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Transhumanist Children's Book Argues, "Death Is Wrong"

destinyland writes "Hoping to inspire life-extending medical research, science fiction author Gennady Stolyarov has launched a campaign to give away 1,000 free copies of his transhumanist picture book for children, Death is Wrong. 'My greatest fear about the future is not of technology running out of control or posing existential risks to humankind,' he explains. 'Rather, my greatest fear is that, in the year 2045, I will be...wondering, "What happened to that Singularity we were promised by now...?"' Along with recent scientific discoveries, the book tells its young readers about long-lived plants and animals '"that point the way toward lengthening lifespans in humans,' in an attempt to avoid a future where children 'would pay no more attention to technological progress and life-extension possibilities than their predecessors did.'"

8 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Irresponsible or what? by flightmaker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's already far too many humans on the planet. If we stop dying there'll be nothing to eat and nowhere to stand.

  2. Why focus on length of life by Jmc23 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    when quality of life is what really matters? Maybe once we can create a sustainable society where people are actually happy we can focus on resource drains like people who never die.

    --
    Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
    1. Re:Why focus on length of life by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      when quality of life is what really matters?

      Because it is possible for humanity as a whole to focus on more than one thing. Besides, most of the things that extend life also increase its quality. By a large margin, the most successful life extending technologies (so far) have been childhood vaccinations and public sanitation. Having your child not die probably enhances happiness as well as average lifespan.

    2. Re:Why focus on length of life by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      when quality of life is what really matters? Maybe once we can create a sustainable society where people are actually happy we can focus on resource drains like people who never die.

      Why fight child poverty in North America when kids are starving in Africa? Why fight deforestation when global warming can do far more damage.

      We can fight more than one battle at once, maybe these people are content enough with their lives that they really don't want them to end so that's the quest they're pursuing.

      Btw, at any age being healthier probably translates into being happier.

      --
      I stole this Sig
  3. FFS by koan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Grow up, death is desirable, just imagine someone like Zuckerberg alive forever.

    No one "promised" you a singularity, it was a prediction like flying cars (which are an absurdity when you think about it) and a very small percentage of population deserve such things.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  4. Fly over the middle of the US sometime by zerofoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and look out a window. The last time I landed in Las Vegas I was stunned at how much of the us is completely and totally unoccupied.

    Drive out to state college PA sometime - nothing but trees on either side of you for hours on end.

    I heard a stat a few years ago saying the entire population of the world could fit into the state of Texas at the density of NYC. Yes, that doesn't account for infrastructure, and food production, but the point is that the entire world would be left over for that.

    There is lots of room on this blue marble. Technology will find a way to support us all.

  5. Re:Huh? by bitt3n · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why not stop killing each other first?

    That's a terrible idea. If immortality turns out to be possible, we'll likely need a few perpetual wars to help thin out the population until we have the technology to blast the excess into space.

  6. Re:Huh? by tlambert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It may be a good survival trait to have fear of death, but it leads to things like religions, including this new technological one, and prolonging life beyond when it serves an evolutionary incentive.

    We should probably take away the insulin from the diabetics and the classes and contacts from people who are near-sighted, and undo any laser surgeries we've done on peoples eyes.

    You know, to serve as an evolutionary incentive.

    In case you were wondering, evolution is not "survival of the fittest", it's "survival of those who successfully reproduce most", or we would have weeded things like near-sightedness out of the genome a long time ago, along with all other recessive traits.