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While many tech moguls dream of changing the way we live with new smart devices or social media apps, one Russian internet millionaire is trying to change nothing less than our destiny, by making it possible to upload a human brain to a computer, reports Tristan Quinn. "Within the next 30 years," promises Dmitry Itskov, "I am going to make sure that we can all live forever."
It sounds preposterous, but there is no doubting the seriousness of this softly spoken 35-year-old, who says he left the business world to devote himself to something more useful to humanity. "I'm 100% confident it will happen. Otherwise I wouldn't have started it," he says. It is a breathtaking ambition, but could it actually be done? Itskov doesn't have too much time to find out.
"If there is no immortality technology, I'll be dead in the next 35 years," he laments. Death is inevitable - currently at least - because as we get older the cells that make up our bodies lose their ability to repair themselves, making us vulnerable to cardiovascular disease and other age-related conditions that kill about two-thirds of us.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35786771
Horizon: The Immortalist, produced and directed by Tristan Quinn, will be shown on BBC 2 at 20:00 on Wednesday 16 March 2016 - viewers in the UK can catch up later on the BBC iPlayer
Dmitry Itskov, Founder of 2045 Initiative
(Score: 4, Funny) by eravnrekaree on Wednesday March 16 2016, @07:39PM
You can already live forever, through the love and forgiveness of your saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 16 2016, @07:53PM
What about my lord Satan? Or Ahura Mazda?
Face it, religion is for easily tricked children. And the grown-up children.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 16 2016, @10:58PM
Yeah, or what about Mazda CX4 SUV?
(Score: 2) by devlux on Wednesday March 16 2016, @09:35PM
I love Christ, but his fan club frightens me.
Also I have yet to meet anyone who has actually found eternal life in Christ. Maybe they chose the wrong religion or something, no telling which flavor got it right. Trinity, no Trinty, pray to Mary and Jesus's other pals, or not etc. Most people seem to get hung up on all that and forget he only gave one command his whole life which was to love one another. Seems to me that this is the one commandment everyone who claims they're christian forgets the minute you rile up their righteous indignation on some topic Jesus never even talked about.
Despite all that, yes I firmly believe the man really existed.
In accordance with ancient christian customs, I drowned myself and my entire family and we spend most Sundays in church where we eat the flesh and drink the blood of our undead zombie lord whilst praying for the swift return of his army of the undead that will cleanse the world of the unrighteous.
Yet everyone I know is still on the slow train to the grave and no one I've ever met who crossed over has managed to turn around and come back or even stop off and say goodbye. Although I have had some weird reincarnation style experiences very much on par with this movie... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2884206/ [imdb.com]
As for Christ and company, it's been 2,000 years now.
You'd tend to figure if these folks were coming back, they would have done so by now. Perhaps though they're all chilling at Milliways, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_characters#Zarquon [wikipedia.org]
So as for me, I think I'll take any option that allows "something" which at least thinks it's me to continue long after this prattling pile of meat is worm chow.
Even if it ends up like this in the end http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2209764/ [imdb.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 16 2016, @11:21PM
The devil has been trying his best for the last 6,000 years or so now to destroy Christ and His reputation. About 2,000 years ago, the devil lost the battle to destroy Christ, but the war isn't over, yet. http://www.whiteestate.org/books/gc/gc.asp [whiteestate.org] The world will soon get to the stage that percipitated the flood and then the world will be cleansed once again, but this time with fire.
"5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Genesis 6:5-8 (Reason for the Flood)
We have reached a time in Earth's history where we are coming up against ethical and moral questions that we have hardly even thought about. Within the last 120 years we have gone from Abacus to AlphaGo level and beyond Super Computers. We can do more calculations on our smartphones than the entirety of the electronics on the first Mission to the Moon. We are just touching the tip of the iceberg when we look at genetics and brain functions. Where we used to look at a problem and we couldn't do anything. Now we are able to do things that we need to stop and think about. We Need to ask ourselves, Should We do these things. Guns, Missiles, Bombs, all had a lengthy history, before the Atomic Bomb. Genetics has had a lengthy history, but should we dabble in the realm of cloning? Should we dabble in the realm of the mind? I am all for scientific progress and healing those that would have no other hope. Tinkering with the mind and body in an ever elusive hope for immortality, not so much.
The immortality you seek will be given to those that have accepted Christ and lived accordingly. Not because it's any special reward, but due to the fact that we were created to be perfect in the first place. Adam and Eve would have lived forever, if they had not sinned. Look at the longest lived person in the bible, even after sin had entered into the world, he lived for over 900 years! The corruption of the human genome in part is what is to blame for our diminished life span. Though, we have recently been living longer due to healthful living and modern science.
"52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 1st Corinthians 15:52-58
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 17 2016, @01:12AM
The immortality you seek will be given to those that have accepted Christ and lived accordingly.
Ah, a faith + works or faith = works individual. May I point you to the book of Corinth where members of the church were wiped out due to sins including getting hammered during Passover. Also notice how repentance is not mentioned once in the book of John, a book targeted towards nonbelievers.
Ask yourself this: how do you know you've lived accordingly? What level of holiness is enough? Will you ever know if you 'did it?'
2 Timothy 12:
For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
Faith alone, in Christ alone.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday March 24 2016, @10:13PM
"8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 King James Version (KJV)
+
"14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." James 2:14-26 King James Version (KJV)
I am not a Works = Faith or Faith = Works Christian. I am a Faith + Works = Salvation kind of Christian. We can never be perfect, until Christ's Second Coming, where we will be changed into our Perfect Selves as God intended in the first place. I can't attain salvation by doing Anything, I can only attain Salvation through Faith, but Without Works, there is No Faith.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by devlux on Thursday March 17 2016, @02:13AM
Oh lord, I know the first commandment of these forums is "thou shalt not feedeth the trolls", but you got me, I'll bite.
First of all, the story of Noah is a retelling of the epic of Gilgamesh and has been edited and translated so many times that any condition of the world at the time of the flood cannot be accurately attested to by the bible nor any contemporary source. If you're one of the unfortunates who believes in the literal truth of the bible then you really, really need to brush up on your Aramaic, because you'll find that many a jot an tittle have been changed since the originals were written, including the words jot and tittle.
Note that I do not dispute the inherent truth of certain narratives. There very likely was tree of life and it appears there was also a flood or other major disaster that nearly wiped mankind out.
Tree of life is easy, we're primates, we spent a very long time snug and secure in our trees before we got down on the ground and explored. Snakes, reptiles and other creepy crawlies very likely snacked upon our young during this time hence the demonization of them.
The disaster early in our history is recorded in a couple of ways. First of all, nearly every culture on earth records a major disaster that all but wiped humanity out. This necessitated a reboot of humanity. I challenge you to find a culture that doesn't relate this in some fashion.
Secondly, there is a evidence in our genetic record that humans suffered some sort of catastrophic population bottleneck. There is almost no genetic diversity in our species, especially when compared to species that are much younger but who have spent a very long time with us such as Canis Familiaris or even Felis Catis.
Point of fact, you are closer in relation to some random bush tribesman that has not ever seen an electric lightbulb than your cat is to your neighbors cat, or any breed of dog would be to any other breed of dog. So yes something happened, but the why of it is lost to time and every culture maintains a sacred narrative.
Secondly, Christ was 2,000 years ago. The "Devil" by definition could not be making any attempt to destroy Christ or his reputation prior to that. Messianic prophesies were never attacked on reputation of Christ. If you actually read your old testament though you'll notice that Jesus did not technically meet every definition of the Messianic prophesies. For instance he never led Isreal to overcome it's bounds, reclaim it's lands or destroy her enemies.
Also when the children of Israel did high tail it back to the middle east, several thousand years later, Jesus didn't head there with them.
Messianic Jews are properly called what they are by orthodox Jews, Christians.
Please I implore you educate yourself on the beliefs you claim to have and not just parrot someone's view point based on completely flawed and biased readings intended to push an agenda.
That said I do believe in the teachings Christ gave such as to love one another.
Which as I mentioned is also the only thing he ever asked you to do. The rest of it is supposed to be his problems to deal with, so don't worry about judging folks. In fact the word gospel is from Good Spiel, or Good News. Good news, Jesus loves you, even if everyone else thinks you're an ass :) There I summarized 500 pages of scripture in 1 line.
Next problem, Devil, Hell, Fire and Brimstone. Uhh these aren't actually in the bible anywhere. Hell is bastardization of Sheol, meaning "under the ground". The only thing it says about it is that the dead are sleeping there, in one or two places possibly chained up, not roasting. The hell you're thinking of is from popular culture, specifically Dante and to a lesser extent Milton. It has no basis in scripture.
So yeah there is no eternal punishment, not even for truly bad people like Hitler.
Angels who rebelled against God were sent under the earth and are chained until judgment day according to Matthew. They aren't running around torturing our dearly departed regardless of how diabolical that they may have been. Thus they also aren't here trying to tempt you away from some purity. No any sins you have are actually your own guilt to bare and not the fault of some supreme deity of evil.
Finally, Christ appears to have went there, broke the chains and set everyone free that was chained up already. 1Peter 3: 19-20
Revelations mentions a lake of fire and brimstone. According to revelations, this doesn't exist until after Jesus comes, casts +1 saving throw against death in DM mode and we all rise up, then we chill out an sip wine with him for 1,000 years. Yes an entire millennium drinking wine and breaking bread. Then we are judged and then and only then are we sent to roast for time and eternity and that's assuming revelations tells us the literal truth.
Now here's the rub. Revelations is MUCH more modern than the rest of the new testament. We have texts that go back as early as 100 AD for most of the new testament. Revelations doesn't have an attestation until around the council of Nicaea and if you actually read it, you'll notice that it is not the world has turned wicked but that a false leader appears and pretends he's Christ he then leads the world in Christ's stead and preaches a false doctrine.
The truth of the matter is that it is brilliant piece of anti-papal propaganda from a time when people were worried that the bishop of rome would become supreme pontif or pope and lead the church away from the core tenets of it's faith. Which actually did happen with things such as the infallibility doctrine.
The Devil, literally not a personage in the old testament or new. In english translations of the scripture the word Devil is used in place of several different hebrew words. Because the latin word diabolus which means to "throw across", i.e. lie or slander seemed to be a good translation of a few different words in random places.
Snake in the garden was Lucifer, name means "the light bearer". He is literally the one who gave mankind "forbidden knowledge" such as the knowledge of good and evil.
Unless of course you believe Proverbs 2:6 where it says that all knowledge came from God.
Now the character in Job was Satan, which means prosecutor or to accuse, also not an evil personage. In fact in Job he's up in heaven swapping bets with God about the outcome of some seriously sadistic earthly torture in order to get Job to curse at God. Job 1:6
I'd be mad as hell too.
From there, no other demonic figure comes into play until Satan tells Jesus to go jump off a cliff. Matthew 4:1-11
So yeah, the supreme evil in this world always has and always will be mankind. This isn't about you+jesus vs devil and pals. It's all about you vs you and Jesus tells you not be a judge of anyone but you, otherwise you sin. Calling out a bunch of misinterpreted scripture to condem those you disagree with to a fiery lake of torture in your own mind is pretty much the opposite of what he's asking you to do.
As for "should we be playing at god?" The answer is actually yes.
Genesis 1:27 says we're made in his image.
Proverbs 2:6 says ALL knowledge and wisdom flow directly from him. It doesn't say knowledge of the scriptures, or ascetic knowledge, but literally ALL knowledge and it says the same thing in Hebrew and pretty much all other translations.
Ephesian 4:18 says that it upsets God when you're closed minded and ignorant.
Imagine what the world would be like if someone had decided to apply just a little tiny bit of scientific rigor to these ancient texts and uncover lost knowledge.
For example, if you were to actually follow the directions and build one yourself, you would find that in a dry, desert environment that the Ark of the Covenant was likely a giant capacitor that sucked electrical energy out of the air and made a nice big satisfying spark when treated a certain way.
If you read further about the vestments of the priesthood and the way they were supposed to approach the thing, you'll find that "God" instructed them to tie off and ground themselves before entry... Exod 28:31-35
Also if someone happened to get "struck down", they were to be dragged out by the gold rope they used to tie off with, no one was to enter in and retrieve the body. Perhaps this was because the room it was sitting in was perfectly capable of charge collection and thus there was no guarantee the thing had not fully discharged?
It never ceases to amaze me that the ancients had both batteries and capacitors as well as some knowledge of interesting things we didn't figure out again until just a couple hundred years ago.
The Agastya Samshita an ancient hindu text dated around 300 BC, describes the process of electrolytic splitting of water and Egyptians appear to have had a battery or capacitor as well and were using it for electroplating. So some of this was getting to be common knowledge 2,300 years ago!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2005_season)#Baghdad_Battery [wikipedia.org]
This knowledge was at the time "forbidden and playing at god's domain". Yet I would hazard a guess that you don't believe that we should never have recovered this knowledge and this only scratches the surface. Romans had steam engines they used as toys in order to honor Vulcan and the Greeks had fantastically complex automata and clockwork calculators and computers such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [wikipedia.org] .
Things we couldn't even build again until about 150 years ago.
All of this was forgotten and suppressed because of religiously enforced ignorance.
So I put it to you now. If you truly love the lord your god with all your heart and you believe that everything is his creation; Then why would you refuse to explore his creation with absolute attention to truth and detail. Why would you not act to willfully rid your mind of the dogma and ignorance of thousands of years of myths that served only to consolidate power and knowledge into the hands of a select few who may have had the knowledge, but not the wisdom to use it properly?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday March 24 2016, @10:45PM
I believe the Bible as Truth.
"16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2nd Timothy 3:16-17
There are various perversions of the original story of the Flood. The original story of the Flood being the account recorded in the Bible.
The Dragon, Devil, Satan, and Lucifer are the same entity: A fallen Angel from Heaven, who lead 1/3 of the Angels in Heaven to revolt against God.
"4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born." Revelation 12:4
"9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12:9
I have never heard of the belief that the ark of the covenant may have been "electrified" as it were. The Children of Israel moved it, regularly while they were in the wilderness. It was designed to be moved and only during Solomon's reign did it find a "permanent" home in "Solomon's" Temple. God doesn't need electricity to strike anyone dead. Though, I suppose, He could have just protected those who held it and naturally zapped anyone else.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday March 17 2016, @12:50AM
It's an interesting claim, but do you have any evidence that I can check. Remember, the criteria for believing in a miracle is that any other explantion should be even more unbelievable. And one explanation is that preachers and politicians lie. And that people will alter existing evidence to conform to their beliefs. (The last two sentences have been experimentally verified in present time, and there is good evidence that it also happened many times during human history. I don't know of how one could show that it wasn't happening...which creates a problem, but it's not my problem, but the problem for someone who wishes to present evidence.)
AFAIKT, court records which should be present if the bible were accurate are not present. Likewise for jewish records of actions of the priesthood. (Also, IIUC, the most consistent date for his birth, if it had happened, would be around 4 BC, but there's evidence for a similar myth being common around 300 BC ... I could be wrong, it's been awhile since I looked this up, perhaps it was 30 BC.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by devlux on Thursday March 17 2016, @02:37AM
Sorry but your sarcasm detector appears to be damaged.
I believe what I believe that based on the fact we have documented religions cropping up including persecution of his worshippers.
Someone likely existed who had the name and developed a serious following. Enough of a following that this zombie cult spent the first couple hundred years of it's existence being fed to lions. This is documented historical fact. No one altered anything there and we have proof that eventually the roman pantheon fell to be replaced by Jesus and 12 of his buddies plus his mother and very likely his wife. (He is called Rabbi in the scriptures, you don't get that title unless you're married guys, sorry).
As for the scriptures themselves, quite literally Jesus offers a single command and that is to love one another. Everything else is just there to support his claim to be speaking on God's behalf. After his death you get all kinds of crazy hair splitting about doctrine specifics, but that's so each person can disobey the command to love one another, and do so in their own special way. :)
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday March 17 2016, @08:50PM
That "first hundred years being fed to lions" is nonsense. There were occasional persecutions against Christians, as against anyone else who refused to worship the Emperor, but it wasn't anything consistent, and many high officials of the Empire were acknowledged Christians, including the General who lead the Roman forces to exterminate the Nazarenes...and I believe he did that on his own initiative.
Rebellious slaves were the ones commonly fed to the lions, and it's true that some of them were Christians, and used that as their excuse for being rebellious. But they were usually thrown to the lions for being rebellious, not for being Christians. Don't believe "Quo Vadis" or other historical novels, or, in fact, most histories written or edited by priests. (Some of them were devoted to truth, but more of them were devoted to their religion.)
FWIW the Emperor Constantine was in power from from 306 to 337 AD, so that puts an absolute limit on the duration of sustained persecution, and Nero was Emperor from 54 to 68 AD, and the fire was in 64 AD which marks the start of the major persecutions (which, as I said, were episodic). It's true that Nero needed a scapegoat, and chose the Christians as a group that could be scapegoated without doing much harm to the Empire. And he was corrupt, cruel, and probably suffered from lead poisoning. But he was only emperor for four years after the fire, and the succeeding emperors were much less interested with fomenting riots. Yes, that sounds like 200 years, but most of the time the laws weren't enforced except against those who the powers that be already had it in for. And many legions were predominantly Christian...at least in name. (More were Mithraists, of course.)
N.B.: The Romans were much more concerned with controlling rebellious slaves than they were with what religion anyone had. Second was concern with conrolling rebellious Plebians. Again, religion wasn't a concern, though it could be an excuse. This was before the time when controlling rebellious army troops ranked near the top. (I'm not sure how they felt about rebellious generals...but after Julius Caesar that had to be another major concern...which means during the entire Imperial period.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by devlux on Friday March 18 2016, @12:43AM
I want to believe you, but there are no citations. Sounds like a reasonable premise but I have decades of indoctrination to fight here.
Come on, throw me a link or two here :)
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday March 18 2016, @06:29PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger_on_Christians [wikipedia.org]
That was from a quick Google search on christian imperial roman legal procedure. My original references were from books that have long since (20 years or so) been returned to the library, and probably wouldn't be accessible.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 17 2016, @05:40PM
You can already live forever, through the love and forgiveness of your saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.
Sounds about as plausible as "uploading your mind to a computer" if not more so.