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Quotes

Page history last edited by Answer Blip 14 years, 1 month ago

Re indefinite longevity, extreme life-extension, extremely long-living mammals, and the "Longevity Dividend":

 

- "The first person to live to the age of 1000 is/may (already) be alive today." -- Aubrey de Grey

 

- "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying." -- Woody Allen

 

- "I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens." -- Woody Allen

 

- "In addition to the obvious health benefits, enormous economic benefits would accrue from the extension of healthy life. By extending the time in the lifespan when higher levels of physical and mental capacity are expressed, people would remain in the labor force longer, personal income and savings would increase, age-entitlement programs would face less pressure from shifting demographics, and there is reason to believe that national economies would flourish. The science of aging has the potential to produce what we refer to as a "Longevity Dividend" in the form of social, economic, and health bonuses both for individuals and entire populations-a dividend that would begin with generations currently alive and continue for all that follow." -- Aubrey de Grey

 

- "250 year old tortoise [...] dies. A giant tortoise thought to be one of the world's oldest creatures has died in a Calcutta zoo, ending a life that spanned much of modern Indian history." -- CBS News, 24 March 2006, Calcutta, India. ( http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/24/tech/main1434670.shtml?source=RSS&attr=SciTech_1434670 )

 

- "Gerontology has grown beyond its historical and traditional image of disease management and palliative care for the old, to the scientific study of aging processes in humans and in other species-the latter is known as biogerontology. In recent decades biogerontologists have gained significant insight into the causes of aging. They've revolutionized our understanding of the biology of life and death. They've dispelled long-held misconceptions about aging and its effects, and offered for the first time a real scientific foundation for the feasibility of extending and improving life." -- Aubrey de Grey

 

- "People already place a high value on both quality and length of life, which is why children are immunized against infectious diseases. In the same spirit, we suggest that a concerted effort to slow aging begin immediately - because it will save and extend lives, improve health, and create wealth."-- Aubrey de Grey

 

- "The science of aging has the potential to produce what we refer to as a "Longevity Dividend" in the form of social, economic, and health bonuses both for individuals and entire populations-a dividend that would begin with generations currently alive and continue for all that follow." -- Aubrey de Grey - "We contend that conditions are ripe today for the aggressive pursuit of the Longevity Dividend by seeking the technical means to intervene in the biological processes of aging in our species, and by ensuring that the resulting interventions become widely available." -- Aubrey de Grey

- "We are calling for a massive national and international effort to slow aging in humans under the premise that by doing so, humanity would reap a series of "Longevity Dividends" -- a gift to humanity from our generation to most current and all future generations. What is new here is the articulation of the "dividends" and the "target". I'll present this idea formally at the World Forum meeting in Oxford on the 15th of this month, but this is just the beginning of our effort to make this happen." -- Aubrey de Grey

Re biostasis:

 

- "Think of cryonics as an experiment in process where there is a small experimental group and a very large control group. The experiment may fail. If however the experiment does not fail, in which of these two groups would you rather be?" -- Ralph Merkle, Foresight Institute / Alcor

 

- " It appears that the doctrine of life and death in general is yet but little understood. [...] I wish it were possible [...] to invent a method of embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But [...] in all probability, we live in a century too little advanced, and too near the infancy of science, to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection." -- Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jacques Dubourg, April 1773

 

 

Re projections about the future:

 

- "If a thirty year projection 'sounds like science fiction,' it may be wrong. But if it does not sound like science fiction, then it's definitely wrong." -- Christine Peterson & Gayle Pergamit

 

 

“If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run – and often in the short one – the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.” -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)

 

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." -- Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future" (Clarke's second law) "At the present rate of progress, it is almost impossible to imagine any technical feat that cannot be achieved - if it can be achieved at all - within the next few hundred years." -- Arthur C. Clarke, 1983

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." -- Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke's first law

Re future projections and activism / entrepreneurship:

 

- "Predicting rain doesn't count, building arks does." – Warren Buffett

 

 

Re exponentially accelerating scientific / technological innovations:

 

- “Most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today. This nation’s own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years at a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole.” – President John F. Kennedy

 

 

Re societal resistance to change / change inertia:

 

- "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, then to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness [or "hostility"] arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. Thus it happens that whenever those who are hostile have the opportunity to attack they do it like partisans, whilst the others defend lukewarmly." -- Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 7

 

 

Re the future:

 

"No matter how far we go into the future, there will always be new things happening, new technologies coming in, new worlds to explore, a constantly expanding domain of life, consciousness, and memory." -- Freeman Dyson

 

"What makes human beings unique is that for the first time in the 3.5 billion years of life on this planet, this single species has a choice in its future. " -- Unknown source

 

 

Re woeful short-sightedness about (medical) technology progress:

 

- "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at the University of Toulouse, 1872

 

- "The abdomen, the chest and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British Surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.

 

- "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

 

- "Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work

- "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

 

- "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

 

- "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

 

- "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

 

- "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

 

- "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

 

- "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -- H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

 

- "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

 

- "Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

 

Ageing

 

"The commonest misconceptions about the ageing process are that we age

because in some fundamental sense we cannot survive for longer, or that we are programmed to die because this is necessary to make way for the next generation. Neither of these ideas is correct." Tom Kirkwood, 2001, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2001/lecture1.shtml

 

 

We now understand that our bodies are not programmed with some unavoidable sell-by date; we are not programmed to die, [...] ageing is neither inevitable nor necessary. Indeed, the more we learn about how we age, the more we come to realise that we are programmed for survival. It is by understanding why this programming falls short of allowing us to survive indefinitely that we may learn deep lessons that we can turn to our advantage." Tom Kirkwood, 2001, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2001/lecture1.shtml

 

more

 

"No computer has ever been designed that is ever aware of what

it's doing; but most of the time, we aren't either."

--Marvin Minsky

 

 

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously

considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently

of no value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876.

 

 

"Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so."

 

--Bertrand Russell

 

"You live and learn. Or you don't live long." --Lazarus Long

 

 

"Everything has been figured out, except how to live."

-- Jean-Paul Sartre

 

 

"Things are as they are because they were as they were."-Thomas Gold

 

 

"There's only one thing more beautiful than a beautiful dream, and

that's a beautiful reality." --Ashleigh Brilliant

 

 

"The understanding of atomic physics is child's play compared with the

understanding of child's play." -- David Kresch

 

 

"Life is short. Why miss a single channel?" -- DirecTV slogan

 

 

"All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height." --Casey Stengel TV Quotes, Movie Quotes

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your

belief will help create that fact." ---William James

 

 

"In the field of observation, chance only favours those minds which

have been prepared." ---Louis Pasteur

 

 

"Why, you could wake up tomorrow and be dead!" ---Homer Simpson

 

 

Being born is not a crime, so why must it carry a sentence of death?"

Robert Ettinger

 

"Since thou hast no benefactor in this world, thy having one in the next world will be all the more pleasant."

Anonymous

 

"A man looking onward to an immortal life, on whatever grounds, exhibits to us the human soul in an enobled attitude."

Whewell

 

"We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it."

Harriet Martineau

 

"We want to live forever, and we're getting there."

Bill Clinton [http://www.rand.org/scitech/stpi/ourfuture/Rosetta/millennium.html]

 

"Give me immortality or death."

Nick de Jongh

 

"If it was possible to become free of negative emotions by a riskless implementation of an electrode - without impairing intelligence and the critical mind - I would be the first patient." -- Dalai Lama (Society for Neuroscience Congress, Nov. 2005)

 

"Большинство людей скорее умрут, чем начнут думать. Вообще-то, они так и поступают." -- Бертран Рассел (in Russian)

 

Futurology

 

“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be….This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking” --Isaac Asimov

 

Future

See http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Future

 

Predicting

See http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Forecasting

 

Death

"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." - Richard Feynman's last words

 

Singularity

Many good quotes: http://www.singinst.org/summit/others/

Some more: http://home.mchsi.com/~deering9/nutshell.html

 

Change

"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better." -- King Whitney J.

 

Robots and AI

"There is only one condition in which we can imagine managers not needing subordinates, and masters not needing slaves. This would be if every machine could work by itself, at the word of command or by intelligent anticipation." -- Aristotle, from his justification of slavery in Politics

 

Transhumanist ideas

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. -- Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 - 1860)

 

 

More unsorted

Quotes I would like you to reflect upon in relation to your personal future:

It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.

Any organism that can't adapt to its environment is bound to perish.

You're only overloaded by knowledge to the depth that you can handle knowing.

Our aspirations are our possibilities.

Never make the mistake of limiting the visions of your future by the narrow experience of your past.

The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow.

...on any world the wind eventually wears away the stone, because the stone can only crumble; the wind can change.

We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

Great things emerge from modest beginnings.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Too low they build, who build beneath the stars.

No one can predict to what heights you can soar. Even you will not know until you spread your wings.

Life and intelligence must never stagnate; it must re-order, transform and transcend its limits in an unlimited progressive process.

When the first transhuman intelligence is created and launches itself into recursive self-improvement, a fundamental discontinuity is likely to ocurr, the likes of which we can't even begin to predict.

 

Immortality

"I've long thought it a pity that non-transhumanists equate trying to conquer death with a childish fear of death and a lack of wisdom. This is like saying Sir Edmund Hillary had a childish fear of mountains."

-- Philip Goetz

 

"To me, discussing the value of life extension with people uninterested in extending their own lives is a great deal like suicide counseling. I see no easy way of translating my positive attitudes about life into other people having a positive attitude about life. I have come to believe that if a person does not value life, or believes that the value of life has an expiry date, the matter is beyond discussion. And I mean this not in the sense of difficulty of communication, but in the sense that what is of value to me may not be of value for someone else. I like strawberry and she likes vanilla. I want to live to be a thousand years old -- and he doesn't care whether he is alive in five years. Personal choices."

-- Ben Best

 

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