|
|
 Acne (1,500)
Addictions (1,500)
Advice (1,500)
Allergies (1,092)
Alternative Medicine (1,500)
Anti Aging (1,500)
Breakup (1,500)
Cancer (1,499)
Dental Care (1,500)
Disabilities (1,500)
Divorce (1,500)
Elderly Care (1,498)
Goal Setting (1,500)
Hair Loss (1,500)
Health and Safety (1,497)
Hearing (1,500)
Law of Attraction (1,499)
Marriage (1,500)
Medicine (1,497)
Meditation (1,499)
Men's Health (1,500)
Mental Health (1,500)
Motivational (1,500)
Nutrition (1,495)
Personal Injury (1,499)
Plastic Surgeries (1,500)
Pregnancy (1,496)
Psychology (1,500)
Public Speaking (1,500)
Quit Smoking (1,500)
Religion (1,499)
Self Help (1,500)
Skin Care (1,500)
Sleep (1,500)
Stress Management (1,500)
Teenagers (1,492)
Time Management (1,500)
Weddings (1,500)
Wellness (1,500)
Women's Health (1,500)
Women's Issues (1,500)
|
Can We Live Forever by Carol Forsloff Ray Kurzweil thinks we can. He's a research scientist who has won many awards that include the 1999 Medal of Technology and 12 honorary doctorates in science, engineering, music and humane letters, written many books, and is known as the father of voice to text technology. He believes that with the use of computers a perfect replica of any object can be made and that through virtual reality you can exist in several places at once--at home, at work or on the beach in Hawaii, and feel completely real. He observes that this can happen because of technology and that we can incorporate computer-based functions into our biological processes and therefore become immortal. The idea that we can create anything and that we can live forever certainly provokes philosophical, religious, moral and ethical concerns. If we can create anything, will it ever be valuable again? How does responsibility, discipline and human values relate to issues of immortality? If we can have anything we want, what impact would that have on ordinary human behavior? If we are able to live forever, would we plan right, treat our brothers with more love or greater disdain? How would that impact our natural world? Scientists who deal with and plan for the future tell us that we are on the verge of such vast technological changes that human existence will eventually be dramatically altered in ways we can only imagine. They tell us that through gene research and what is called nanotechnology that we will be able to go beyond our frail and limited bodies and that illness and disability will someday be eliminated. Hans Moravec of Carnegie Mellon has said that biology won't be able to come up to what can be accomplished by the nanotechnology revolution. Kurzweil tells us that the robotic revolution will give us artificial intelligence in a number of different forms. Nanomedicine will eliminate 50% of conditions that can be prevented medically. These scientists maintain that we will eventually be able to have our bodies and our brains rebuilt by technology. The implications of all of this are astounding. If this all becomes possible, do we look at these happenings as a gift from God or a curse for mankind? Throughout the centuries as our scientists have tested, there have been those who fought against them and declared that the world was indeed flat, that pharmaceuticals were poison, and that those who worked with the unknown were in concert with the devil and were burned at the stake. If it is true that we will eventually have the resources to cure diseases and live longer and longer lives, for centuries perhaps, we need to start examining how we will interact with each other and our planet and whether or not we can accept these changes if they come. References:Fantastic Voyage: The Science Behind Radical Life Extensionby Terry Grossmand Ray Kurzweil,Singulairity is Nearby Ray Kurzweil, andNanofuture: What's Next for Nanotechnologyby J. Storrs Hall.
|
|
|
