Genetic Engineering

[ZombiezuRFER]

Germ-line engineering is different from genetic engineering to change your appearance however. But yeah, you could have furry kids... but problems are encountered when you try to have reptile kids...

[anoni]

Well, I think you could actually change yourself into your fursona, but the implications would be... unpleasant.

Would include vast mutations to every strand of DNA, complete cell replacement with the new DNA, you'd have to destroy your own body to recreate it, like a caterpillar to a butterfly.

[Beatnory]

Well, I think you could actually change yourself into your fursona, but the implications would be... unpleasant.

Would include vast mutations to every strand of DNA, complete cell replacement with the new DNA, you'd have to destroy your own body to recreate it, like a caterpillar to a butterfly.

I don't think that you can still say that you are that person from before.
you look different and you have other DNA (so far as I know DNA can also affect the behavior of a human.).

[anoni]

Might still have the same brain though,

[ZombiezuRFER]

You could just print out a body with the gens you desires in the shape you desire, and then transplant your brain into said body with a couple prosthetics to prevent rejection by the immune system (or maybe an artificial immune system?)

[anoni]

Then you could also improve the body much easier too
Cybernetic implants, improve where nature has left on
I like that idea

[ZombiezuRFER]

Then you could also improve the body much easier too
Cybernetic implants, improve where nature has left on
I like that idea

Its something I'm taking on as a job, starting with a normal human bodies for others and then I shall have the first cross-species transplant.  Brain transplants are the secret to immortality, so I could probably easily pay for the procedure. I shall be a pioneer! 

[anoni]

Bodies aren't the only thing that decompose over time, brains have their fair share of decomposition.

Actually, interestingly enough, there is a gene that actual controls aging. I'm not even kidding here...
If you control that gene you can actually stay youthful for much longer, you can even reverse cycles like the immortal jellyfish and then you can literally live for ever (as long as you don't get diseases or anything)

[ZombiezuRFER]

Brains pretty much decompose with the body they're in, so immortality yeah! Not to mention what effect stem cells could have on such an operation.

[anoni]

I don't think that's true...

The neurons do have some form of regeneration, they are still of quite a limited source. They can't regenerate and heal themselves, so if a brain cell dies, it dies, and there's very little you can do to replace it. I guess if you supplied the brain cell a consistent supply of energy in a completely sterile environment, you would live forever, but a body couldn't really do that for you, even a cybernetic body with motor functions could have problems with the brain, perhaps collision or just general movement destroys the brain partially, for a long time, eventually causing significant loss.

[ZombiezuRFER]

In actuality a human can live forever, there is no true upper limit on lifespan besides wear and tear, and the brain does not accrue such wear and tear except throuh the tissue degeneration of the rest of the body.  By transferring the brain it can heal up a bit and give you another 30-40 years of life per switch.

[anoni]

Where's your evidence for such a claim?

Here is explaining how Neurons have limited replication: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/99/0405/brain.htm
Psychological report explaining how the brain ages: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201105/how-do-brains-age
(notice that the reproduction of cells happens primarily in the hippocampus, which shrinks as you age. I am taking an uneducated guess to suggest that as you age the amount of cell growth declines exponentially to time)

There's a lot of things to take into account
Also, being immortal has it's catastrophic effect of sensory deprivation, you get used to things, everything. Nothing seems to really... do anything for you, excite you, seem new, interesting, allow a good sensory input. You may get used to your bodies reward mechanisms of feel good hormones, might even get used to pain. You'd just eventually become a shell, rid of all kind of sensory input.

[ZombiezuRFER]

I'm not sure where you get that "become a shell" bit from. If anything, I require more and more sensory input as time goes on, but that could just be me being Aspie. I dunno.  As for brain aging, consider uploading your mind then perhaps? A hippocampus prosthetic is already being developed, already in FDA animal testing!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampal_prosthesis http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3488-worlds-first-brain-prosthesis-revealed.html  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6574-brain-prosthesis-passes-live-tissue-test.html
But as for how personality changes over time (i'm just guessing that psychological report is strictly psychological, not neurological) that has nothing to do with immortality.


Immortality does not include sensory deprivation, and if you really wanted to stimulate yourself you could go and do something, or if your an upload, simulate stimulation. You could simulate stimulation perfectly, and that would only be necessary for uploads that are just human brains in a computer.  Why be that, when you could far exceed the capabilities and limitations of the brain?

[MrRazot]

i think our best bet, is to find a way to go through a state of metamorphosis similar to that of a butterfly.


you would eventually regret immortality

[ZombiezuRFER]

I certainly won't regret. I make the cheap and dirty way first (the brain transplants) and then we move on to mind uploading... when a person can inhabit all areas of a city at once...