Living Longer - A World of Wisdom?
Any race that cures death will end up with a very old, wise and experienced society. Who knows what sort of implications this could have on their world.
The implications of more time alone would dramatically enhance one's ability to contribute. For example, time to specialise in many fields would bring about more knowledgeable scientists, more skillful musicians and sports people, and more flexible artists. Centuries of honing and refinement would give birth to unseen talent. Throw wisdom into the mix too and you have yourself an extremely enlightened society, making today's most gifted look like incapable children.
Imagine an artist who masters psychology, quantum physics and child care, and is able to integrate it into their art in a way never before achieved, using skills refined over millennia. The boundaries of magnificence would continue to be pushed to extraordinary levels. This is a world of wonder the likes of which we have never seen.
With vast and varied knowledge, many would be able to integrate obscure connections in their knowledge, much like I was talking about in my blog Time to Improve on Accidental Science. New discoveries and solutions would be found at an ever increasing rate as more and more people learnt to see relationships between seemingly unrelated concepts.
High efficiency achieved by centuries of practice and trial and error would lead to yet another boom, in productivity. Prices would drop and profits would soar, further speeding up the eradication of poverty.
But this is a very narrow way of looking at things. The Singularity, (which, I've been told, is near) would transform all the current dynamics of our lives. It alone may bring us increased intelligence, wisdom, and, by means of programs like the Kung fu teacher in the Matrix, experience. Most likely, we won't need to have increased lifespans to improve our lives in the ways I just discussed. However, it still makes a good argument for longevity, so don't dismiss it!
Perhaps its no coincidence that as we are on the verge of dramatically increasing our lifespans, we're also on the verge of artificially increasing our intelligence. Perhaps it is all meant to come together, one instant, incomprehensible transformation.
Comments
One related and interesting consequence is that ordinary people will have a personal stake in the long term implications of their actions, which I think will make a huge difference to the probability of our civilization surviving indefinitely.
I've been reading an interesting analysis of the impact of cryonics on our society here on the imminst forums; i think it is relevant because cryonics and life extension may have similar effects:
The thrust of his argument is that cryonics, like Natural Selection, or the theories of General and Special Relativity, are core-smashing in character ... cryonics is "profoundly disruptive of the hard core of civilization. "
· Overturns the Vitalistic view of life
· Challenges the conventional definition of death
· Invalidates the core tenets of contemporary medicine
· Erodes the need for a mystical afterlife
· Radically redistributes capital and disrupts inheritance, bequests, and mortuary customs
· Mandates a complete change in reproduction
· Perturbs generational succession
· Requires Space Colonization
· Requires (and supports) profoundly disruptive technologies such as cloning, regenerative medicine, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence
· Ends the species and Enables Transhumanism
That doesn't mean that radical life extension won't allow the development of mature, healthy people with highly developed wisdom. But without some kind of technology to train the laggards among us into making better decisions, I fear that we would just fill the world with bumbling rejuvenated people who have trouble learning from their experiences and getting better at the job of living. Think of a 300 year old person who has to file for bankruptcy every couple decades, for example, because he never learned to manage his money despite a generally prospering economy.
- Well said!