http://www.tomsguide.com/us/kurzweil-immortality-superhuman-powers-theory,news-4736.html
Being immortal has long been a dream of humans. We're always searching for ways to do more with the time that we've got, and even then, it's never enough time.
Thanks to science, our life expectancy has constantly been increasing. Now famed scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil thinks that we'll be immortal in just two decades.
According to the Telegraph, Kurzweil said that, at the rate of advancement in our understanding with science and technology, we could slow down or even reverse the aging process.
How will this be accomplished? Kurzweil thinks that it'll be nanotechnology.
I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever, Kurzweil wrote.
Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen, Kurzweil added. Nanotechnology will extend our mental capacities to such an extent we will be able to write books within minutes.
Kurzweil even goes on to say that nanobots can shut down our brain signals and take us to experiences that we want, all from brain stimulation. And yes, that does mean that virtual sex would become commonplace.
What does this all spell out for our future? According to Kurzweil's theory the Law of Accelerating Returns: So we can look forward to a world where humans become cyborgs, with artificial limbs and organs.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/quantum-suicide.htm
A man sits down before a gun, which is pointed at his head. This is no ordinary gun; iÂt's rigged to a machine that measures the spin of a quantum particle. Each time the trigger is pulled, the spin of the quantum particle -- or quark -- is measured. Depending on the measurement, the gun will either fire, or it won't. If the quantum particle is measured as spinning in a clockwise motion, the gun will fire. If the quark is spinning counterclockwise, the gun won't go off. There'll only be a click.
Nervously, the man takes a breath and pulls the trigger. The gun clicks. He pulls the trigger again. Click. And again: click. The man will continue to pull the trigger again and again with the same result: The gun won't fire. Although it's functioning properly and loaded with bullets, no matter how many times he pulls the trigger, the gun will never fire. He'll continue this process for eternity, becoming immortal.
Go back in time to the beginning of the experiment. The man pulls the trigger for the very first time, and the quark is now measured as spinning clockwise. The gun fires. The man is dead.
But, wait. The man already pulled the trigger the first time -- and an infinite amount of times following that -- and we already know the gun didn't fire. How can the man be dead? The man is unaware, but he's both alive and dead. Each time he pulls the trigger, the universe is split in two. It will continue to split, again and again, each time the trigger is pulled
This thought experiment is called quantum suicide. It was first posed by then-Princeton University theorist Max Tegmark in 1997 (now on faculty at MIT). A thought experiment is an experiment that takes place only in the mind. The quantum level is the smallest level of matter we've detected so far in the universe. Matter at this level is infinitesimal, and it's virtually impossible for scientists to research it in a practical manner using traditional methods of scientific inquiry.Â
While they both seem improbable (the first story more so as its a prediction, not a theory), since they have the possibility of truth, they deeply interest me.
