And since Earth's resources are not "immortal" what are we going to do with the excess population once everyone is immortal?

Next year there will be over 7 billion people on the planet. Hopefully in 20 years we will also have colonies on the Moon and maybe Mars, where people can relocate.

Still the issue of resources is a big one.

Well...I call it 'Evolution'....There will be no war between Human and Robot in the future.
Since we are free from our physical body...we can probably go out of space more freely!

Assuming the nanobots perform as described, they solve the problem of humans needing massive shielding to survive radiation during "normal" space travel between planets. The resources of the Solar System are several orders of magnitude greater than the resources of Earth alone; if we can get to the Asteroids, we can get what we need to take men to the stars, and if a lifetime can be extended indefinitely, then we can do it within a human lifetime.

It is absolutely certain that the Earth will become uninhabitable. Independent human colonies off of Earth are the only way to ensure than Mankind survives.

Sounds all well and good - but when will I be able to get a supermarket trolley without a squeaky wheel?

Earth uninhabitable? Hilarious, Im sure the Earth is laughing us right off her crust; laughing because she loves rocks and roaches more than humans. Who can blame her?

Ghost in the Shell, anyone?

I can't stand it when you get these environmentalist nuts who's inevitable objection to the idea of immortality is the lack of resources...the earth is only the smallest and most easily accessable of all the resources avalible to humanity - just look up.

Furthermore, the earth exists to be used. I look at the earth as a seed, with mankind being the flower. All the resources of that seed exist to allow us to expand outwards and bring life and mind to an otherwise dead solarsystem and (perhaps) galaxy. We have no responsibility to 'mother' earth except to make sure we use it's resources as efficently as possible.

ha! think of the implications of this technology... think about how many people you see every day that are just off their rocker or incredibly cruel.... you think everyone will have access to this technology? helllll no! this like most technologies will be saved for the super rich or super powerful... it wouldnt surprise me to find out we already have these technologies and arent aware of them. i can remember back in the early nineties seeing articles about nano technology that was fully functional... letting the general public in on it is a pipe dream for tech nerds that really have no clue at all

thats precisely right Seanbtwo, the earth is but a yolk, sustaining until out hatching but ultimately reduced to a husk.

furthermore, bwah ha ha haaa.

Immortality is fine. Resources wouldn't be a problem today if governments would just stop manipulating businesses.

There are more than enough farms and fertile lands out there that no one is allowed to do anything with because of preferred businesses.

We've plenty of room to grow. Let's just get busy making a difference and stop tolerating greed and corruption.

Mexico has vast resources at its disposal, but with a corrupt government that maintains mutual poverty for its citizens, the people would rather leave their homes to start again with nothing than remain at home to make an attempt at building better lives.

haha i like the starship troopers homage at the end

Our global eugenicist international gangster banking masters will utilize this tech to ensure their ascension to "godhood" in their sick neo-feudalistic vision of our future, while the rest of us revert to the starving "little people" to be used as slaves and, perhaps, fertilizer. We can allow two distinct species of humans out of this transformation, followed by Hell. Or we can support constitutional laws, freedom, and liberty, so that all mankind can partake in the benefits of this technological and bio-genetic revolution.

I wish all the Earth nuts would just volunteer for crash test dummies to make themselves useful.

The Earth has dealt with mass extinctions, ice ages, extreme climate changes (not the idiocy being touted as change today) and it's kept on making itself available and habitable despite our oil addiction.

I'm glad someone has a rosey outlook for our future, but I don't see immortality happening. Maybe our lifespan will double, but that only means we'll have that much longer to deal with nut jobs who think the world would be better with all of us dead.

What makes the world better is progress. We grow smarter. We live longer. We make our lives better.

Fantasizing about our extinction or promoting "the sky is falling" mentality does nothing for mankind.

As for resources for immortals goes, maybe with our technology merge we also need less food, less rest and less sickness.

Who knows? Making a better world doesn't come from doomsayers.

You think it is a coincidence that Kurzweil's predictions just happen to coincide with what will likely be the end of his time on earth? lol. I'd love this to be true, but I'm afraid it's just wishful thinking by a man just realizing how short life really is.

I hate to break it to you marc, but Kurzweil's prediction is nothing unique. Many other scientists and philosophers have made the same prediction, only they tend to call it the singularity. It doesnt take an old man to realize how short life is, Nor does being an old man neccesarily mean he's alowing fear to cloud his reason.

Does this reek of Replicators to anyone else?

Sam is totally right on the envrio nuts. Get a life. The earth is a lot older than us and been through much worse and can recover no matter what we do short of nuking the core. Immortality is a very difficult thing to imagine, it would fundamentally change our entire way of life. Imagine if you no longer had the pressure to get an education, start a family, plan for retirement, etc. With a unlimited or incredibly long life span. One could spend decades studying everything they are interested in, travel the world and still be young. I think in time the speed at which we run through life would slow and conflict due to gut reactions and rash decisions would be reduced.

Look, I am a strong supporter of nature and I recognize the importance of the natural environment as an easily maintainable source of clean air, water and food resources, as well as being quite a pretty thing. But this notion that immortality would somehow boost population beyonf carrying capacity is silly. A simple lack of death only slightly increases the slope of the exponential growth function of population. i.e. it's a drop in the bucket. And further extended longevity is pretty likely to decrease birth rate. Consider if you wish that somewhere around half the people ever born are still alive today if you want to understand why the notion is preposterous.

Further for the environmentalists out there, consider that people will no longer be able to say “sure it is causing ecological problems, but I won't live to see the consequences”.

And we could continue on and on in that vein. Please consider the REAL ramifications of effective immortality on the species before commenting or you just look naíve. A simple lack of death is not half the disaster some foolish environmentalists would believe. Of course that is probably because they haven't taken linear/diff eq yet.

Thankyou and have a nice day.

So....I can only assume if we can "breathe underwater for longer periods of time,stop aging etc etc" why are you going on about running out of resources? If that IS the future, we won't NEED resources to survive (in terms of eating of course). As much as I would love to believe this however, our government would not allow it to happen. There are tons of theorists, scientists and the like, who have come up with some amazing concepts and ideas of how to better our living but in the end it is all about money so these ideas never come to fruition. I am personally rooting for the Venus Project but I know it will never happen unfortunately. :(

Since we'll be able to hold our breath for hours, it would make it simpler to travel in space, seeing as we wouldn't need as much oxygen. This might be the technology that allows long distance space exploration to happen.
Personally, I'd sign up to be cyborg'd in the blink of an eye.

thing is. If at a certain point, nano-technology is wide spread and everyone can live forever. Evolution will come to a halt .. We're not done evolving and halting it may have greater complications than we can anticipate. But living forever sounds great...

Ugh..living forever sounds horrible (at least currently).
Can you imagine working for the rest of your non-ending life?

For the lucky few that get to explore, it would be great.
For the majority of us, we still have to work to do the basics...like keep a roof over our heads and pay taxes. Cost of living will never go away even if our need to eat was reduced (in this hypothetical scenario).

Plus, there would become this horrible status quo that develops since no one will ever retire or die and allow others with fresh thoughts and ideas to replace them.
Have you ever had a really old teacher that was stuck in the stone-age with his/her teaching methods? Talk about stagnation.
Imagine that teacher in the same spot forever and most likely, unwilling to learn new things!
Life changes so fast and there are so many people that cant/wont keep up. They will still be around too.

Plus, a major factor in our desire to learn, create and explore is driven by our short mortality. Take that away and we may very well lose our drive (and possibly affect evolution..maybe).

As great as it sounds, I dont think that humanity is ready to handle the consequences of this yet. We have great potential, but a lot of baggage too (tendencies towards war, greed, lazyness, etc).
And yes...the rich/powerful will get this first...guaranteed.

Great topic to discuss though!

I think the way much of his book (The Singularity is Near) goes, these population and resource problems largely disappear due to the same nano tech that extends our lives. Transmutation of rock, dirt or waste products via nano tech could be reassembled and turned into usable ores or even skip over the unrefined stages to alloys or exotic structures like carbon nano tubes with vastly greater strengths and tolerances. This could apply to food as well. It would seem that this would also be a practical technology to apply to preventing pregnancy 100% of the time with no side effects unless or until someone chooses to turn it off.

With the ability to engineer essentially anything you want using self replicating nano tech, you could also create solid rocket fuel out of common refuse, thus eliminating the current $10,000 per pound cost of getting cargo into space. With a cheap way to get into orbit we could more easily move toward lunar and martian colonization, and with enough time, beyond our solar system.

The point is that at the point we have the ability to extend human life spans that long (if ever) it's not a stretch to believe we can solve many of the consequences.

@Dr_Evil
Evolution doesn't ever stop.  That notion is spread by the same people who believe that humans are “the most recently evolved” animal.  Which is patently untrue.  Natural selection is not something that you just move past.  Even if we could somehow eliminate all external pressures their would be some amongst us who would opt out.  And even if their weren't as long as we biologically reproduce (something I don't plan on giving up) there will be mate selection, one of the most powerful forces in evolution.

So, no, evolution will never stop, it just might take out an entire species if they aren't diverse enough.

Nanotechnology experiments have been occurring for a long time on unwitting humans. The result is Morgellons Disease. See: http://staningerreport.com/#nano911.html

I read an interview with Kurzweil in Rolling Stone magazine and his main motivation for cyber immortality was resurrect his father. Nonetheless, I do feel science will be altering how we live in the coming decades.

YOU ARE AN IDIOT! (Ray Kurzweil )

Sign me up! If we could find a way to eliminate disease and even modify the primitive parts of our bodies to ensure survival in this chaotic world, I would back it as long as it is in the right hands.

Just imagine it: A nano Schlong. Every man and woman's dream or in the wrong hands (ha ha) a dangerous weapon.

Personally (and I know this may seem dark or creepy) my curiosity about death supersedes any desire to live forever. Whether it be eternal nothingness, heaven/hell, some sort of omniscient singularity, reincarnation, or any other ideology about the consciousness of the mind after one dies... it stays a mystery to those who have not yet experienced it. Though it may not be what I believe or want it to be it is somewhat in a macabre way reassuring to know that one day I will with out a doubt find out. Until science defines what happens and if I we're still alive at that moment to have my cake and eat it... I think I will stick to my "natural" life-span. As Robin Williams said in Hook, "Death would be a grand adventure!"

WELCOME TO THE CYBERNETIC CULTURE OF A POST-DIGITAL, UNIFIED WORLD. OUR SPECIES, , WE MADE IT! ADVANCED PRIMATES... TO STARS AND BEYOND...........

welcome to the beginning of the end, the start of the beginning.

Amazing! Most people don't know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon and yet aspire to be immortal.
Mass suicides will be the order of the day, at least for the first few generations.

We really want that type of control over our own evolution? Frankenstein and his monster combined into a single hybrid being - swapping out parts at will. The haves and the have nots become far more separated than ever imagined, as whomever can afford the best and biggest upgrades rules in a very literal sense. New compassion chip anyone. Kindness implants on deep discount as they gather dust on the shelf of the 7-11. The exploration and possibilities sound enticing - but I might just be for setting up a drudge colony.

Before everybody raises their hand to join up, consider this: Who controls the nanobots? If they can be turned ON they can be turned OFF. If you step out of line, tptb's will just turn you off.

Turning on and off isn't what I would be worried about...

It's the weakness of technology...

See, scientists will not replace our brain... They just won't... Because that is what TRULY makes us... Us...

I think this is great... But if I know society, they will not do much more then try to stop their own aging. Beyond that with metal organs and stuff? Most likely not. If they bring nanobots into our bloodstream to be more efficient, then they would most likely keep alot of our normal blood cells... Why? Terrorist EMP...

Well I am 30 years old, and if I don't live long enough to be immortal, I will be pissed. Hell even my grandmother is now 101, and she never did anything right for longevity.

Nature SUCKS, long live the machine. Time to transcend humanity, long live the Singularity. Give me some Computronium, only 100-200 years away from god like powers.

You Malthusians and Luddites are hilarious. So linear and uncreative and afraid.

Some of you are quite naive. This technology is not for you. It is for the elite's.
They plan to kill off 85% of the people of the world, they will keep 500 million people alive to serve them as slaves (georgie guidestones), and the elite plan to live forever using this technology.
It's not for you HD.

@stop new world order:

With this kind of technology available, using unenhanced humans as slaves would be kind of inefficient, no?

@ Felipe 058

I was thinking more Seven of Nine, Icheb, Mezoti, Rebi and Azan after they were disconnected from the hive mind and their human features reemerge. They were human but still had borg nanoprobes throughout their bodies repairing any damage.

@ Felipe 058

I was thinking more Seven of Nine, Icheb, Mezoti, Rebi and Azan after they were disconnected from the hive mind and their human features reemerge. They were human but still had borg nanoprobes throughout their bodies repairing any damage.

According to Rep. Alan Grayson only republicans want you to die anyway. Dems want you to live forever. hehehehe

Are you all forgetting why you are a perfect distance away from the sun not to close but yet not so far. Your body is made to last forever but it does not. You are not from an ape and this Gentleman knows this. We are here for a purpose and if you were to read the Bible the most sold book ever but most likely least read. I promise you if you read it and pray about it you will find that it is all true. You would laugh at the things man tries to do. Not knowing that we will not be here 20 years from now, some of us will not be here. There is only two places to go once this life ends the way we know it. That is Heaven or Hell. If you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and Savior and believe he died on the cross and rose again on the third day, the Bible says you will have eternal life with him. If not you will have eternal life with satan and that is it. It is your choice. Stop listening to these people who do not want to obey, you may be a monkey but I am not. You will see one way or the other. AMEN

One thing i get from this that would be very cool is the idea that if we were invincible then we could easily shut ourselves down for long voyages to other planets and beyond. We could put 500 people into a spacecraft of some kind, and just shoot off into space looking for other forms of life, if we havent discovered any. and have the nanobots reactivate at regular intervals to check the ships hull integrity, and to scan possible life sustaining planets. that would be a good use of this tech.

and yes i would love for this technology to be mainstream

I think some of you have missed the point.. Kurzweil is talking about nothing more or less than evolution here. Evolution doesn't stop, but once we get clever enough, now it intelligently directed, rather than plodding along with random mutations.

Part of that certainly is colonizing space... that's ultimately the goal if humanity is going to transcend our animal nature (and the limited run most any species enjoys) and become truly immortal, as a species if not individually.

There are certainly some dark aspects to this. We have enough trouble kicking old, uninspired leaders out for new ones... this won't get easier if those guys live "forever". Of course, that "forever" doesn't need to be a real forever, just a long enough one to get you to the next innovation, and the one after that.

Some of this "singularity" think seems unlikely, though. Kurzweil pretty much seems to count on everything getting all nice and Star Treky all at once... long life, free energy, robots or nanobots to do our jobs... otherwise, you're just a working stiff who can never retire, eh?

If history is any lesson, we'll master something like aging control without much of a clue about how to use it correctly. Some drug company will make billions, and only the well off, or even the very rich, get to use it, at least initially. And worse of all.. well, you think Viagra SPAM is bad! Just wait!

Frankly, I am happy there are people out there who want to die. They deserve to die. The immortal people would be better off without the pessimist ones. Then, there are people out there who want to die because they want to know what death is? Where you go after death etc. You don't go anywhere, you simply switch off. What happens to your car when you switch it off? It dies. A car can come back to life again, but humans don't. That needs to be changed. The religion crap tells us, we go to heaven etc. etc. That's just to make you happy and keep you on the right track. Its so obvious, I don't know why people don't see. Most people do but they choose to ignore it. Once you are dead, there is nothing left of you, no soul nothing. You decompose and break down into the natural elements.

Who would want an end like that? Immortality is inevitable. How long before humans achieve it could be debatable. But one day this has to happen.

Some low IQ people may also think that it would stop evolution. Immortality would just speed up the evolution process. We would be evolving at a much faster rate. We are no different than the machines we work with. We feel happy upgrading our computers software regularly. What's wrong in uprading our own software, if that helps our body work more efficiently?

Imagine the implications. One day we could download our entire brain onto a chip and also take regular back ups of our brain. So if the body dies (become irreparable), the backups can simply be downloaded to another body, and we live again.

This means, you won't need a body anymore. You will have the choice to either live physically or virtually as you will. Or you may choose to live both physically or virtually at the same time.

Or think of it this way, with the help of cloud computing, your brain data could reside on a remote computer (of course the network and the computing power will have to very very very very fast). You have one body on earth and another on the moon. You are living on earth. Then you decide to connect to the brain data (on cloud server) using the body on the moon. You are instantly living on the moon now. Therefore traveling faster than the speed of light. And not to mention, body independent.

The possibilities are endless. Be positive and look at the brighter side of life.

Frankly, I am happy there are people out there who want to die. They deserve to die. The immortal people would be better off without the pessimist ones. Then, there are people out there who want to die because they want to know what death is? Where you go after death etc. You don't go anywhere, you simply switch off. What happens to your car when you switch it off? It dies. A car can come back to life again, but humans don't. That needs to be changed. The religion crap tells us, we go to heaven etc. etc. That's just to make you happy and keep you on the right track. Its so obvious, I don't know why people don't see. Most people do but they choose to ignore it. Once you are dead, there is nothing left of you, no soul nothing. You decompose and break down into the natural elements.

Who would want an end like that? Immortality is inevitable. How long before humans achieve it could be debatable. But one day this has to happen.

Some low IQ people may also think that it would stop evolution. Immortality would just speed up the evolution process. We would be evolving at a much faster rate. We are no different than the machines we work with. We feel happy upgrading our computers software regularly. What's wrong in uprading our own software, if that helps our body work more efficiently?

Imagine the implications. One day we could download our entire brain onto a chip and also take regular back ups of our brain. So if the body dies (become irreparable), the backups can simply be downloaded to another body, and we live again.

This means, you won't need a body anymore. You will have the choice to either live physically or virtually as you will. Or you may choose to live both physically or virtually at the same time.

Or think of it this way, with the help of cloud computing, your brain data could reside on a remote computer (of course the network and the computing power will have to very very very very fast). You have one body on earth and another on the moon. You are living on earth. Then you decide to connect to the brain data (on cloud server) using the body on the moon. You are instantly living on the moon now. Therefore traveling faster than the speed of light. And not to mention, body independent.

The possibilities are endless. Be positive and look at the brighter side of life.