One of the things that should be the most precious to us is time. Even billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, knows this:
“It’s the only thing you can’t buy. I mean, I can buy anything I want basically but I can’t buy time.”
As everyone knows, we only get a certain number of years on this Earth. 78 is the average, or 90 if we get lucky. No matter what, time is the only non-renewable resource that exists.
Or is it . . . ?
Some people believe that medical and technological advances will eventually lead us to a point where people can live drastically longer lives. 100 years might become the new norm, or even 200 years.
Some people even believe that artificial intelligence will eventually allow us to live forever.
Healthy dose of skepticism
Now I know that you are thinking that this is “fake news.” Everyone dies. 100% of the time. Medical advances may continue to allow us to live a bit longer, but eventually everyone is going to die.
I know that you are thinking this, because I thought the same thing. And I certainly never thought about living forever. In other words, I completely agree with you. Everyone dies. 100% of the time.
Except . . .
What about an airplane?
1,000 years ago, people couldn’t imagine that we would be able to routinely fly on airplanes across continents and oceans. An accurate statement at that time would be: “No one can fly.”
Even though people couldn’t imagine flying in an airplane 1,000 years ago, technology advanced so much during the subsequent years that people eventually began to think that flying might be possible. As enough people began to think that flying was possible, it eventually became possible.
1,000 years in the future
Although you and I both know that everyone dies currently, this might be different 1,000 years in the future. Maybe technology will advance far enough that the average person lives to be 200 or even 500 years old.
Would it be so tough to imagine that diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s would be cured by that time? Maybe aging itself will be thought of as a disease that the best scientists are working to cure.
Or maybe they will have already cured it and aging will be a thing of the past.
Just like air travel is rather routine now, maybe our ancestors will eventually think that stuff like death and diseases were things of an earlier age. Instead of everyone dying, we may eventually be able to say that everyone lives forever.
But this article isn’t just about how your future descendants might eventually live forever. Instead, it’s about the possibility . . . the very remote possibility . . . that YOU AND I may actually live forever.
Making the future happen now
Now just so we’re clear, I definitely don’t think that we will live forever. That’s why I feel that making sure that we live a great life now, before we get to financial independence or early retirement, should be our number one goal.
But just for fun, let’s at least explore the concept of living longer. What would we need to have happen for a 200 year, 500 year, or infinitely long lifespan to occur?
For us to live dramatically longer here in the 21st century, there must be significant advances in medicine. Perhaps there would be a cure for cancer or a way to prevent Alzheimer’s. However, for us to live dramatically longer, there must be a “cure” for aging. In other words, we must fundamentally change our bodies, down to our cells, so that we don’t age anymore.
Things like working out or eating better have been shown to decrease our cellular age. However, they don’t actually prevent the “disease” of old age from occurring. For instance, although running may help me to live longer, it won’t help me to live forever. As you may guess, the only way to dramatically increase the time we have on Earth is through technology and science. Specifically, what I am referring to is artificial intelligence.
The upcoming artificial intelligence revolution
When people think of artificial intelligence now, they usually think of things like Alexa, self-driving cars, or even the computer that beat the world chess champion back in 1997. Each of these is an example of Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI).
Artificial Narrow Intelligence
ANI occurs when a computer is programmed to do one specific task well. For instance, Alexa can look up information online, find music to play, or even rap to entertain my kids. However, “she” struggles to read a first-grade level book or tell what color leaves a tree has. ANI is great at difficult and mundane tasks, but really bad at things that we as humans don’t need to think about.
So when most people think about artificial intelligence, they only think of it as kind of a gimmicky way to entertain their kids and turn lights on around the house.
Artificial General Intelligence
However, many AI researchers are also working on making a computer as smart as a human in all areas, or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). This computer would not only be as good as a human at playing chess, but also in all other intellectual aspects. A computer that possesses AGI would be able to recognize photos, determine patterns, and understand the meaning of conversations. Just like we are able to do without even thinking about it.
Artificial Super Intelligence
The third level of artificial intelligence is AI that is smarter than the smartest people in every field. Not only would Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) be able to understand formulas in physics, but it would be able to come up with new formulas as good as the best physicist in the world. It would also be as good or better than the best writer, computer programmer, graphic designer, and inventor in the world.
Talking to a computer with ASI would be just like talking to a normal person, except the computer would understand your body language and conversation better than anyone else in the world could.
Continuous improvement
Let’s take a second and think about the smartest people that we have heard of. People like Einstein, Newton, Nikola Tesla, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. Each of these people were able to do remarkable things while still being constrained by things like human emotions and human physical needs like eating and sleeping. Einstein spent a lot of time working on the theory of relativity, but he wasn’t able to devote his entire life to it.
However, a computer or entity that possesses Artificial Super Intelligence would be able to work continuously on discovering something like a cure for cancer. It would be like millions of very smart people working together on a cure for cancer. However, it would be even better than that because the computer wouldn’t need to sleep or rest like people would need to. It also wouldn’t be constrained by the inability to share knowledge. A computer with ASI would kind of be like millions of people that shared the same mind. Once one person understood a concept, every other person would instantly understand it as well.
Under conditions like this, a cure for cancer would probably be developed within a few years or even a few days. After a cure for cancer was developed, ASI could cure other diseases. Heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and lung disease would all become things of the past. The flu would instantly be treated and cured.
After we achieve ASI, diseases, and even aging could become a thing of the past.
When will this occur?
To you and I, most of this still sounds like science fiction. However, many people believe we could achieve ASI during this century. Some, such as futurist Ray Kurzweil, believe that this may be as soon as the year 2045.
Others are predicting the year 2060, while others are projecting a longer time frame ranging from sometime during the next couple of centuries to never.
However, everyone who studies artificial intelligence believes that advancements in AI will continue to occur. Most believe that advancements will eventually allow AI to be smarter than humans. As we eventually get to AGI or ASI, then there may become a time when humans can live forever on this Earth.
But would we want to? And would an entity possessing artificial super intelligence even allow us to?Â
Let us know what you think by checking out the comments below.
And thanks for reading!
~Nathan
Let’s keep living a great life . . . with the help of money. So what’s next?
- You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
- You can get motivated and get out of debt.
- You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.
But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!
