The Physics of Immortality

[Goldenages]

The history of science and philosophy is more or less the replacement of illusions, superstition and gods by knowledge.

After reading UPB from Stefan, a book that I have read several years ago came to my mind again: The Physics of Immortality from Frank J. Tipler.  https://www.amazon.de/Physics-Immortality-Modern-Cosmology-Resurrection/dp/0385467990

 

Tipler speculates (wildly) wether some kind of eternal life is possible without the help of a supernatural entity, however he speculates on the firm ground of today´s physical knowledge.

Basic idea is that all life in universe share the same problem, namely mortality. Therefore all forms of life will, on the long run - and there are several billion years to go - try to overcome this problem. Tipler introduces the idea that intelligent life will transform all matter of the universe into a gigantic computer that is able to emulate all beings that ever lived.

This supercomputer would be a machine that knows everything that can be known (so its not omniscient in the way a god is claimed to be) and is able to do anything that is physically possible to do (so not almighty).

 

The book is fascinating to read, I personally like the bold approach to remove the last domain from religion. It is an upside-down view onto the world - "god", as Tipler describes, is not the origin of the world, but rather the end, and this "god" is the result of intelligent efforts.

So if someone wants to read something really different - enjoy

 

regards

Andi

[ofd]

Isn't Tipler considered to be a crank physicist?

[Tyler H]

Sounds interesting, thanks for sharing.

[adamNJ]

Near starvation diet doubles the life span of fruit flys but doesn't correlate in humans