Director : Jason Silva : The Immortalists
I wanted the film to be a love letter to scientific boldness: to the idea of rising up against an indifferent universe where everyone dies and say ‘this is unnacceptable”. People rationalize death as a good thing in a poetic sense because there’s been no other option, (and we’re clever creatures). We have an ability to take even the most absurd tragedies and make poetry out of them. But perhaps now that science is knocking on our door with potential freedom from our most palpable limitations; we should seize the opportunity. My film was a call to such action; a challenge to claim our lust for the infinite without apology.
-Hypothetically speaking on the discovery of Immortality, I believe that it would be safe to assume that a discovery of this magnitude would also bring raise new barriers. Things like physical upkeep, ethics, etc. Do you have any ideas on how you’d deal with the “new limitations” that would come with this discovery?
We would deal with a host of new issues on challenges the same way we always have: we’ll develop a new set of definitions and expectations about life. We’ll EVOLVE. We’ll tap into our uncanny ingenuity and make it work. Many feared and resisted man’s longing to fly like a bird, today millions of people travel safely in machines through the air (that weigh half a million tons and have a million moving parts). Things at first seem impossible, then improbable, then unusual and then we take them for granted.
-A world with the option for immortal life would raise a question of ethics as well: (Who lives, who dies? Who can afford it? Would the option of everlasting life only be granted to 5-10% of the worlds population?) My question in a nutshell would be, do you think that humanity would be responsible enough to make the proper decisions regarding something that would be beyond ground-breaking?
Any new technology that extends the reach of mankind is at first less than perfect and VERY expensive… But then it gets refined and perfected and drops in price significantly. Ray Kurzweil famous talks about how the computer inside your phone today is a thousand times more powerful and a million times smaller than a warehouse-sized computer was in the 60’s. It’s also infinitely more affordable. The very first commercial plane flights could only be afforded by the rich and famous; today Jet Blue and Virgin America fly state-of-the-art planes affordable to the masses.
-Many people of many different religious faiths feel that exploring things like this interferes with “Gods Will”, but there are fundamental flaws in that way of thinking. Researching immortal life happens to be an extreme case of challenging “Gods Will”, but within the film there’s Dr. Michael Fossel’s interview where he states that the same people who feel its non-sense will ask for help with arthritis in the same breath. How do you feel about the argument stating that this interferes with ‘Gods Will’?
People are afraid of change, and they resist the unfamiliar. There are famous anecdotes where clergy have resisted science and progress claiming we were ‘playing god’. Religion has a dark stain in its history for stifling progress. The reality is that technology is the ONLY endeavor that has ever helped us overcome problems. This is data-driven fact. We are the only species that constantly overcomes its limitations; we reach for the stars. As Alan Harrington said: “We are cosmic revolutionaries, not stooges conscripted to advance a natural order that kills everybody.”
-There are many people who feel that death gives life meaning. There are many people who feel that death gives life less meaning. How do you feel about the death as it stands in the minds of many today (something that we all will encounter eventually)?
We don’t need death to give life meaning–We create the meaning. It’s life that gives meaning to life; and what we do matters. Things like knowledge and art and creativity infuse the world with meaning. Self-awareness equals meaning. Death is an abhorrent limitation that robs us of consciousness. It’s time for a new substrate.
-There are many ways to approach the topics discussed in your film. Scientists could attempt to stop aging, slow the aging process, extend life (w/ aging) and many more things. What do you feel at this point is the most feasible approach according to the research you’ve come across?
Ray Kurzweil talks about 3 bridges. My understanding is as follows; The first bridge is biotechnology which includes reprogramming our biochemistry towards longevity and away from disease and aging. This will allow us to live much longer, until the nanotech revolution arrives.
Nanotechnology will then usher in an age of nano-sized robots that will fix us from inside, buying us more time, until we completely merge with our technology, transcend our biology and become mindfiles. We will be consciousness-as-information, existing everywhere at once, in the all-encompassing technosphere. We will be as gods.
-I took some time to read the comments on your film’s youtube page. One viewer asked “Why would anyone want to live forever?…how would that look?”. Do you have an answer for this person?
We would have the freedom to grow and evolve in the direction of greater complexity and organization; we will acquire sublime, ever-increasing knowledge and self-awareness. We will infuse ourselves with other intellects, explore the entire universe; taste the wine of centuries unborn… We will live in a world, to quote Wilcatcat, “of interweaved sensation and co-opted dreams”
-where can we see more of your work?
You can see my constant streams on facebook.com/jasonLsilva or search for me on twitter… You can also watch Current TV weeknights at midnight eastern, 9 pacific.
-Jason Silva
Johnny T. is the Video and Design page editor as well as a contributor to the music Page for IVYBetty.com.
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