in intelligence which would ultimately result in a powerful superintelligence , qualitatively far surpassing all human intelligence . The Hungarian-American mathematician John von Neumann (1903-1957) became
8560-523: The name "singularity" for the final state. This form of intelligence explosion is described in Yudkowsky (1996). A superintelligence, hyperintelligence, or superhuman intelligence is a hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest and most gifted human minds. "Superintelligence" may also refer to the form or degree of intelligence possessed by such an agent. John von Neumann , Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil define
8667-435: The normal levels of telomerase lived 50% longer than normal mice". In normal circumstances, without the presence of telomerase, if a cell divides repeatedly, at some point all the progeny will reach their Hayflick limit . With the presence of telomerase, each dividing cell can replace the lost bit of DNA , and any single cell can then divide unbounded. While this unbounded growth property has excited many researchers, caution
8774-429: The notion was Ray Kurzweil 's 2005 book The Singularity Is Near , predicting singularity by 2045. Some scientists, including Stephen Hawking , have expressed concern that artificial superintelligence (ASI) could result in human extinction. The consequences of a technological singularity and its potential benefit or harm to the human race have been intensely debated. Prominent technologists and academics dispute
8881-458: The other hand, scientists hope to be able to grow organs with the help of stem cells, allowing organ transplants without the risk of rejection, another step in extending human life expectancy. These technologies are the subject of ongoing research, and are not yet realized. Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes of death besides aging, including disease and trauma, as defined above. Notable immortal species include: As
8988-451: The per capita capacity of the world's general-purpose computers has doubled every 18 months; the global telecommunication capacity per capita doubled every 34 months; and the world's storage capacity per capita doubled every 40 months. On the other hand, it has been argued that the global acceleration pattern having the 21st century singularity as its parameter should be characterized as hyperbolic rather than exponential. Kurzweil reserves
9095-486: The perspective of Islam but most people believe is that the angels will die and that the Angel of Death will die, but there is no clear text concerning this. Rather there are texts which may indicate this, and there is the well known hadeeth (narration) about the "trumpet", which is a munkar hadeeth (rejected report). alternatively, Jinn have a long lifespan between 1000 and 1500. In some Muslim Sufi mystics, Khidr
9202-518: The physical body is found in 2 Maccabees , according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh. Resurrection of the dead is specified in detail in the extra-canonical books of Enoch , and in Apocalypse of Baruch . According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism P.R. Davies , there is "little or no clear reference ... either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in
9309-517: The plausibility of a technological singularity and the associated artificial intelligence explosion, including Paul Allen , Jeff Hawkins , John Holland , Jaron Lanier , Steven Pinker , Theodore Modis , and Gordon Moore . One claim made was that the artificial intelligence growth is likely to run into decreasing returns instead of accelerating ones, as was observed in previously developed human technologies. Although technological progress has been accelerating in most areas, it has been limited by
9416-672: The point that it would, in theory, be possible to (as Feynman put it) "swallow the doctor". The idea was incorporated into Feynman's 1959 essay There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom . Cryonics , the practice of preserving organisms (either intact specimens or only their brains) for possible future revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are almost completely stopped, can be used to 'pause' for those who believe that life extension technologies will not develop sufficiently within their lifetime. Ideally, cryonics would allow clinically dead people to be brought back in
9523-477: The potential to not just make themselves faster, but also more efficient, by modifying their source code . These improvements would make further improvements possible, which would make further improvements possible, and so on. The mechanism for a recursively self-improving set of algorithms differs from an increase in raw computation speed in two ways. First, it does not require external influence: machines designing faster hardware would still require humans to create
9630-405: The process of internal immortality is delivered within the upcoming years depends chiefly on research (and in neuron research in the case of internal immortality through an immortalized cell line) in the former view and perhaps is an awaited goal in the latter case. From at least the time of the ancient Mesopotamians , there has been a conviction that gods may be physically immortal, and that this
9737-448: The rise in computer clock rates is slowing, even while Moore's prediction of exponentially increasing circuit density continues to hold. This is due to excessive heat build-up from the chip, which cannot be dissipated quickly enough to prevent the chip from melting when operating at higher speeds. Advances in speed may be possible in the future by virtue of more power-efficient CPU designs and multi-cell processors. Theodore Modis holds
9844-447: The risk of fatal trauma in any finite period is greater than zero. Mathematically, this is an aspect of achieving 'actuarial escape velocity' . Biological immortality is an absence of aging. Specifically it is the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal. Biologists have chosen
9951-407: The risk of the person to be declared dead and thus not be a legitimate owner of his or her property. After this point, the human body could be treated as an optional accessory and the program implementing the person could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. Another possible mechanism for mind upload is to perform a detailed scan of an individual's original, organic brain and simulate
10058-446: The same place; we'd just get there a bit faster. There would be no singularity." It is difficult to directly compare silicon -based hardware with neurons . But Berglas (2008) notes that computer speech recognition is approaching human capabilities, and that this capability seems to require 0.01% of the volume of the brain. This analogy suggests that modern computer hardware is within a few orders of magnitude of being as powerful as
10165-441: The singularity cannot happen. He claims the "technological singularity" and especially Kurzweil lack scientific rigor; Kurzweil is alleged to mistake the logistic function (S-function) for an exponential function, and to see a "knee" in an exponential function where there can in fact be no such thing. In a 2021 article, Modis pointed out that no milestones – breaks in historical perspective comparable in importance to
10272-869: The solutions provided in research to any end providing such alternate theories at present that require unification. See also: DNA damage theory of aging Aubrey de Grey , a leading researcher in the field, defines aging as "a collection of cumulative changes to the molecular and cellular structure of an adult organism , which result in essential metabolic processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt metabolism, resulting in pathology and death." The current causes of aging in humans are cell loss (without replacement), DNA damage , oncogenic nuclear mutations and epimutations , cell senescence , mitochondrial mutations, lysosomal aggregates, extracellular aggregates, random extracellular cross-linking, immune system decline, and endocrine changes. Eliminating aging would require finding
10379-583: The soul was immortal and the souls of good people will be reincarnated and "pass into other bodies", while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment." The Book of Jubilees seems to refer to the resurrection of the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul. Technological singularity The technological singularity —or simply the singularity —is a hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization . According to
10486-471: The subject of speculation and debate. In religious contexts, immortality is often stated to be one of the promises of divinities to human beings who perform virtue or follow divine law . Life extension technologies claim to be developing a path to complete rejuvenation . Cryonics holds out the hope that the dead can be revived in the future, following sufficient medical advancements. While, as shown with creatures such as hydra and Planarian worms, it
10593-410: The sum total of human brainpower, writing that advances in computing before that date "will not represent the Singularity" because they do "not yet correspond to a profound expansion of our intelligence." Some singularity proponents argue its inevitability through extrapolation of past trends, especially those pertaining to shortening gaps between improvements to technology. In one of the first uses of
10700-442: The technology is creating itself. It's not an autonomous process." Furthermore: "The reason to believe in human agency over technological determinism is that you can then have an economy where people earn their own way and invent their own lives. If you structure a society on not emphasizing individual human agency, it's the same thing operationally as denying people clout, dignity, and self-determination ... to embrace [the idea of
10807-452: The term "singularity" for a rapid increase in artificial intelligence (as opposed to other technologies), writing for example that "The Singularity will allow us to transcend these limitations of our biological bodies and brains ... There will be no distinction, post-Singularity, between human and machine". He also defines his predicted date of the singularity (2045) in terms of when he expects computer-based intelligences to significantly exceed
10914-489: The term "singularity" in the context of technological progress, Stanislaw Ulam tells of a conversation with John von Neumann about accelerating change: One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue. Kurzweil claims that technological progress follows
11021-516: The theory that we will be able to continually create biological or synthetic replacement parts to replace damaged or dying ones. Future advances in nanomedicine could give rise to life extension through the repair of many processes thought to be responsible for aging. K. Eric Drexler , one of the founders of nanotechnology , postulated cell repair devices, including ones operating within cells and using as yet hypothetical biological machines , in his 1986 book Engines of Creation . Raymond Kurzweil ,
11128-537: The time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.' That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death (the Intermediate state ) is a period when we are in God's presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering Christ's kingdom ." This kingdom will consist of Heaven and Earth "joined together in
11235-480: The vast majority of speculation on immortality before the 21st century was regarding the nature of the afterlife. The viewpoints of Christianity , Islam , and Judaism regarding the concept of immortality diverge as each faith system encapsulates unique theological interpretations and doctrines on the enduring human nature soul or spirit . Christian theology holds that Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants through
11342-588: The word "immortal" to designate cells that are not limited by the Hayflick limit , where cells no longer divide because of DNA damage or shortened telomeres . The first and still most widely used immortal cell line is HeLa , developed from cells taken from the malignant cervical tumor of Henrietta Lacks without her consent in 1951. Prior to the 1961 work of Leonard Hayflick , there was the erroneous belief fostered by Alexis Carrel that all normal somatic cells are immortal. By preventing cells from reaching senescence one can achieve biological immortality; telomeres,
11449-502: Was a child that have never arrived. Sheer processing power is not a pixie dust that magically solves all your problems." Martin Ford postulates a "technology paradox" in that before the singularity could occur most routine jobs in the economy would be automated, since this would require a level of technology inferior to that of the singularity. This would cause massive unemployment and plummeting consumer demand, which in turn would destroy
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