/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11764156
>Starships depart mars with hundreds of tons of dirt in their payload bay
>Aerocapture into LEO
>Starships and their crew sacrifice themselves, detonate the tanks in LEO.
>Dirt is deployed from the explosion
>Dirt blocks LEO
>Dirt leads to Kessler Syndrome, LEO satellites are totally wipe out in a few days
>No humans can leave Earth again for hundreds of years
>Mars wins

This could be a cool miniseries desu

>>11757351

1/2

Maybe. Definitely a possibility, but some big technology stuff has to be sorted out first.

True biological immortality is probably impossible, at least for humans. But hey maybe it'll be fixed. 80 years is a long time and if you're alive by then, you might suddenly live forever.

Most exciting is digital immortality, but that is a whole can of worms.

1) We don't even know if sentient AI is possible. Nothing says its impossible per se, but we just don't know how or when it'll happen. So if you make a digital mind, will it even be "alive"?

2) Digital "uploading" is tricky, but currently the best bet is Whole Brain Emulation. Basically a computer copies your brain's patterns and rebuilds your mind in the digital realm. You may either die or not from this. However either way, what will happen is that the digital "upload" of your mind will be a separate entity altogether.

Is it immortality if 'you' don't experience it, but a copy of 'you' does? You will die, but you copy will live forever. Is it still immortality if you copy is a 100% replica of you - except a separate consciousness.

Whole Brain Emulation is nowhere near close, but it does seem to be relatively possible. On the very small scale, scientists have been able to make a replica of a nematode's brain, which has 300 neurons. The human brain is 333,333X BIGGER! So this is a ways away, but hey you have a lot of time.

3) True digital immortality would see your current consciousness being transferred from the biological to the digital realm. This is a lot murkier than even Option 2. We don't actually know how to sustain one's mind while also putting it into a computer. Some proposals include using little machines to destroy but replicate neurons gradually, so over time, your brain BECOMES a computer.

Is it possible? There is no technical reason why not. However this requires technology so advanced, do not expect it in your lifetime.