Scientist Says Humans Will Become Immortal by 2050

IMMORTALITY has been the regarded as mythology and science fiction for years but now human beings are close to defying death due to several major scientific breakthroughs which will give humans a plethora of choice on how to live forever by the year 2050, according to a top futurologist.

The average human lifespan has increased dramatically over the last 100 years. This has been achieved largely, thanks to the fruits of our advancements in technology, science, and medicine - but could we ever achieve immortality?

Here are three ways scientists are striving for immortality that are getting so close to success that they would amaze even Bedford — if he ever wakes up.

 "Most people on middle-class incomes and reasonable working-class incomes can probably afford this in the 2060s. So anyone 90 or under by 2060.

In his prediction about human immortality, Pearson cites three emerging technological trends which have the potential to indefinitely extend the human lifespan, or at least the lifespan of human consciousnesses: rejuvenating body parts with anti-aging gene therapies or swapping out body parts for lab-grown replacements; digitizing the human consciousness and downloading it into biohybrid android sleeves à la Altered Carbon; or developing technologies which will allow our consciousnesses to exist forever in virtual realities. I don’t know about you, but that last one sounds the best to me.

1: RENEWING YOUR BODY PARTS

(Image: Digital Vision)

Advances in medical technology have helped us live longer. Now, researchers are exploring ways to repair, refurbish, or replace human organs that have been damaged by chronic disease, traumatic injury, heart attack, stroke, or just plain aging.

Doctors can use medication and bio-technologies to keep renewing the body and rejuvenating it, Pearson told The Sun.
As he rightly observes: “No one wants to live forever at 95 years old, but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that.”
Another option is replacing vital body organs with replacement organs. Many researchers are working on creating human organs using 3D printers loaded with living cells, so we won’t need human organ donations.
The 3-D printing of living body parts have already advanced considerably.

"Medicine is saving people who previously we weren't able to save," says Dr. Doris A. Taylor, director of regenerative medicine research at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston.

Even so, demand for donor organs exceeds the number available. "Each year thousands of people die while waiting for an organ," Taylor says. That gap in supply and demand is one factor that has led researchers to ever more innovative treatments; at times these treatments can sound like science fiction come to life.

2: Inhabiting our own android bodies

According to Pearson the most likely path to immortality involves creating sophisticated brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that link the entire brain to an operating system.
“A long time before we get to fix our bodies and rejuvenate it every time we feel like it, we’ll be able to link our minds to the machine world so well, we’ll effectively be living in the cloud,” he told The Sun.
What this means is that our minds will basically be in the cloud while we inhabit the android of our own choice to live in the real world.
He told The Sun that in 50 years’ time, we might be able to hire an android anywhere in the world “just like a hire car”, and upload our consciousness into it.

It won't be like uploading software or a file to the cloud. Rather, it will come along subtly as you integrate your mind with your technology and with augmented reality more and more over time. Eventually, you will be so integrated with your information technology that your mind will be running as much in that external space as within your brain and body. Your experiences will still feel like "yours," because of the seamless transition, even though your brain won't be necessary hardware anymore.

As Pearson writes: "One day, your body dies and with it your brain stops, but no big problem, because 99% of your mind is still fine, running happily on information technology, in the cloud."
From there, it ought to be possible to then insert your mind into a new body — a younger, upgradable android body — or even swap bodies around as you see fit. It sounds a bit like something out of an episode of "Black Mirror," but Pearson believes it's not only feasible, but also right around the corner.

3: Into the Matrix

If our minds are already online, it would be possible to live a virtual life through avatars. According to Pearson, we could all just live in a computer simulation.
“You could spend most of your time online in the virtual world, of course anywhere in the world on any computer.
“If you’re online all the time, you could have a fantastic life online. It would be all virtual, so you could have anything you want. 72 virgins if that’s what drives you; all of that, because it’s totally imaginary.

"After 10, 15, 20 years, the price comes down to hundreds of pounds, rather than millions.
"It could be provided as part of the NHS. You might be able to buy premium offerings on a private subscription, or you might get a basic presence on a network and be allowed to use an android body."


People could choose to spend most of their time in imaginary worlds online but still come to real world from time to time.
Listen up:
“If you were born sometime in 1970 onwards, that would make you 48 this year. Anybody under 50 has got a good chance at immortality and anyone under 40 almost definitely will have access to this, Pearson told The Sun
That means, most of the people reading this article, are probably going to live forever if Pearson is right.
How do you feel about that

"You could spend most of your time online in the virtual world, of course anywhere in the world on any computer.
"If you're online all the time, you could have a fantastic life online. It would be all virtual, so you could have anything you want. 72 virgins if that's what drives you; all of that, because it's totally imaginary.
"You could make as much fun as you could possibly imagine online. You might still want to come into the real world.
You could link your mind to millions of other minds, and have unlimited intelligence, and be in multiple places at once.

By Sujeet Kumar