The past and ongoing research lets us understand in more details the processes that make humans have the maximum age. Unless you believe ~124 is a hard limit mandated by God himself (which, BTW., is something that the Bible says explicitly), that research is crucial to eventually overcoming the limit. Is there anything you believe that makes life extention a problem that's impossible to solve? Because if not, it's always a matter of throwing more resources at it.
There are other problems that show indications of having solutions, and which could realistically be applied to most or all humans. The dream of being an immortal Martian might be an appealing one, but it is no less a distraction or a religion at this point than people paying for salvation in Scientology or looking to the pope for an indulgence.
I understand that this is something that's almost impossible to accept though.
Personally I'm not having much hope of either standing on Mars or living past the age of 100, but I do believe those - and others - are problems that need attention and serious resource investments. It pains me to see just how much productivity on this planet is wasted on utterly pointless things, when big problems affecting us all remain almost unaddressed.
Well we're in total agreement then, just with slightly different perspectives. I think if we were both told to come to a mutual decision about a plan for the future of humanity, the plans would resemble each other more than anything. Space is the future if we live that long, and longevity is an issue that needs to be addressed. In the near-term though, we're on the bubble of losing our civilization in the next century or so and we need to put that fire out now.
> In the near-term though, we're on the bubble of losing our civilization in the next century or so and we need to put that fire out now.
Yes, I agree with that strongly. In fact, this is a fear of mine - we're pretty much on the verge of quality-changing breakthroughs for life itself, and yet it can all go to hell if we fuck up the next few decades over petty issues like profits and power.
I'll go further and say that IMO the most important goal right now in solving any kind of sociopolitical issue should be stability of technological civilization. This should come first before anything - because if we last a bit longer, we might be able to solve other issues long-term, and if we fuck up now, there won't be a technological civilization for the next couple thousand (if not million) years.
