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To: Durus

"I don't think anyone is going to force you to take longevity treatments so don't get too anxious."

Very true. Can't imagine anyone being forced to submit to treatments they didn't desire. That said, I find it even more unlikely that many people would choose to die of cancer, heart attack, stroke or organ failure when the technology is there to prevent them.

200 years ago life expectancy was 35, 100 years ago it was 48. Most people didn't refuse antibiotic treatment once it became available which radically extended life expectancy and people fifteen or twenty years from now won't refuse treatment that repairs or replaces failing organs or genetically prevents the onset of cancer.

For a look at what the near future(15-20 years)may hold take a listen to this presentation Ray Kurzweil recently gave to the Council on Foreign Relations. (Nov. 2005)

Fascinating stuff.


http://www.cfr.org/publication/9431/exponentially_expanding_future_from_exponentially_shrinking_technology.html?breadcrumb=default


19 posted on 01/02/2006 6:51:08 AM PST by Neville72 (uist)
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To: Neville72

This whole business is nothing but the Siren's song. OK, "marketing", the sale of sizzle instead of steak. People will buy any darned thing.

Old quote, forget from whom, "Humans are not rational but rationalizing animals."


21 posted on 01/02/2006 8:08:30 AM PST by Iris7 (Dare to be pigheaded! Stubborn! "Tolerance" is not a virtue!)
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To: Neville72
Kurzweil bothers me. He is so enamored with creating a "singularity" in the future he ignores the grave examples of those that have tried to create it in the past. Singularity, or more accurately, Utopia, are very dangerous things to quest for.
25 posted on 01/02/2006 12:17:27 PM PST by Durus ("Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." JFK)
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