This is a re-post of an essay originally posted at speculist.com in 2004. The original comments from the old site are now part of the post. I’ve also reopened this entry for comments if anyone is interested in getting back into it. Death Sucks Reader Mary (Definitely on the Outer Ring) posed the following question […]

This very exciting event is just a bit more than a month away. Says organizer Christine Peterson: Join us for two days of practical, realistic exploration of what each of us can do to slow individual aging and live the longest, healthiest, most active life possible. A terrific lineup of speakers includes Esther Dyson, Peter […]

Cover via Amazon Instapundit quotes Robin Hanson making some good points about lifespan, but getting way too literal about what “immortality” means: “But finite increases in lifespan really have little to do with immortality. Immortality means you never die, ever. But forever is a really really long time! In fact, nothing you can imagine is […]

Nowhere is the cliche that life is short more true than on the battlefield. On Memorial Day, we honor the memory of those who died in service to their country. And while some of those who have given their lives have done so at a shockingly young age, I think it’s fair to say that […]

Via Michael Anissimov, Annalee Newitz at i09 lays out the case against immortality. While she raises some interesting points, I find her arguments less than persuasive. Let’s begin. 1. We will no longer be human. …What if all those implants and genome hacks transform us into Locutus of Borg or the Daleks? What good is […]

Wednesday evening I had a chat with a fellow futurist who told me about some exciting work that’s being done in cryonics. A new approach to the problem of preserving the human brain is being developed that does not rely on cold storage — which up to now has been the standard approach and is, […]

A friend on Facebook posted a link to this site. This is a must-see for Singulatarians. Martine Rothblatt posts one answer to one interesting question on issues familiar to Singulatarians every few weeks. These are in-depth answers. There is real meat here. Here are some of the questions: How can consciousness be created in software? […]

Popsci.com noted the convergence of two very interesting events for Singulatarians: The annual Singularity Summit and the awarding of Nobel Prizes to researchers working in the area of telemeres, the proteins at the end of each strand of chromosome that permits orderly replication of said chromosomes. The Nobel Committee has today honored three U.S. scientists […]

Via Michael Anissimov, the World Future Society — traditionally not a hotbed of Speculist type scenarios — has published a list of very interesting predictions for the years 2010-2025. This one in particular got my attention: Forecast #4: By 2025, the Worldwide Average Life-Span Will Be Extended by One year Per Year–Only 15% of deaths […]