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...Back in my day...

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Wed, 2008-08-20 22:04

GregH

...Back in my day...

Given the technologies described so far, the ability to digitally store oneself in particular... how long does your average transhuman (assume what amounts to a "quiet normal life") live? Are there individuals that remember the Earth when you could still walk upon it? Perhaps even earlier? And for those that may not be comfortable with such a technology, what's the average life expectency of someone just relying on the available medical technology for their one life (I recall in an RPGnet discussion that there are still some origional humans about... I'm guessing at least some go for mortality as well).

Mon, 2008-10-27 00:45

RobBoyle

Even without uploading,

Even without uploading, advanced biotech in EP has extended longevity to effectively make transhumans immortal. EP takes place only 10 years after the Fall of Earth, so quite a few people still remember the home planet.

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Rob Boyle :: Posthuman Studios

Thu, 2009-06-25 17:54

black campbell black campbell's picture

I would assume a small

I would assume a small percentage of "people" would choose to self-terminate, or have some kind of do not resuscitate order for religious reasons, or out of good ol' fashioned boredom. After a few lifetimes, some people would simply lose interest in going on. I would think with these technologies that the term "life expectancy" itself would be obsolete.

Tue, 2009-07-14 18:18

kylleran

Or Morgan's idea

You may also get what Morgan describes with those that have grown weary being put on storage and only brought back for major events (deaths/births/weddings/the arrival of the Carnival of the Goat) and then put back on ice. Or those who decide to put themselves in storage for a set amount of time to be awoken into a strange new world.

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Brian Cross
Posthuman Studios

Wed, 2009-07-15 13:30

schoon

Rebellion

Besides religious or personal reasons, I would imagine that not backing yourself up could also be an act of personal rebellion.

Taken to a silly extreme, imagine the teenager driving the fast speeder and their parent:

P: You know you shouldn't be driving without a backup in the house data core!

T: Mo-o-om... Those are for wusses...

Wed, 2009-07-15 17:25

Colin Chapman Colin Chapman's picture

Good point. Of course,

Good point. Of course, there's also the issue of just how many newborns are actually around now, and what form they actually take. If there is functional immortality, it's going to have some impact on the drive to propagate the species, I imagine.

—

Radioactive Ape Designs: ENnie and Indie Award nominated publisher of Atomic Highway!
http://radioactiveapedesigns.com

Fri, 2009-07-17 01:45

It that must no... It that must not be named's picture

Some people might indeed tire

Some people might indeed tire of immortality, a good example of this would be the movie "Zardoz" which, in a way, was sort of a transhuman movie before the term was coined. It's worth seeing, if nothing else than to see Sean Connery in a bridal gown and veil...

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"I learned the hard way that if you take a stand on any issue, no matter how insignificant, people will line up around the block to kick your ass over it." -Jesse "the mind" Ventura.

Sat, 2009-07-18 19:12

GregH

And the awsome floating head

And the awsome floating head of Zardoz... but seriously good call there, it really is sort of along the line of a pro-mortality Transhuman theme in many aspects.

Wed, 2009-10-07 12:28

Re: Rebellion

schoon wrote:
T: Mo-o-om... Those are for wusses...

This I could easily see. People not caring much for their last memories and updating their backups only when they encounter things or people from which they wish to cherish the memory. After all, not updating a backup just puts you at risk for a few months of amnesia. If that is the price for looking bad-ass, I can see many people doing this.

Thu, 2009-10-15 18:54

#10

standard_gravity standard_gravity's picture

Re: Rebellion

All true, except if you die, and a backup of you without your most recent memories is reinstated, is that really you? A theme that runs pretty to the core of EP, I'd imagine.

—

[img]http://boxall.no-ip.org/img/ext_userbar.jpg[/img] "People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes." - John Dee

Mon, 2009-10-19 10:37

#11

Re: ...Back in my day...

This is indeed an interesting philosophical question, and EP decided to answer it as "yes". Forking and merging are possible as long as the fork is not too old (a few hours). But interesting situations arise when a backup is activated without the original dying. The rules of EP basically state that a copy and transfer of a digitized ego is a safe process that can not be tampered with (shhh, don't do that !)

Mon, 2009-10-19 12:36

#12

Grabula

Re: ...Back in my day...

Quote:
some kind of do not resuscitate order for religious reasons

Which would be ironic considering most religions are just humanities search for immortality anyway.

Tue, 2009-10-20 09:32

#13

Re: ...Back in my day...

Grabula wrote:
Quote:
some kind of do not resuscitate order for religious reasons
Which would be ironic considering most religions are just humanities search for immortality anyway.

Well, I need to introduce you to this fanatic schismatic religious group that steals backup of religious people and let them live in the paradise simulation of their respective religions. Which usually is met by madness and depression by the victims.

Thu, 2010-02-04 19:25

#14

humapuma

Re: ...Back in my day...

While functional immortality is clearly likely - if you want it - as an Infomorph, your abililty to survive in physical form will depend on whether you've the cash or Rep to replace/fix your Morph - they're going to wear out eventually. Obviously you can upload as an Infomorph anytime, and stay that way indefinitely, but that's not going to be enough for a lot of folks. Otherwise the Corps. wouldn't get any takers for those bad contracts they give out. I suppose in the long term the issue of resource to get a physical Morph could become irrelevant. (apologies if i'm being a cheeky noob - don't normally do this stuff)

Tue, 2010-02-09 06:44

#15

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: ...Back in my day...

While I think immortality blues would actually occur among some people, others are likely immune. So the effect would be that those who reinvent themselves and find new meaning all the time will go on, while the people who eventually feel they have done all they want to do disappear. I think the *concept* of life expectancy has completely crashed. It is *already* problematic because of growing uncertainty of future mortality (the insurance and pension industries are seriously worried). In Eclipse Phase, this is even worse because there is enormous uncertainty about future mortality - another Fall is entirely possible, people can take backups, different groups of transhumans live extremely different lifestyles, many of which have not been around for long at all so there is no statistics. No doubt the insurance hypercorps will have figured out a solution, but they have to work hard for their megacredits.

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