Then in the beginning at least there is the risk of extreme social inequality and a gerontocratic ruling class. Only the wealthy will have access to life extension and it may be the wealthy power structures that deny the technology to other people.
Finally, a civilisation made up of long-lived individuals may become extremely risk-averse, with possible consequences of reduced experimentation, creativity and rebellion. They may also turn out a little like what Larry Niven makes of the Puppeteer race: powerful, cowardly creatures, highly ritualistic, paternalistic and soft-totalitarian.
I wish I could recall the name of that story, but it always painted a pleasant picture of immortality to me. Hopefully someone here recognizes it and can share it with us.
It's available for free at Stross' blog: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poincar%C3%A9_recurrence_theore...
So for me true immortality is not only about unbounded time but also unbounded size, neither of which seems achievable.
For all purposes of regular human condition though, an approximation is good enough.
I definitely don't want to live forever.
So my answer is No, and no one will ever be immortal.
It's hard for humans to conceptualize eternity, so don't think of it in those terms. If I could live in my current body for 1000 years, I'd still never get around to most of my backlog of things I'd like to do.
Boredom is mostly caused by lack of purpose IMO. As long as there is something to learn, something to explore, something to achieve, something new or pleasurable to experience, boredom is the last thing I'd worry about.
I spend great portions of my life being bored. Never has my boredom ever interfered or had any connection with my desire to live or be immortal. It's pure bullshit to even imply there is a connection.
I disagree that it would drive people insane, though, excepting the increasing chances for mental illness to set in as we age which I would assume would be solved as a part of the implementation of immortality as a concept. Our perception of time changes as we age, the passing of a single year takes on less and less meaning each time, becomes less of a milestone and more of just another regular occurrence. Depending on how we go about achieving immortality, time may take on dimensions we can't currently understand, and we may even have the option to choose not to perceive its passing at all.
And those are all things I could do without the internet nor virtual reality.
Hi Matt, going on the Mars Safari is your favourite memory.
Siri, store Mars Safari memories, wipe from my soft drive and book a ticket on a Mars safari.
Never bored again.
I'd do unspeakable things for immortality.
I would personally like to live for as long as possible. I have a lot to live for.
